(COMTEX) B: Breaking Glaciers Imperil Arctic Lifestyle ( AP Online )
ILULISSAT, Greenland, Sep 02, 2005 (AP Online via COMTEX) -- Watching the
gargantuan chunks of ice break off the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier and thunder into
an Arctic fjord is a spectacular sight.
To Greenland's Inuit population, it is also deeply worrisome. The frequency and
size of the crumbling blocks are a powerful reminder that the ice sheet covering
the world's largest island is thinning, which scientists say is one of the most
glaring examples of global warming.
"In the past we could walk on the ice in the fjord between the icebergs for a
six-month period during the winter, drill holes and fish," said Joern
Kristensen, a local fisherman. "We can only do that for a month or two now. It
has become more difficult to drive dogs sleds because the ice between the
icebergs isn't solid anymore."
In 2002-2003, a six-mile stretch of the Sermeq Kujalleq glacier broke off and
drifted silently out of the fjord near Ilulissat, Greenland's third largest
town, 155 miles north of the Arctic Circle.
Although Greenland is the prime example, scientists say the effects of climate
change are noticeable throughout the Arctic region, from the northward spread of
spruce beetles in Canada to melting permafrost in Alaska and northern Russia.
Indigenous people who for centuries have adapted their lives to the cold, fear
that the changes, however small and gradual, could have a profound impact.
"We can see a trend that the fall is getting longer and wetter," said
Lars-Anders Baer, a political leader for Sweden's indigenous Sami, a
once-nomadic people with a long tradition of reindeer herding.
"If the climate gets warmer, it is probably bad for the reindeer. New species
(of plants) come in and suffocate other plants that are the main food for the
reindeer," he said.
Rising temperatures are also a concern in the Yamalo-Nenets region in Western
Siberia, said Alexandr Navyukhov, 49. He is an ethnic nenet, a group that mostly
lives off hunting, fishing and deer breeding.
"We now have breams in our river, which we didn't have in the past because that
fish is typical for warmer regions," he said. "On the one hand it may look like
good news, but breams are predatory fish that prey upon fish eggs, often of rare
kinds of fish."
Melting permafrost has damaged hundreds of buildings, railway lines, airport
runways and gas pipelines in Russia, according to the Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment, a report commissioned by the Arctic Council and released in 2004.
Research has also shown that populations of turbot, Atlantic cod and snow crab
are no longer found in some parts of the Bering Sea, an important fishing zone
between Alaska and Russia, and that flooding along the Lena River, one of
Siberia's biggest, has increased with warming temperatures.
In Greenland, Anthon Utuaq, a 68-year-old retired hunter, said he is worried a
warmer climate will make it more difficult for his son to continue the family
trade.
"Maybe it will be difficult for him to find the seals," Utuaq said, resting on a
bench in the east coast town of Kulusuk. "They will head north to colder places
if it gets warmer."
Arctic sea ice has decreased by approximately 8 percent, or 386,100 square miles
over the past 30 years.
In Sisimiut, Greenland's second-largest town, lakes have doubled in size in the
last decade.
"Greenland was perceived as this huge solid place that would never melt," said
Robert Corell of the American Meteorological Society. "The evidence is now so
strong that the scientific community is convinced that global warming is the
cause."
Climate change has been a hotly discussed issue for decades, but efforts to
fight it have moved slowly. There is not even unanimity on how much of the
problem is a result of human activity, notably the burning of fossil fuels, and
how much of it can be attributed to natural processes.
"We know that temperatures have gone up and it's partly caused by man. But let's
hold our horses because it's not everywhere that the ice is melting. In the
Antarctic, only 1 percent is melting," said Bjoern Lomborg, a Danish researcher
who claims the threat of global warming has been exaggerated.
What is clear is that the average ocean temperature off Greenland's west coast
has risen in recent years - from 38.3 F to 40.6 F and glaciers have begun to
retreat, said Carl Egede Boeggild, a glaciologist with Geological Survey of
Denmark and Greenland, a government agency.
The Sermilik glacier in southern Greenland has retreated 6.84 miles, and the
Sermeq Kujalleq glacier near Ilulissat also is moving at a faster pace, said
Henrik Hoejmark Thomsen of the geological survey.
In 1967, satellite imagery measured it moving at 4.3 miles per year. In 2003, it
was twice that - 8.1 miles per year.
"What exactly happened, we don't know but it appears to be the effect of climate
change," said Hoejmark Thomsen.
Last month, U.S. scientists issued a report saying the rate of ice melting in
the Arctic is increasing and within a century could lead to summertime ice-free
ocean conditions not seen in the area in a million years.
With warmer temperatures, some bacteria, plants and animals could disappear,
while others will grow and thrive. Polar bears and other animals that depend on
sea ice to breed and forage are at risk, scientists say. There are fears that
polar bears and some seal species could face extinction in just decades because
of global warming.
The thinning of the sea ice presents a danger to both humans and polar bears,
said Peter Ewins, director of Arctic conservations for the World Wildlife Fund
Canada.
"The polar bears need to be there to catch enough seals to see them through the
summer in open warm water systems. Equally, the Inuit need to be out there on
the ice catching seals and are less and less able to do that because the ice is
more unstable, thinner," he said.
When NASA started taking satellite images of the Arctic region in the late 1970s
and computer technology improved, scientists noted alarming patterns and
theorized they were caused by the emission of so-called greenhouse gases,
emitted by industries and internal combustion engines, that create a
heat-trapping layer in the atmosphere.
Inuit leaders, like Sheila Watt-Cloutier whose efforts won her the 2005 Sophie
environment prize in Norway earlier this year, are trying to draw attention to
the impact of climate change and pollution on the traditional lifestyles of the
Arctic's indigenous people.
"When I was a child, the weather used to be more stable, it worries me to see
and hear all this," Greenland Premier Hans Enoksen said on the sidelines of an
environmental officials' meeting in Ilulissat last month. The meeting ended with
statements of concern, sincere calls for measure to address the problem - and no
action.
The Kyoto Protocol that took effect in February aims to reduce global greenhouse
gas emissions. But the 140 nations that have signed the pact don't include the
United States, which produces one-quarter of the gases.
U.S. President George W. Bush's administration says participating in the pact
would severely damage the U.S. economy. Many scientists say that position
undermines the whole planet and they point to Greenland as the leading edge of
what the globe could suffer.
"Greenland is the canary in a mine shaft alerting us," said Corell, the American
meteorologist. "In the U.S., global warming is a tomorrow issue. ... For us
working here, it hits you like a ton of bricks when you see it."
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AP writers Maria Danilova and Jim Heintz in Moscow, Karl Ritter in Stockholm,
Sweden, and Beth Duff-Brown in Toronto contributed to this report.
By JAN M. OLSEN
Associated Press Writer
Copyright 2005 Associated Press, All rights reserved
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