No Ice in the Arctic?

A problem that the Arctic is facing is that more ice in the region is melting in the summer then forming in the winter, resulting in the reduction of the thickness and amount of the Arctic's ice. The European Space agency has hypothesized that at the end of the decade all the ice in the arctic will melt in the summer months, based on their preliminary data. The ice melt rate is suggesting that global warming is increasing in severity of effects on the Arctic Regions. Because of the main problem of ice loss, many other potential problems are stemming off. By losing the ice, the temperature of the region could rise more, because more sunlight would be absorbed by the "darker" oceans. Methane deposits on the floor of the ocean could also melt and enter the atmosphere as a vapor after evaporating. Glaciers, like the ones around Greenland, would be at a higher risk of melting and raising the sea levels faster than said levels are currently. There is also a worry that the disappearance of the ice will cause many industries, such as fishing and oil drilling, to move into the area.

In my opinion, I think that the ice in the Arctic could eventually melt completely, but it is going to take longer than by the end of this decade, at least several decades. The data that the prediction in the article was based did not include some factors, such as the weather, as well as temperatures, differ every year. While the prediction is not unfounded, I think that it is unrealistic and needs to be altered. I do not understand the severity of some of these other problems since the article did not really elaborate on them, though I think some are worrying that industries will move into the area because they think these industries will hurt the environment or alter it further, which I agree with. Using history as a reference, there is a good possibility that something like an oil spill could occur if oil drilling began there, or a species of animal living in the arctic waters could become endangered because of poaching or overfishing. 

There were not any suggested solutions, or barriers for solutions, included in the article, so there was not anything specific that I could form an opinion on. I do not think that it is possible to stop the ice from melting, though the rate of ice melt could possibly be slowed down a little bit. On how to accomplish this, I have no real idea.

http://www.rtcc.org/nature/arctic-could-be-ice-free-in-summer-by-end-of-the-decade-according-to-european-space-agency/