Bad news for bears: Ice still melting

ANCHORAGE, Alaska, Feb. 12 (UPI) -- Scientists say the ice pack at the North Pole continues to melt at a pace that could be picking up speed.

University of Washington Climatologist Ignatius Rigor told a news conference in Anchorage Monday unusual weather patterns that contributed to a record melt in 2007 are continuing this winter.

The situation is being closely monitored, in part because of a proposal to list the polar bear, which spends much of its time on polar ice, as a threatened species, the Anchorage Daily News said.

Rigor warned that although official measurements would not be made for another month, the evidence is clear the older ice in the polar region is nearly gone, probably for good.

"Have we passed the tipping point?" he asked. "It's hard to see how the system may come back."

The Daily News said Rigor, who was attending an environmental conference in Alaska this week, pointed out about 89 percent of the ice in the region in 1989 was more than 10 years old. Currently, only 3 percent of the ice is 10 years old.

Current conditions include not only higher temperatures but also the Arctic oscillation, a weather pattern that moves more pack ice into the North Atlantic