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Published online 17 December 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.1314

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Arctic warming spurs record melting

Greenland and Siberia see rapid changes.

Record melting in northern Greenland and the widespread release of methane gas from formerly frozen deposits off the Siberian coast suggest that major changes are sweeping the Arctic, researchers say.

The recent observations, reported on 16 December at the autumn meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, California, have surprised scientists who — although used to Arctic changes — did not expect to see them so dramatically over the past year.

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  • is there the melting cco

    • 17 Dec, 2008
    • Posted by: pa shafi p
  • Our management of water is very important. There is no reason why we should allow huge volumes of water to flop down and flow unimpeded across farms down stream, destroying them, while adjacent areas shrivel up by drought. There are huge pumps that can easily prevent this. Increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide is undoubtedly increasing climate warmth. However I suspect that also an equally great affect on warmth is the baring of soil by increase in annual crop acreage, roads, buildings, grazing, and desertification currently, especially in the tropics. You may see an article that briefly discusses this in more detail in http://charles_w.tripod.com/climate.html . I see no reason why many climate water problems can not be much ameliorated by intelligent management of water both before and after the water reaches the soil, including pumping it into water tables through clean gravel filled deep holes. Sincerely, Charles Weber

    • 27 Dec, 2008
    • Posted by: Charles Weber