In article . com,
says...

Eric Swanson wrote:
In article ,
says...

Eric Swanson wrote:


Careful with that axe Eugene, there are only eight months
in the animation - not enough to make longer term pronouncements.

Yes, Mr. 4bush should be more careful with his cutting implements.
In case he missed the longer term view, he should take another look at the
first graph on the web page referenced above. You know, the one labeled
"Sea ice extent trend for the Northern Hemisphere". He night have noticed
the date begins in 1975 and continues thru 2004.

Is that your point?

No point, just trying to broaden understanding.

I think the point is that the Earth is warming and one indication of
this is a decline in the extent of sea-ice at the end of the melt season
in the Arctic.


Suppose that ice cover north of the Barents Sea anno February 2005
equals that of june/july 2004, would that have opened the possibility
of sailing to the north pole without the help of an icebreaker, at the
end of the melt season ?

I'm not sure I understand your point.
Are you suggesting that the sea-ice of 4 July 04 is like that today?
ftp://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/ice/nh/nh.20040704.gif
ftp://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/ice/nh/nh.20050216.gif

The melt season usually ends in late September or October.
ftp://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/ice/nh/nh.20040922.gif

Notice the ice free areas due to the THC in the North Atlantic
There's still much open water at the (approximate) date of maximum extent.
ftp://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/pub/ice/nh/nh.20040322.gif

--
Eric Swanson --- E-mail address: e_swanson(at)skybest.com :-)
--------------------------------------------------------------