The North Pole permafrost shrinking each year as illustrated in the comparison condition of the winter of 2007 and 2008.
Permafrost in the Arctic may disappear altogether this year according to the predictions of experts. If the condition is a true, sea-level rise due to melting ice mass cannot be prevented as it is feared all along.
Mark Serreze, of the Center for National Snow and Ice Data (NSIDC), the U.S., said this summer is expected to lead to an extreme that the polar ice sheet is completely discharged. A number of factors that affected the Arctic ice conditions last year have caused the ice in the Arctic this year is very thin so the risk when entering the summer.
On September 2007, a thick layer of ice on the surface waters of the Antarctic reached a record low. Even as it is, the North-West canal that froze and connecting Greenland and Alaska ships can pass. Permafrost in the region is thickened again in the winter, even at its peak in March 2008, ice coverage wider than the previous year.
However, the measured long-term trend since 1978, shows that the vast Antarctic ice continues to shrink. Even if the extent of the increase, which was formed a year-old layer of ice is more easily melted. Meanwhile, the permafrost is likely to continue decreasing. NSIDC measure, the area of permafrost in the Arctic average decrease 44 000 square kilometers each year.
"This is the thing that should receive attention of the world. The most troubling is the fact that the annual ice age - which does not melt during the summer - do not recover as fast as Arctic ice that normally melts," said Serreze. Extensive layer of ice that melts when the average summer half of the new ice that forms between September and March. However, in 2007, almost all of the newly formed ice layers melt.
In addition, in this winter of the Arctic oscillation phenomenon, positive peak. These conditions are known to cause the flow of strong winds, which will force in the Arctic permafrost melts and the water flows to the east coast of Greenland. Extreme events such as that which causes the Arctic ice cap layer thinner and younger.
However, other natural factors can save permafrost. If the trend as the flow of warm air in the summer of last year, the North Pole lost a lot of eternal ice. However, if the wind was blowing a lot of cyclones that are cool, the ice would survive.
Not only are polar bears are threatened his life due to the drastic changes in the ice. At the North Pole as depicted in the movie "Earth." Humans should also be prepared to face the impact if the sea-level rise, tides, and waves.