| 18 April 2007 | ||
| 11:00 am | to | 12:30 pm |
PRODUCER: Peter Calamai, Sandra Zicus,
CHAIR: Veronika Meduna
SPEAKERS: Louis Fortier, Kathy Conlan, David Hik, Steve Rintoul, Patti Virtue, Michael Stoddard
SESSION REPORT: Now is not the time for complanency
By Julia Hind
Our planet is changing, a leading Arctic scientist warned this week.
Speaking at the Wednesday morning session, Louis Fortier, Professor at the Université Laval in Canada, called for governments to have the political will to cut carbon dioxide emissions.
“If we don’t do anything now, this trend could be catastrophic,” he said.
Professor Fortier described some of the changes already observed in the Arctic including the reduction of summer ice cover. He said there has been a 30 per cent drop in summer Arctic ice cover in the past 30 years, with the greatest changes observed since the 1990s. He added that the evidence suggests the rate of melt was accelerating.
“Things are changing. There is an assault on the ice from the atmosphere but also from an increase influx of water from the Atlantic Ocean into the Arctic Ocean”. He believes predictions that the Arctic could be free of ice in the summer by 2015 were a possibility. This in turn, he said, would have enormous effects on animals and people, as well as raising major geopolitical questions.
But it is not just in the Arctic where the effects of climate change are becoming apparent. The meeting also heard from Stephen Rintoul, a scientist with CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, who described the crucial role played by the Southern Ocean in transporting heat around the globe and in absorbing carbon dioxide.
He said studies show the Southern Ocean is also changing with water at the bottom less saline and less dense than 30 years ago. This change in salinity and density could affect the water’s ability to sink and subsequently slow the ocean circulation.
The recently launched International Polar Year will give scientists an opportunity to study the Southern Ocean in a way they have not before. Scientists from 18 nations are taking part in a project to observe the ocean simultaneously from different locations, as well as in the winter and from under the ice.
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