This is lava from Erta Ale, an active shield volcano in the East African Rift. (It hasn't erupted since 2005, but lava flow persists.) In this region of Africa, saltwater from the Red Sea will flood the area, and localized earthquakes continue to affect those who dare to live anywhere near this region. You can view the full breakdown of how an ocean is born here, with more stunning photography from Haddock. In the meantime, try to prevent these sulfuric pools from reaching your bedside.

Birth of an Ocean: How It Works [Scientific American]
Scientists Witness 'Ocean Birth' [BBC News]

And yes, you can mostly blame developing nations for the increase, scientists told the Washington Post:

The new statistics also underscore the growing contribution to the world's "carbon budget" from rapidly industrializing countries such as China, India and Brazil. Developing nations have roughly doubled their carbon output in less than two decades and now account for slightly more than half of total emissions, according to the new figures, up from about a third in 1990. By contrast, total carbon emissions from industrialized nations are only slightly higher than in 1990.

But the article also points out that the federal government still predicts U.S. carbon output will increase, not decrease, in the years to come. Worse yet, we may already have screwed the pooch — even if we stop generating any greenhouse gases tomorrow, we're still looking at a 4.3 degree (Fahrenheit) temperature rise this century. That's partly due to the fact that air-quality measures have reduced our output of aerosols, which actually cool the atmosphere slightly.

Scientists say an increase of anywhere from 3.2 to 9.7 degrees would trigger changes that include major melting of some of the world's greatest ice sheets. Just in case you were too wrapped up in obsessing about the horrendous state of the economy and the failed bailout bill, here's something to get your mind off them.

Image by NORBERTO DUARTE/AFP/Getty Images. [Washington Post]

Here's the old-school Arctic Ocean, the way it looked before the 2000s when things started melting.

(Satellite views via NASA/RADARSAT/Alaska Synthetic Aperture Radar Facility.)

Here's a model predicting almost complete ice melt by 2050.

Chart via Fullerton College

And you've probably seen this image before. It's the most commonly-used infographic showing the extreme ice melting that's taken place over the past decade. The ice cap has shrunk nearly 40 percent in summers during that time, and will probably shrink more than that before this year's melting season is over in late September.

Time lapse map via Wikipedia.

Get used to seeing an ice-free Arctic coast. This was taken last year off the coast of Alaska.

Arctic Coast via Sulekha.com.

About five years ago, some scientists argued that heavy cloud cover over the Arctic would protect the ice from melting. Here is a photograph of those clouds from 2003. Sadly, the swirly clouds didn't prevent melting, and the biggest melts came in 2005 and 2007.

Satellite photo of clouds over Arctic Ocean from 2003 via University of Wisconsin-Madison.

A big worry for environmental scientists right now is the melting of the ice sheet on Greenland, which you can see illustrated here. Obviously, this huge ice sheet melting will raise water levels, but it will also have an effect you might not have realized: When ice melts and then refreezes, it can absorb up to four times more sunlight, and therefore will melt more easily next season and create a magnified melting effect.

Greenland melt from 2005 via NASA.