CLIMATE CHANGE

The 2010 ice amount at the end of the summer season was the third-lowest in the modern record, after 2007 and 2008, showing that there is no recovery in the sharp loss of Arctic ice. The past four years were the lowest in summer area of sea ice, which has been measured since satellite views of the Arctic began in 1979. The trend has been an average loss of summer sea ice of about nine percent per decade.
The ice cover reflects sunlight, keeping the Arctic waters cold; it is habitat to polar bears, birds, walruses and smaller sea life; it protects shorelines where humans and other animals live; and is the ancient landscape and home of natives of the North.
Satellite data indicate that Arctic sea ice is continuing a long-term decline, and remains younger and thinner than it was in previous decades. "All indications are that sea ice will continue to decline over the next several decades," said NSIDC Director Mark Serreze. "We are still looking at a seasonally ice-free Arctic in twenty to thirty years."
Heat wave in summer 2010 was not only in United States, but worldwide
NOAA tracks world temperatures as well as those in the States, and their current mapping shows many areas of the world far above the normal -- the larger the red dot, the farther above normal. Killing heat waves hit China and Eastern Europe, especially Russia.