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Arctic Ice Vanishing 'Like Mad'

Researchers find Baffin ice cap shrunk by half in last 50 years

By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 30, 2008 9:30 AM CST

(Newser) – Ice caps on Baffin Island in the Canadian Arctic are "receding like mad" and could be gone completely within 50 years, LiveScience reports. The fields of ice have shrunk by half in the last 50 years and haven't been so small for at least 1,600 years, according to a study published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The research team analyzed plant material emerging from under the receding ice and found that it hadn't been exposed to the atmosphere for more than a millennium. "It clearly says we're now warmer than we were in medieval times," noted the lead reseracher, who attributes the rise in temperature and melting to greenhouse gases. "Even with no additional warming, our study indicates these ice caps will be gone in 50 years or less."

An iceberg floats in a bay off Ammassalik Island, Greenland July 17, 2007. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an unprecedented summit on climate change Monday Sept. 24, 2007 that the time for doubt has passed and a breakthrough is needed in global talks to sharply reduce emissions of global-warming...
An iceberg floats in a bay off Ammassalik Island, Greenland July 17, 2007. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told an unprecedented summit on climate change Monday Sept. 24, 2007 that "the time for doubt...   (Associated Press)
This May 18 2006 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows walruses on an ice flow in the northern Bering Sea off of Alaska. Thousands of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle died in stampedes earlier this year after the disappearance of sea ice caused them...
This May 18 2006 photo provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service shows walruses on an ice flow in the northern Bering Sea off of Alaska. Thousands of Pacific walruses above the Arctic Circle died...   (Associated Press)
A polar bear looks towards Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007.  Churchill is named polar bear capital of the world because the bears gather near the small northern town to wait for the bay to freeze. It is here that hundreds of bears, stranded by melting pack...
A polar bear looks towards Hudson Bay near Churchill, Manitoba, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007. Churchill is named polar bear capital of the world because the bears gather near the small northern town to wait...   (Associated Press)
An iceberg melts off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland in this  2007 file photo. Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest Passage will become an open shipping lane. The European Space Agency said nearly 200 satellite photos...
An iceberg melts off Ammassalik Island in Eastern Greenland in this 2007 file photo. Arctic ice has shrunk to the lowest level on record, new satellite images show, raising the possibility that the Northwest...   (Associated Press)
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