In early 2019 news about accelerated melting in Arctic and Antarctic made me return to trusted sources. For the Arctic I returned to Prof. Peter Wadhams, the UK’s most experienced sea ice scientist, professor of Ocean Physics, and Head of the Polar Ocean Physics Group in the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at the University of Cambridge.
As opposed to the Antarctic, a continent of mountains and valleys covered in ice, the North Pole is an ocean covered with an ice sheet that touched the coast lines of Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Siberia for 100.000 years. In only 30 years the retreat from the coast lines during the Arctic summer accelerated and an ice free Arctic in September may occur in the early 2020. And the Arctic winter is no longer cold enough to restore ice levels.
Peter Wadhams has made more than 50 expeditions to both polar regions. In his most recent book, A Farewell to Ice, he describes in vivid detail the changes in the Arctic that he has personally observed over 40 years and the danger they pose to the world’s climate.
Dave Borlace runs a YouTube channel that he named: Just Have a Think. He sat down with Peter Wadhams in late November 2018 and asked to be brought up to date on the current situation and the prognosis for the future. My thanks go to Dave for his permission to use this excellent interview, posted on November 24, 2018.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 29:00 — 19.9MB)
