arctic ice melt

Due to global warming fueling an Arctic meltdown, the Northwest and Northeast Passages may possibly be concurrently free of ice for the first time in about 125,000 years. Scientists at the University of Bremen pieced together NASA satellite image maps of the sea ice, which revealed a startling image of a possible Arctic "island".

A circumnavigable Arctic would allow commercial ships to shorten trip times by navigating through the Arctic. However, increased ship traffic in the Arctic would lead to more precarious conditions for Arctic ecosystems and wildlife. Allowing large shipping vessels, and prospectors seeking oil and gas, easier access to once hard to reach areas would increase the potential for oil spills, ship strikes with marine life, and increased pollution from ships, including black carbon, a potent Arctic warmer.

For more on climate change see http://oceana.org/climate.

Occasionally I write a "Friday Victories" blog -- if there's some particularly good news to report. Unfortunately, today's not one of those occasions.

Unless it's a victory for climate change, that is. With three weeks of the melting season to go, this year's Arctic ice pack is the second smallest ever recorded on satellite.

So chances are, in a few weeks, I'll be writing another blog reporting that the ice has shrunk even smaller than last year, claiming the record.

Learn more about climate change and the Arctic at http://oceana.org/climate and http://www.protectthearctic.org/.

[Image via www.smh.com.au]

The last time the Arctic was completely free of ice, during the Pliocene Era about 3.5 million years ago, an ice-free passage across the Arctic facilitated the movement of mollusks into the North Atlantic. The open water route was rich with floating phytoplankton, which fed the mollusks during their traverse. When Arctic temperatures cooled, the path was blocked and the phytoplankton declined.

Well, here we go again.

Scientists believe this invasion may soon be repeated if global warming persists at its current rate, most likely causing the Arctic to become ice-free by or before 2050. This would once again allow the invasion of shellfish and other mollusks, along with algae, fish, barnacles, and other marine organisms into the North Atlantic from the Pacific via the Bering Sea causing a shift in the area's biodiversity.

Interestingly, the overall consequences of a mollusk invasion on the North Atlantic ecosystem remain uncertain, but shifts in the abundance of some species are anticipated.