The Earth's Ice Cream is Melting

Only 43 percent of Americans think there is solid evidence of global warming, according to a new Pew Research poll reported by NBC News. Only 35 percent of poll respondents thought global warming was a serious problem. At a time when action is urgently needed to lessen impending ecological disaster, these numbers are alarming. I'd like to make a very simple and persuasive argument that should suffice as proof for those willing to listen to reason. I'm even willing to disregard all the technical scientific data collection that proves global temperatures are on the rise and that the oceans and the Earth are warming.

Your Own Refrigerator Offers an Analogy

Let's take a simple example from our own homes. We all have refrigerators and freezers. Imagine putting a thermometer in your freezer and after a couple of days it reads zero degrees Fahrenheit. That's just about where you want your freezer to be, to keep everything at the temperature it's supposed to be, for long term storage. Every day, you check the thermometer and it still reads zero or something close to zero, either a little bit higher or a little bit lower. You'd be right, based on that evidence alone, to assume that your freezer is working properly and is maintaining its temperature.

Believe Your Own Senses

On the other hand, if while checking the thermometer, you noticed that your ice cream was melting and that the ice cube trays full of water didn't freeze, then you'd say that no matter what the thermometer says, you can see with your own two eyes that the freezer is too warm. You'd ignore the scientific evidence of the thermometer reading and assume that it was either broken or placed in a weird location that caused it to be inaccurate with regards to the temperature of the main part of the freezer.

The Earth's Ice Cream is Melting

Well, the Earth's ice cream is melting. The Arctic ice cap is melting and falling to pieces. Whether you believe the scientific data or not, you can see with your own two eyes the indisputable evidence of global warming just as surely as if the ice cream in your freezer were melting. National Geographic reported on a recent expedition by University of Cambridge researchers to the Beaufort Sea, an area north of Canada's Yukon province. The researchers drilled through the ice to the sea water beneath, taking core samples. They were expecting to find, as in years past, very thick multi-year ice. Multi-year ice simply means that the ice is made up of layers from multiple winters that have never completely melted during the summers.

Multi-year Ice Disappearing

Instead, the researchers found only a single year's ice that was about six feet thick. This means that the older ice, which is typically much slower to melt than newer ice, has completely melted, leaving only newer, fast-melting ice covering the Beaufort Sea.

NOAA's Arctic Report Card Shows Old Ice Melting Thoughout the Arctic

This phenomenon isn't localized to the Beaufort sea. The Arctic Report Card produced by researchers working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) conducted a satellite study of Arctic ice extent and age and found that the area of multiyear ice was substantially reduced throughout the Arctic. The extent of ice coverage measured in September after summer melts was also substantially reduced over the same period years ago. In fact, the last three years represent the least summer ice coverage of the Arctic on record, by a large margin. In other words, the Earth's ice cream is melting and melting fast.

Secondary Measurements Back Continuing Loss of Arctic Ice

This can also be detected by measuring the amount of fresh water from melting ice found in the Arctic Ocean. It is going up at precisely the rate that matches the measured loss of ice. Reduced salinity, higher temperatures of the Arctic waters, and a reduction in the amount of water that freezes out of the Arctic each year affects ocean currents dramatically, especially the deep ocean currents that move the very coldest Arctic waters down to the tropic regions where they well up and help regulate the planet's temperature.

Our Eyes Tell Us What is Happening

The melting ice isn't just found in the polar regions. Glaciers all over the world are melting and even disappearing. Alaska's Columbia Glacier, reports LiveScience, is losing two cubic miles of ice every year. In February, CBS reported on the melting of the Antarctic glaciers that is more rapid than expected. Greenland's ice sheet is rapidly disappearing. The same thing is happening all over the globe. No matter where we look, the Earth's ice, our metaphoric ice cream, is melting. It doesn't take a team of college degree toting scientists to tell us what that means. When we see pictures of the ice melting in places where it has never melted in all of recorded human history, and it continues to melt faster and faster year after year, the conclusion is obvious to all of us. Ice melts when it gets too warm to stay frozen. If the Earth's ice is melting, then the Earth must be getting warmer. It's the only common sense conclusion.

Sources:

news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/091015-arctic-ice-free-gone-global-warming.html

firstread.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2009/10/22/2106228.aspx

www.arctic.noaa.gov/reportcard/ArcticReportCard_full_report.pdf

www.livescience.com/imageoftheday/siod_051208.html

www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/02/25/tech/main4829282.shtml