Scary news via the Insurance Journal today: the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) has released findings indicating that many arctic regions, including the North Pole, could be ice-free in summer months by the year 2040.

This new data was presented at the America's Geophysical Union fall meeting, which is currently underway in San Francisco, according to IJ. The NCAR indicated that the arctic ice is no longer being replenished in the winter months, not to the extent necessary to keep the "historic balance."

While an NCAR bulletin reported that the trend is likely to accelerate and create ice-free summers in the Arctic by 2040, the bulletin also stated that while some noticeable changes have already occurred, new data "suggests that the decrease over the next few decades could be far more dramatic than anything that has happened so far." The study's lead author, Marika Holland, called the changes "surprisingly rapid."

We've reported about the correlation between global warming and insurance rates before. While some climate experts have attributed global warming to the increase in hurricane severity in recent years, the new NCAR study shows us that folks on coasts may have more to worry about that increased home insurance costs.

An earlier NCAR study (2005) found that by the year 2100, Arctic summers may be "as warm as they were nearly 130,000 years ago, when sea levels eventually rose up to 20 feet higher than today." For low-lying cities, including metropolises like New York, Tokyo and London, the effects would be disastrous.

The silver lining? The NCAR report concluded that society can still minimize the impacts of Arctic melting ice.

Quick links:

The full Insurance Journal report

The NCAR study and information

Previous InsureMe post on global warming and insurance