Some scientists and climate change explorers predict the Arctic ice cover will be gone during warmer months in 10 years due to the effects of global warming.
Veteran polar explorers, who spent considerable time doing research in the Arctic, revealed the Arctic ice cap will disappear in 20-30 years. It will be largely ice-free during warmer months within a decade.
These observations were noted by a team of research and polar explorers led by adventurer Pen Hadow and two other British explorers.
"The summer ice cover will completely vanish in 20 to 30 years but in less than that it will have considerably retreated," said Professor Peter Wadhams, head of the polar ocean physics group at Britain's prestigious Cambridge University.
"In about 10 years, the
Arctic ice will be considered as open sea.", Wedhams added.
The Arctic ice cap is a very important mix in the climate system. "Remove the Arctic ice cap and we are left with a very different and much warmer world," said Dr. Martin Somerkorn, Senior Climate Change Adviser to the Worldwide Fund for Nature. He said that the ice meltdown is 'happening faster than we thought'.
Loss of sea ice cover will "set in motion powerful climate feedback which will have an impact far beyond the Arctic itself," he added.
"This could lead to flooding affecting one quarter of the world's population, substantial increases in greenhouse gas emission from massive carbon pools and extreme global weather changes."
In the Philippines, flooding and landslides from devastating effects of typhoons, have been linked to the issue of global warming. Environmental experts are saying that similar occurrences will bring much more distractions to life and property.
Last year, the UN weather agency WMO
said "Ice volume around the Arctic region hit the lowest level ever recorded this year as climate extremes brought death and devastation to many parts of the world."
