Monday 1 March 2010

Global warming and the Arctic

'Global warming is crap' - so said UK Independence Party Leader Lord Pearson of Rannoch in a press release, last week. Each to their own and other views are available. I mention this as someone sent me the UKIP email while I was reading about explorer Pen Hadow's new expedition to the Arctic to research the acidification of the oceans caused by emissions of carbon dioxide. His team will cross more than 1,000 km of ice pans, frozen ridges and open ocean to help scientists discover how long it will be before the Arctic sea ice disappears due to climate. Video of Hadow can be seen here.

Of course the expedition may well discover that Lord Pearson is indeed correct and 'carbon really ain't pollution' but let's wait and see. Read about the team's training regime here, and more about the expedition itself on the Catlin arctic survey site. Meanwhile an Irish team is about to set off on an endurance trek to the North Pole.

While on the subject of climate change, I was recently searching the Guardian/Observer digital archive for early references and came across the following piece by the Astronomical Correspondent (May 17 1932).

(click to enlarge)

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