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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/06/too-late-now-to-save-arctic-summer-ice-climate-scientists-find>
"It is now too late to save summer Arctic sea ice, research has shown, and
scientists say preparations need to be made for the increased extreme weather
across the northern hemisphere that is likely to occur as a result.
Analysis shows that even if greenhouse gas emissions are sharply reduced, the
Arctic will be ice-free in September in coming decades. The study also shows
that if emissions decline slowly or continue to rise, the first ice-free summer
could be in the 2030s, a decade earlier than previous projections.
The research shows that 90% of the melting is the result of human-caused global
heating, with natural factors accounting for the rest.
Since satellite records began in 1979, summer Arctic ice has shrunk by 13% a
decade, in one of the clearest signs of the climate crisis. Arctic sea ice
reaches its annual minimum at the end of summer, in September, and in 2021 it
was at its second lowest extent on record.
“Unfortunately it has become too late to save Arctic summer sea ice,” said Prof
Dirk Notz, of the University of Hamburg, Germany, who was part of the study
team. “As scientists, we’ve been warning about the loss of Arctic summer sea
ice for decades. This is now the first major component of the Earth system that
we are going to lose because of global warming. People didn’t listen to our
warnings.
“This brings another warning bell, that the kind of projections that we’ve made
for other components of the Earth system will start unfolding in the decades to
come.”
Other climate scientists said in 2022 that the world was on the brink of
multiple disastrous tipping points."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
