ICE MELT FLABBERGASTERATION

It seems that some scientists haven't been taking Global Warming seriously enough:

American scientists studying the Arctic icecap say the area covered by sea ice has shrunk for a fourth consecutive year.

Dr Mark Serreze from the NSIDC says he is alarmed that [Arctic] sea ice levels are not fluctuating like they used to.

"I'm flabbergasted, to be honest," he said.

Don't climate models predict this sort of thing, you know, as the planet gets warmer?

National Snow and Ice Data Centre colleague Julianne Stroeve doesn't quite know where to pin the blame for the thaw:

... Ms Stroeve says it is hard to tell whether the melting is due to a natural occurrence, or if can it blamed on increased emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Gee, it's unusual for a science type to be so open minded; isn't Global Warming accepted as fact? If you read on, you'll find she's not open minded at all:

"The Arctic is a huge heatsink, it helps keep the planet cool, and it also drives our circulation because the heat graded between the poles and the equator is what drives our atmospheric, our ocean circulation.

"And what we're doing is we're changing the heat in the Arctic, and it's warming up."

Lucky they've got this ice melt thing figured out; flabbergasted is just one step from discombobulated.