1 .		Data obtained within the last year add to this remarkable story. Military data that have been recently declassified indicated that this same ice, in addition to decreasing in surface area, decreased in thickness by about 40% over the last 3 decades. Based upon the estimates of 7% decline of ice area per decade mentioned above, combined with the 15% thinning per decade of ice thickness, how long do you think the Arctic sea ice will last? Finally, all of the ice located in the Arctic is floating sea ice. This ice has therefore already displaced an equivalent volume of water, so melting will not change global sea level. This is in contrast to ice perched upon land associated with glaciers and larger ice sheets (e.g. Antarctica, Greenland), which when melted will flow into the ocean basin and add new volume to the water contained in the global ocean. Although the melting of sea ice will not affect sea level, it may strongly affect climate. Presently, the high ice concentrations in the polar latitudes reflect much of the incoming solar radiation. Melting of this ice will change the albedo (light absorption characteristic), producing a darker colored surface that absorbs more solar radiation. If this occurs, the effect upon climate will be to positively feedback (strengthen) upon warming in this region of the world, which is already predicted to warm more than the lower latitudes. Warming of water in the higher latitude regions may weaken or eliminate the important thermohaline currents that are presently associated with ocean regions that absorb CO2 and transfer it into the deep ocean basin. This would also result in positive feedback upon CO2 increases in the atmosphere by removing this important sink. Considering the above, interpret this graph. Explain how you arrived at your answer.   To create paragraphs in your essay response, type <p> at the beginning of the paragraph, and </p> at the end.