2000-2009: The Warmest Decade Since 1850 Records

What's to debate about when everywhere in the world, there are signs that the earth has warmed. Whether it's climate change or not, the whole planet is experiencing a warming that has melted glaciers, shrunk polar ice, and flooded low masses of lands in oceans. Now, the United Nations has announced that the years between 2000 and 2009 are the warmest since record-keeping began in 1850. Climate scientists are predicting at warmer years ahead. Should this be a cause for concern? It's likely.

Between 2007 and 2009, the Arctic ice cap was reduced to the smallest ever recorded due to summer melt. This opened up new sea routes in areas that used to be ice clad. The situation posed questions on how Arctic life would fare with very little ice since a lot of animals there depend much on solid ice in order to thrive.

According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the warmest years since 1850 are 2005, 1998, 2007 and 2006, although the difference in temperatures between them are so little to be statistically insignificant. The recent climate change talks in Copenhagen (2009) sought to encourage governments worldwide to help in mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and get their commitment to the cause by implementing solid measures to deal with the problem.

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Melting Arctic Opens Northwest Passage

The shrinkage of Arctic ice has freed "iced" water to allow ships to use the Northwest passage and cut trips times between North America, Russia, and Asia. Arctic ice has melted to the lowest level since the late 1970s when satellite photos of the top of the world were taken. It is believed that global warming due to anthropogenic (man-made) emissions of carbon dioxide is the cause of the shrinkage.

It is believed that vast resources of oil and other fossil fuels exist underneath the Arctic, and nations like Canada, The United States, and Russia are scrambling to be the first to make the discovery and claims. A Russian submarine has already planted a flag underneath the North Pole. Ironically, the discovery and use of more carbon-dioxide-releasing fossil fuels will theoretically only contribute more to global warming and ice-melt.

The picture above shows how much the Arctic has shrunk, enough to allow ships to pass along its fringes during the summer season. Some believe that the whole of the Arctic will be free of ice in fifty years' time.

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The Northern European Hemisphere at Night

This is a composite image made by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the Northern Hemisphere in Europe and part of Africa and Eurasia. At the top is the Arctic, which Russian scientists and members of parliament are currently exploring, going down in a submarine called Mir to the bottom of the Arctic Sea, 14,000 feet below the surface. The Russians have laid claim to much of the Arctic, asserting that a seabed ridge called the Lomonosov Ridge, which extends to Northern Canada, is really part of the Russian continent.