Arctic to be ice-free?

Global Warming will leave the Arctic Ocean ice-free during the summer within 20 years, raising sea levels and harming wildlife such as seals and polar bears, a leading British polar scientist said on Thursday, October 15. Peter Wadhams, professor of ocean physics at the University of Cambridge, said much of the melting will take place within a decade, although the winter ice will stay for hundreds of years.The changes will mean the top of the Earth will appear blue rather than white when photographed from space and ships will have a new sea route north of Russia.

Scientists say evidence of melting Arctic ice is one of the clearest signs of global warming and it should send a warning to world leaders meeting in Copenhagen in December for U.N. talks on a new climate treaty.

"The data supports the new consensus view - based on seasonal variation of ice extent and thickness, changes in temperatures, winds and especially ice composition - that the Arctic will be ice-free in summer within about 20 years,"Wadhams said in a statement. "Much of the decrease will be happening within 10 years."Wadhams, one of the world's leading experts on sea ice cover in the North Pole region, compared ice thickness measurements taken by a Royal Navy submarine in 2007 with evidence gathered by the British explorer Pen Hadow earlier this year.

Hadow and his team on the Catlin Arctic Survey drilled 1,500 holes to gather evidence during a 280-mile walk across the Arctic. They found the average thickness of ice-floes was 1.8 meters, a depth considered too thin to survive the summer's ice melt.

Sometimes referred to as the Earth's air-conditioner, the Arctic Sea plays a vital role in the world's climate.

As Arctic ice melts in summer, it exposes the darker-coloured ocean water, which absorbs sunlight instead of reflecting it, accelerating the effect of global warming.Dr. Martin Sommerkorn, from the environmental charity WWF's Arctic programme, which worked on the survey, said the predicted loss of ice could have wide-reaching affects around the world.

"The Arctic Sea ice holds a central position in our Earth's climate system. Take it out of the equation and we are left with a dramatically warmer world," he said.

"This could lead to flooding affecting one-quarter of the world's population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emissions and extreme global weather changes."

Britain's Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said the research "sets out the stark realities of climate change." "This further strengthens the case for an ambitious global deal in Copenhagen," he added.

Courtesy Reuters

A baby seal's urgent plea...:

Stop killing us, please!

I need urgent help from all you friends out there. I, along with my other little family members are in grave danger because baby seals are being killed ruthlessly ,not by animal predators such as those huge big white creatures you humans call polar bears ,but by your own kind, the humans .

It was bad enough that we were clubbed to death by some professional hunters because of claims by fishermen that we are a nuisance to their industry, now some blood-thirsty humans seem to enjoy killing us just for sport!Yes, today we have become the latest fad for tourists to have fun ,in some areas we live.

This time they are going to come with rifles to take our lives!!How can your people club us little ones to death and enjoy it? I shudder at the thought of it because I do not know when it would be my turn to suffer and die like some of my other little friends. I have nightmares and wake up screaming , but my mum snuggles me warmly and then I feel safe under her protection. But, how long can she do so,because she too might soon end up dead, the way things are going on at the moment .So please,please please, if you have a heart , (and I know most of you are gentle ,loving people), save us from this horrible fate . Read about the culling holidays in certain parts of the world we live in and you will know why I am so, so afraid .

Honestly, it is much better to end up in the belly of the big white bear as food than die at the hands of these ruthless people who make us suffer endlessly ,just to have a laugh. At least the big white bear kills us because he is hungry and needs to survive too. That is nature's way of ensuring the continuity of life. But why are humans killing us?

Let your voices be heard against the killing of helpless little creatures like us who do no harm to anyone. Please don't ignore my humble plea, because my days too are numbered, and only you can be our saviours .

Name: I.K. Nishadi Ayeshani Senavirathna

Gender: Female

Age: 13

School: National School, Horana

Pen pals preferred from: Germany,

and other countries (not Sri Lanka)

Age group: 13-18 (female)

Address: No. 69, Ranawirugama, Dobagoda, Horana, Sri Lanka

Name: N.P. Shalini Kawshalya

Gender: Female

Age: 15

School: Sandalanka Central College, Sandalankawa

Hobbies: Reading books, collecting stamps, listening to music

Pen-pals preferred from: any country especially Australia, Japan, India, England, France

Age group: 15-17 (both gender)

Address: Galagedara, Sandalankawa, Sri Lanka