Earth Equity News

2010 Tied (So Far) for Warmest on Record. By John Collins Rudolf, NYTimes, 10/18/10. “With more than two months to go, 2010 is on pace to tie 1998 as the warmest year in the historical record, according to an analysis of land and sea surface temperatures by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Signs of warming were evident in the opening of the Northwest Passage and Northeast Passage to shipping, the third straight year that these normally ice-choked waterways were extensively ice-free in the summer… Sea ice in the Arctic reached its third-lowest extent in the modern record this summer. Sea ice volume, which measures the thickness of ice, reached a record low this year, however, falling nearly 70% below the average of the last 30 years, according to the Polar Science Center of the University of Washington. In North America, warming was especially pronounced in Alaska, where researchers recently announced that the growing season for the state’s interior had expanded from 85 days in the early 20th century to 123 days today.”