The Ice Has It

More evidence of global warming from study of Arctic winter ice

A NASA scientist has wrested free of his muzzle to declare that the drastic melt of Arctic sea ice is likely caused by global warming. New research published in Geophysical Research Letters shows that for the past two winters, Arctic sea-ice growth at its peak has been 6 percent below the average peak since 1978, consistent with scientific models of human-caused global warming. Arctic summer ice reduction had already been decreasing steadily for years, with the last four summers showing record low ice cover. Lead author Josefino Comiso, a senior research scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, called the new data "the strongest evidence of global warming in the Arctic so far." And if NASA data and computer simulations are right, says Comiso, "this has a very large chance of continuing." Meanwhile, a separate study in Nature has concluded that heat from the sun is not a factor in global warming, as changes in the sun's brightness over the century have been too small to markedly affect the planet's climate.