Gore: Polar ice cap may disappear by summer 2014

[Nagishkaw 510]

New computer modeling suggests the Arctic Ocean may be nearly ice-free in summer as early as 2014, Al Gore said today at the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen.

The former vice president said the new projections suggest an almost-vanished summer ice cap could disappear much earlier than foreseen by a U.S. government agency just eight months.

"It is hard to capture the astonishment that the experts in the science of ice felt when they saw this," Gore told reporters and other conference participants at a joint briefing with Scandinavian officials and scientists, his first appearance at the two-week session.

Update at 3:58 p.m. ET: "Some of the models suggest that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months will be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years," Gore said.

Afterward his office clarified his statement, saying he meant nearly ice-free, because ice would be expected to survive in island channels and other locations.

Gore cited new scientific work at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. The Navy relies on its research to plan submarine voyages to the poles. The computer modeling there stresses the "volumetric" and looks at both the surface extent of ice and its thickness.

In April, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that Arctic summers could be almost ice-free within 30 years, not at the 21st century's end as earlier predicted.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/on...early-as-2014/1

[HAL 9000 96]

Thanks Nagi. Of course, Dr. Gore's pimping of the available data will immediately equate it as false.

[zqt3344 21]

I heard Gore is a nymph! With Polar Bears!

New computer modeling suggests the Arctic Ocean may be nearly ice-free in summer as early as 2014, Al Gore said today at the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen.

The former vice president said the new projections suggest an almost-vanished summer ice cap could disappear much earlier than foreseen by a U.S. government agency just eight months.

"It is hard to capture the astonishment that the experts in the science of ice felt when they saw this," Gore told reporters and other conference participants at a joint briefing with Scandinavian officials and scientists, his first appearance at the two-week session.

Update at 3:58 p.m. ET: "Some of the models suggest that there is a 75 percent chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months will be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years," Gore said.

Afterward his office clarified his statement, saying he meant nearly ice-free, because ice would be expected to survive in island channels and other locations.

Gore cited new scientific work at the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School. The Navy relies on its research to plan submarine voyages to the poles. The computer modeling there stresses the "volumetric" and looks at both the surface extent of ice and its thickness.

In April, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted that Arctic summers could be almost ice-free within 30 years, not at the 21st century's end as earlier predicted.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/on...early-as-2014/1

[Aubrey 10]

Disturbing and so sad. Yet people still try to deny that warming is even occurring. Blech.

[Dan J 277]

Disturbing and so sad. Yet people still try to deny that warming is even occurring. Blech.

Its more denying that humans have contributed to global warming. If its accepted that we do, it would be harder to do so without guilt.

[alienlovechild 75]

New computer modeling suggests the Arctic Ocean may be nearly ice-free in summer as early as 2014, Al Gore said today at the U.N. climate conference in Copenhagen.

The former vice president said the new projections suggest an almost-vanished summer ice cap could disappear much earlier than foreseen by a U.S. government agency just eight months.

Naturally we'll have a global treaty reducing emissions to freeze the Arctic just in time. No wonder the man got an Oscar from Hollywood. Four years is plenty of time for save the planet. If it doesn't happen at least there will be plenty of beachfront property in Canada, Alaska and Russia.

[alienlovechild 75]

Disturbing and so sad. Yet people still try to deny that warming is even occurring. Blech.

Its more denying that humans have contributed to global warming. If its accepted that we do, it would be harder to do so without guilt.

Ok, I admit I'm the guy who has been warming the planet. I don't what got into me. I bought products and drove around day and night in my car just to prove Al Gore was right.

Who else is guilty and will admit it? What will you do to change your ways?

[scandal 951]

Disturbing and so sad. Yet people still try to deny that warming is even occurring. Blech.

Its more denying that humans have contributed to global warming. If its accepted that we do, it would be harder to do so without guilt.

Ok, I admit I'm the guy who has been warming the planet. I don't what got into me. I bought products and drove around day and night in my car just to prove Al Gore was right.

Who else is guilty and will admit it? What will you do to change your ways?

I'd watch out if I were you. That constitutes a confession, and may be used against you in a court of law.

Time to start working on your plausible deniability defense....

[alienlovechild 75]

I'd watch out if I were you. That constitutes a confession, and may be used against you in a court of law.

Time to start working on your plausible deniability defense....

I left the lights on when I left Indiana a few years ago. The electricity bill was unreal.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

Disturbing and so sad. Yet people still try to deny that warming is even occurring. Blech.

The earth HAS warmed and HAS cooled.... this trend will continue.

[웃 910]

And I believe the earth is square...

[Danno 1,228]

I'm bettin it's flat, I have a map on my wall that proves it.

[DEDixon 39]

Gore: Polar ice cap may disappear by summer 2014

wish gore would get some guts ... try something like...

Gore: Polar ice cap WILL disappear by summer 2014 "may" disappear is so freakin' whimpy.

[Nagishkaw 510]

gore is a hypocrite. Will he refrain from flying all over hell's half acre in jets emitting fuel emissions into the atmosphere? Probably not.

[NickD 203]

Yeah, read that article too, this one. First question I had, is, what in the hell is Al Gore doing at that conference. He is just a private citizen like you and me, has no scientific background, and a very powerful conflict of interest with his private affairs. And in any computer model dealing with the future, assumptions have got to be made, exactly what were these assumptions?

" Tense atmosphere clouds climate talks

By ARTHUR MAX Associated Press Writer The Associated Press

Monday, December 14, 2009 6:10 PM EST

COPENHAGEN (AP) — The atmosphere at the U.N. climate conference grew more tense and divisive after talks were suspended for most of Monday's session — a sign of the developing nations' deep distrust of the promises by industrial countries to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

With only days left before the conference closes Friday, at least one world leader said he would come early to try to salvage the negotiations, and others reportedly were considering the move.

The wrangle over emission reductions froze a timetable for government ministers to negotiate a host of complex issues. Though procedural in nature, the Africa-led suspension went to the core of suspicions by poor countries that wealthier ones were trying to soften their commitments and evade penalties for missing their targets.

Talks were halted most of the day, resuming only after conference president Connie Hedegaard of Denmark assured developing countries she was not trying to kill the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 document that requires industrial nations to cut emissions and imposes penalties if they fail to do so. Kyoto makes no demands on developing countries.

Among the issues put on hold: whether China will be asked to make sacrifices similar to those demanded of the United States and other rich nations; whether it will open its carbon books to outside inspection; how to ensure every country counts its carbon emissions the same way; and how to raise a steady flow of money for poor countries to combat climate-linked economic disruptions such as rising seas, drought and floods.

The delay came just days before President Barack Obama, Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao and more than 110 other world leaders were scheduled to arrive to cap two years of negotiations on an agreement to succeed Kyoto.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's office said he would go to Copenhagen on Tuesday — two days earlier than planned — to try to inject momentum into the talks. Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and several others reportedly were considering early arrivals.

Former Vice President Al Gore told the conference that new data suggests a 75 percent chance the entire Arctic polar ice cap may disappear in the summertime as soon as five to seven years from now. Gore, who won a Nobel Peace prize for his work on climate change, joined the foreign ministers of Norway and Denmark in presenting two new reports on melting Arctic ice.

The world leaders are aiming for a political agreement in Copenhagen rather than a legally binding treaty. Still, the goal is to nail down individual targets on emissions cuts and financing for developing countries in a deal that can be turned into a legally binding text next year.

Conference officials were struggling to cope with the increasing crush of people, which will only get worse when the leaders arrive with large delegations and their own press corps.

More than 40,000 people applied to attend the conference, already straining to accommodate 15,000. Nongovernment agencies, which sent thousands of people, were told only 1,000 will be allowed in at one time on Thursday and Friday. Journalists will be confined to a media center and forbidden from mingling.

Throngs of newly arrived delegates, journalists and activists waited for hours to pass security and get accreditation Monday, the start of the conference's second and final week. Authorities shut down the subway stop outside the hall because it was too crowded.

Police detained up to 200 people after protesters set fire to street barricades in a downtown Copenhagen neighborhood. Protesters hurled fire bombs at helmeted riot officers who repsonded with tear gas, police spokesman Johnny Lundberg told The Associated Press. He said there were no immediate reports of injuried.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the unrest was connected to the climate conference.

Police briefing detained 1,200 people durimg demonstrations by climate activists over the weekend.

The negotiations were meant to extend the Kyoto pact for at least another five years, with deeper emission targets for rich countries. A separate stream of talks dealt with the United States — which rejected Kyoto — and obligations by the developing countries in exchange for tens of billions of dollars a year.

The Africans protested when Hedegaard wanted to lump all the talks together.

"We are seeing the death of the Kyoto Protocol," Djemouai Kamel of Algeria, the head of the 50-nation Africa group, told reporters.

Mohammed Nashid, the president of the Indian Ocean archipelago nation of the Maldives, helped resolve the deadlock with an impassioned speech to the African nations to return to the talks, delegates said.

Outside the conference, Nashid voiced his frustration.

"In all political agreements, you have to be prepared to negotiate. You have to be prepared to compromise, to give and take. That is the nature of politics. But physics isn't politics. On climate change, there are things on which we cannot negotiate," he said.

U.S. special climate envoy Todd Stern said that with leaders due to arrive soon "any lost time is unhelpful." He added that in any complex negotiation "it never goes smoothly, never according to plan. There are always bumps."

Canada's Environment Minister Jim Prentice said the dispute set back the talks. "We have lost some time. There is no doubt about that," Prentice said.

Sakihito Ozawa, Japan's environment minister, said the African demand to spend more time on the industrial nations' targets "wasn't feasible."

"When I listen to the comments made by the developing countries, it made me very worried," he said, accusing those nations of trying to disrupt the conference.

On the sidelines of the talks, U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a new program drawing funds from international partners to spend $350 million over five years to give developing nations solar energy systems and other clean energy technologies to poor countries. The U.S. share of the cost will be $85 million, with the rest coming from Australia, Britain, Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland.

The International Energy Agency said $8.3 trillion will be spent on new energy in the next 20 years, but the entire amount could be recovered in cheaper energy and in energy efficiency. IEA director Nobuo Tanaka told reporters 93 percent of the additional energy needed by 2030 will be required by developing countries.

————

Associated Press writers Michael Casey and Jan M. Olsen contributed to this report.

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EDITOR'S NOTE — Find behind-the-scenes information, blog posts and discussion about the Copenhagen climate conference at www.facebook.com/theclimatepool, a Facebook page run by AP and an array of international news agencies. Follow coverage and blogging of the event on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/AP_ClimatePool

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Original Article can be found at:

http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?id=16...s=0〈=en"