I regard this report as a scare tactic. It's hard for most people to actually go up there to see for themselves, but the official reports tell us that there is significantly more ice present at both the north and south poles right now than there was at this time last year.
Even the most earnest supporters of AGW have had to admit recently that, although there was an increase in the average global temperature of approximately half a degree C during the 1990s, in 1998 the temperature increase ceased, and in the last 2 years the average global temperature has actually declined enough to wipe out all the warming of the 1990s. As a matter of fact, the low mountain peaks on Prince of Wales Island, in southeast Alaska, have kept their snow caps in summer for the last two years -- something that hasn't happened since at least 1980.
If you'd like to see what the "iceless" Arctic looks like right now, this picture was taken June 28 by NOAA.
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/latest/noaa2.jpg I get really tired of all these predictions of imminent disaster when the actual circumstances show nothing of the sort.
Nan
