Alaskan Average Temperatures Up 5F Since 1960s; Up 8F In Interior During Winter Months - Reuters

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Rooting through a handful of mossy duff, Berg, an ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, shows remains of shrubs and other plants taking hold over the last 30 years in a patch of ground that has long been too soggy for woody plants to grow. In other words, the ground is drying out, and the peat bog is turning into forest. "There has been a big change," Berg said. Core samples taken from the bog show moss nearly 22 feet under the ground, with no sign of trees or shrubs growing here for centuries, Berg said. In 50 years, the bog could be covered by black spruce trees, he said.

Welcome to Alaska, where the blow of climate change will fall harder than on any other U.S. state. Records indicate that Alaska has already experienced the largest regional warming of any U.S. state -- an average 5 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) since the 1960s and about 8 degrees Fahrenheit (4.5 degrees Celsius) in the interior of the state during winter months.

"We've got mounds of evidence that an extremely powerful and unprecedented climate-driven change is underway," said Glenn Juday, a forest ecologist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks.

"It's not that this might happen, Juday said. "These changes are underway and there are more changes coming."

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http://uk.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20080819&t=2&i=5659712&w=&r=2008-08-19T162231Z_01_N19282797_RTRUKOP_0_PICTURE0

Image - Spruce trees killed by bark beetles in the Kenai Peninsula show up here as golden in color.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/environmentNews/idUKN1928279720080819

:sarcasm:

one of our guides actually scoffed at the concept, until he was nicely shut down by a fellow cruiser who also was a biologist... was ahem FUN

And yes, for the record it has been the coldest summer in a while... just our luck... but it was a great vacation.

The highest point along the road through the Everglades is THREE FEET. :o