Ice chunk the size of Texas melts in Arctic's Northwest Passage; heat floods Canadian park

(Photo of hikers in Auyuittuq National Park from Flickr and photographer Peter Morgan

News Update 1: Strong southerly winds have melted a piece of Arctic ice in the Beaufort Sea the size of Texas, making it likely the Northwest Passage will be navigable for the second summer in a row. While end-of-summer ice melt is not expected to surpass last year’s record, it is likely to be a close second and Beaufort is open further north than ever before, one-third of the way from Alaska to the North Pole. The melting of the large chunk of ice is a sure sign of global warming, said Mark Serreze, of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Elsewhere in the Arctic, record high temperatures forced closure of most of Auyuittuq National Park on Canada's Baffin Island. Melting permafrost, erosion and flooding led to evacuation by helicopter of 21 park visitors. Temperatures reached into the 80s for two weeks. The July average is usually 57. (Sources: Greenwire, Anchorage Daily News,PlanetArk )

Melting Arctic ice can signal permafrost thaw and more greenhouse gas emissions

News Update 2: Last summer saw a record Arctic sea ice melt and another record is forecast for this year, according to a new study by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). When the sea ice melts, the temperature over land heats up as far as 900 miles away, the study found, and is likely to thaw permafrost in Alaska, Canada and Russia. Permafrost is the long-frozen earth beneath the top layer of ground. When it thaws it releases methane, a greenhouse gas much more potent than CO2. It also can cause the collapse of infrastructure, such as highways, houses, oil rigs and pipelines. Last August-October the temperature over land in the west Arctic was unusually warm, more than 4 degrees Fahrenheit above the average for 1978-2006. Rapid sea ice thaw could lead to rapid permafrost thaw, the scientists said. (Source: Reuters PlanetArk)