2010Feb5: Arctic melting this year may warm the Earth an amount equivalent to adding three billion metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere, according to Pew Environment Group’s Oceans North “An Initial Estimate of the Cost of Lost Climate Services Due to Changes in the Arctic Cryosphere” report. “That’s equal to forty percent of all U.S. industrial emissions this year or bringing on line more than 500 large coal-burning power plants,” said Dr. Eugenie Euskirchen, co-author of the report and a scientist from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks’ Institute of Arctic Biology (Pew Charitable Trusts).
Reference: Pew Environment Group http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_detail.aspx?id=57159
Read the Report http://www.pewtrusts.org/our_work_report_detail.aspx?id=57161
Image Description: Small bergy bits the size of houses being released from Tracy Arm in Alaska Southeast. Photo taken August 1991 by Commander John Bortniak, NOAA Corps. Image Location: NOAA Photo Library http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/corp1893.htm Image Permission: This image is a work of a United States federal employee, taken or made during the course of an employee’s official duties. As a work of the U.S. federal government, the image is in the public domain.