Written CommunicationsCall for Restoration of the Arctic International
Program for Cupertino Sustainability Commission
January 16, 2019
By Gary Latshaw
In cooperation with Retired NASA Ames Scientists:
Stan Farkas, Phil Russel, Steve Zornetzer, and Anthony Strawa
10 years to an Ice-Free Arctic
2019 second
lowest average
sea ice volume
since 1979
Map of Arctic Region
Restore Arctic Ice
and Snow
Restoring Arctic Permafrost
thereby containing
decomposition of buried
vegetation
Containing Methane
Hydrates Laying on Arctic
Coastal Seabed
Constraining the Greenland
Ice Sheet Melt by Cooling
Northern Hemisphere
Temperatures
Maintaining Atlantic
Meridional Overturning
Circulation thereby
Stabilizing North Atlantic
Weather Patterns
Reducing Global Heating by
Improving Reflectivity
Comprehensive Result:
Constraining the Rate of Sea
Level Rise
Multiple Earth Systems at Risk from Arctic Disintegration
Disruption of Polar Vortex
causing extreme weather
events
Substantial Global Heating
•More Heat Absorption
in open ocean and
thin ice
Formation of Rivers in Greenland
•Greenland’s Ice
Melt Rate Has Now
Accelerated To A
Whopping 234
Billion Tons Of Ice
Lost Per Year
•Forbes, jan 12,
2020
Atlantic Meridional Overturn Circulation
(AMOC)
•10-15% slow down
Methane Release reaching surface
•Methane Hydrate
Disintegration
•Potential of 0.6 C Global
Warming Alone
Bursts of Methane from Thermokarst Lakes
•Unexpected contribution
Wandering Polar Jet Stream
•More severe weather
•Unpredictable Weather
complicating agriculture
•More Melting
Ask
The Government of the United States
must aggressively implement a broad
international program of RESARCH on
the condition Arctic Sea Ice and Region,
and
establish and implement a program to
RESTORE the Sea Ice and other aspects
of the region.