Some companies even seem to celebrate the melting of the polar ice cap, because it will reduce the cost of extracting the oil that lies beneath the Arctic Ocean.

The melting of arctic ice is one example.

They found the arctic ice impenetrable, and soon gave up their quest.

But ice-free arctic waters are more than a symptom of global warming.

They are themselves a cause of further warming: ice and snow reflect the sun's rays.

Sea levels are rising, and could climb sharply if global warming leads to a destabilization of the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets.

POTSDAM - Recent satellite observations have confirmed the accuracy of two independent computer simulations that show that the West Antarctic ice sheet has now entered a state of unstoppable collapse.

Although West Antarctica's fate is sealed, we may still be able to prevent the collapse of East Antarctica's marine ice sheet.

Core samples from the Greenland ice cap, for example, show occasional sudden drops in temperature.

Last September, Arctic sea ice covered the smallest area ever recorded.

The Anthropocene Period could be said to have started in the latter part of the eighteenth century, when analyses of air trapped in polar ice showed the beginning of growing global concentrations of CO2 and methane.

The rising concentration of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases is leading to more extreme storms, higher-intensity hurricanes, rising ocean levels, melting glaciers and ice sheets, droughts, floods and other climate changes.

We don't want to go back under the ice.

But that planned monetary union, until recently envisaged to be launched in 2009, has now been put on ice.

For example, consider methane clathrate, an ice-like stone that in most cases is built in an ordered way by a complex collaboration of microbes.

What is important is that we recognize the existence of gigantic parts of the earth's climate system - such as West Antarctica's three-quadrillion-ton ice sheet - that can be tipped when a fractional temperature rise occurs in key locations.

There are huge resources of fresh water, but most is in ice sheets and glaciers, with only a small percentage readily available where and when we need it.

The ice began to crack on November 17, when Representative John Murtha, a hawkish Democratic congressman and marine veteran, suggested pulling troops out of Iraq in six months.

While the Prius is a normal ICE automobile with a small motor, the Volt will be an electric vehicle with an engine alongside.

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