NOAA - Warmer Arctic Now Probably Permanent - Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The signs of climate change were all over the Arctic this year -- warmer air, less sea ice, melting glaciers -- which probably means this weather-making region will not return to its former, colder state, scientists reported on Thursday.

In an international assessment of the Arctic, scientists from the United States, Canada, Russia, Denmark and other countries said, "Return to previous Arctic conditions is unlikely."

Conditions in the Arctic are important because of their powerful impact on weather in the heavily populated middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere. The heavy snows in the United States, northern Europe and western Asia last winter are linked to higher air temperatures over the Arctic, the scientists found.

"Winter 2009-2010 showed a new connectivity between mid-latitude extreme cold and snowy weather events and changes in the wind patterns of the Arctic, the so-called Warm Arctic-Cold Continents pattern," said the report, issued by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101021/sc_nm/us_climate_arctic

Huh?

Oh, and KNR

Doesn't say how long it took. Can come up w/a few more.

Every year more and more people in Greenland are now going into farming vs. fishing.