Visiting our nation's...or any nation's park system is a great thing to do in the summer (or any season depending on where you are). Camping, fishing, hiking the trails...all great activities, unless of course, the trails get completely washed out. That is what happened up in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island in Canada last month, but this was no freak summer storm. The truth of the matter is much more frightening than thunder bolts and lightening.
From MSNBC:
The problems started last month with two weeks of record temperatures on Baffin Island that reached as high as 81 Fahrenheit, well above the July average of 54 F.That, Scott said, triggered massive melting that sent "a huge pulse of water through the park," washing away 37 miles of a trail used by hikers and destroying a bridge over a river that is otherwise impassable.
Earlier this week, once the extent of the damage had become clear, 21 visitors had to be evacuated by helicopter.
"We're not as worried about the flash flooding as we are about the instability of the ground and the slumping and the cracks appearing all along that entire" length of trail, said Scott.
Melting permafrost, glacial deterioration and anything resulting from record warmth up in the polar regions is a terrible reality. This year we might see the first summer of an ice-free Arctic Ocean for the first time in recorded history and who knows how far back. While some people may think the problems up there have nothing to do with them down here, the reality is that our planet is a closed-system and what affects one region affects us all.
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