Melting Arctic ice releases stored toxic chemicals

[ujoni08]

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2011/07 ... micals.php

'As if the threat of rising sea-levels due to rising global temperatures weren't enough cause for concern, new research suggests that as arctic ice melts, it may be releasing much more than just water. According to researchers studying the melting polar caps, as snow cover dwindles as a result of climate change, toxic chemicals stored in the ice from decades of pollution are being 'remobilized' back into the atmosphere -- potentially exposing humans and wildlife to substances known to cause illness and death, for decades to come [...]'.

Jon

[PS_RalphW]

Different form of chemical release, burning tundra

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14306781

An exceptional wildfire in northern Alaska in 2007 put as much carbon into the air as the entire Arctic tundra absorbs in a year, scientists say.

Today's sea ice image is spectacular, the entire arctic is a giant swirl of fragmented ice.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere ... or.000.png

and still 6 weeks of melting to go.,..