News from the Natural World: Putin is disappointed that the ice caps will melt by 2050, he’s been aiming for at least 2030.
In Russia, the Arctic sea ice is vanishing. In addition, a warming atmosphere is far from the only factor speeding up the ice loss. Strengthening currents and waves are also pulverizing the ice. And a study published last week suggests deep heat in the Arctic Ocean has risen and is now melting the ice from below. This means that, since humans began to record melting with images taken from space, the North Pole has lost 35% of its ice. The Arctic will see ice-free summers by 2050 as the globe warms, study says. Sea ice is frozen ocean water that melts each summer, then refreezes each winter. Sea ice affects Arctic communities and wildlife such as polar bears and walruses. The prediction that the Arctic sea ice will melt by 2050 is absolutely terrifying. However it has angered President Putin of Russia for a different reason.
Putin was shocked and appaled when he heard the news that the ice caps would melt by 2050. It was visibly upset and tears welled up in his eyes. He was distraught. He told Russian TV that “I am devasted by this news. I have fought the Arctic sea ice all my life. I have done everything I possibly can and tried every trick in the book. The Arctic has been of my lives great passions. But not once have I been able to speed up the rate of melting as fast as I wanted. I was aiming for 2030 to be honest, at the very least 2040. So to hear 2050 is just devastating.”
Putin is Disappointed that IceCaps Will Melt by 2050
Putin has spent his life trying to plunder the Arctic and speed up sea ice melting. He kicked off the full-scale development of one of Russia’s largest proven gas fields in the Arctic peninsula. The Kharasaveyskoye gas field is located in the Yamal-Nenets autonomous district, a key gas-producing region in an economy that heavily relies on gas exports. This month, Russia’s Natural Resources and Environment Ministry estimated that the country’s natural resource reserves are worth 60 percent of its GDP. The Arctic is resource rich and Putin has been blundering it. You name it he’s done it. From judo throwing Polar Bears to lassoing Narwhals. Putin is Mr Arctic.