A new joint study by NASA and the University of Washington in Seattle spanning several years paints a grim picture that a phenomenon known to climatologist as polar amplification is well underway at the top of the world:

In 2003, 62 percent of the ocean’s ice cover was older, thicker ice, with 38 percent in seasonal layers, the researchers found. Five years later, 68 percent of the ice cap was made up of seasonal ice. The amount of ice replaced in the winter hasn’t been enough in recent years to compensate for the loss in the summer, which leads to more open water, which in turn absorbs heat, warming the ocean and further melting the ice, the researchers said.

The physics are uncomfortably familiar in the middle of July to anyone whose car has a dark interior. Dark material soaks up sunlight and heats up. In the Arctic, warmer global temperatures melts more ice which uncovers darker, underlying land and sea. The darker surface heats up and raises the surrounding temperature, melting more ice. The process feeds back, ruthlessly, amplifying global temperature increases in the region by a factor of two or more. The precise consequences are as unpredictable as the immediate fate of the North Pole.

"The fine details of crack formation and how sea water interacts dynamically with the sea ice, are complicated. Even the most elaborate models may not capture it completely," said Dr. Michael Mann, coauthor of Dire Predictions. "In some of the more aggressive models, the Arctic becomes essentially ice free at the height of summer within fifty years, and that's plausible, but not certain."

But even with the Arctic transforming before our eyes, right wing pundits and bloggers are more preoccupied with altering a story to claim that Al Gore compared climate change skeptics to Hitler. Energy lobbyists and their puppy dog deniers in the Senate will take up and no doubt water down a historic climate change bill. Talented, industry funded shills like Marc Morano will challenge viewers to believe him and not their lying eyes. That's the modern Republican Party for you, boldly riding to the rescue of the rich and powerful with the conservative double standard waving proudly over their heads.