Article I ran across recently got me thinking about this so I gathered a few details which might be interesting. First a few visuals.

Satellite imagery of the arctic ice sheets dated September 4 2001, September 4 2006, and the most recent at September 4 2007.

As you can see the ice sheets are melting, and fast. The Northwest passage which has been a legend of sorts for as long as we've known about the area is about to become very real, it's all but open now and will be soon. The estimates used to be a ice free summertime Arctic somewhere between 2070 and 2100, then 2050, now they are estimating as early as 2030. 23 years. Interesting thing seems to be that as it melts that in itself accelerates the melt, dark water absorbs heat the white ice used to reflect, 1/3 of it gone in the 30 years we've tracked it.

The Guardian, a British newspaper, did a short article on the subject which can be found here.

The estimates and more esoteric work have always been easier to argue or ignore but it's starting to take a pretty solid form which is hard to deny these days. Yes, the estimates are still subject to change but the problem is no longer one we can really deny. Only debate left seems to be what to do about it.

That satellite imagery really hits it home drattus. The rulers of the world will watch this clip and think "hey remind me to buy stocks in arctic shipping rigs"

*canada

Adding video to channels (Canada) - requested by calvados.

Last link in my earlier post (for the 2007 pic) is no longer accurate due to the shift from current to archive. Updated URL is this one.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/ARCHIVE/20070904.jpg