A Super Tanker without a Captain

The Arctic sea ice is an important indicator of change taking place in the climate systems of our planet. If this was on the control panel of a super tanker there would be a flashing red light and the Captain would be woken to come to the bridge. Evasive action would be needed to prevent the tanker foundering.  Of course if the crew get it wrong they can abandon ship; but we cannot abandon planet Earth. When the climate changes, we will have to fight for space to live in places above the rising sea level and regions where it is still possible to grow crops.

Credit: NASA/Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio

The advanced technology of our satellites gathering images 24/7 and transmission over the internet allow us to monitor the Earth’s indicators in real time.  These pictures show that sea ice reached its smallest extent on 16 September; it is now starting to rebuild as the season changes and the Arctic moves towards winter. This annual expansion and contraction is part of the normal cycle but the minimum ice extent this year is the smallest ever recorded. Scientists at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) report that sea ice extent fell to 3.41 million square kilometers (1.32 million square miles), now the lowest summer minimum extent in the satellite record. “We are now in uncharted territory,” said NSIDC Director Mark Serreze. “While we’ve long known that as the planet warms up, changes would be seen first and be most pronounced in the Arctic, few of us were prepared for how rapidly the changes would actually occur.”

This is flashing a warning from the systems of planet Earth but the Earth’s system respond very slowly. Like a super tanker that turns ever so slowly after the rudder position is shifted, excess carbon dioxide emissions need controlling now or there will be no stopping the consequences. It may already be too late to prevent climate change but a good Captain would take evasive action to limit the damage. It would be incompetent to leave the ship to continue on the same course.

NSIDC scientist Julienne Stroeve said, “Recent climate models suggest that ice-free conditions may happen before 2050, though the observed rate of decline remains faster than many of the models are able to capture.” Serreze said, “While lots of people talk about opening of the Northwest Passage through the Canadian Arctic islands and the Northern Sea Route along the Russian coast, twenty years from now from now in August you might be able to take a ship right across the Arctic Ocean.”

There seems to be no intention to respond to this warning but to keep the fossil-fuel economy going at full tilt. It is as if the world leaders are on the Bridge of a super tanker, the warning light has come on, and rather than respond they have placed a coat over the control panel, leaving them free to discuss the opportunities of an ice-free Arctic Ocean. “What warning? I see no warning.”

It is a shame that planet Earth doesn’t have one Captain; we will not know who to prosecute for wilful incompetence.