Posted on 01/26/2015 12:49:59 PM PST by Robert A Cook PE
WUWT reader Warren Smith writes in with this quiz: TEST YOURSELF: What is your knowledge of how fast the polar ice caps are melting?
1) According to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, as of the end of December 2014, the extent of Arctic sea ice coverage, when compared to the year-end averages from 1981 through 2010, was:
A) About 90% below normal
B) About 75% below normal
C) About 50% below normal
D) About 25% below normal
E) Less than 5% below normal
F) About 33% above normal
2) According to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center, as of the end of December 2014, the extent of Antarctic sea ice coverage, when compared to the year-end averages from 1981 through 2010, was:
A) About 90% below normal
B) About 75% below normal
C) About 50% below normal
D) About 25% below normal
E) Less than 5% below normal
F) About 33% above normal
3) Anybody who questions that the polar ice caps are in the process of a catastrophic melt-off most likely:
A) Is a mentally retarded orangutan who is not a real climate scientist, so should sit down and shut up
B) Works for Fox News
C) Is directly or indirectly on the payroll of the Koch Brothers
D) Is a racist, homophobic, creationist, evangelical, birther, gun-toting, inbred, flat-Earth Republican bigot who tortures puppies for fun on weekends, and who is actively waging war not just on the environment, but on women, people of color, and poor people as well.
E) Is committing a thought crime, and should be prosecuted as a danger to society.
F) All of the above
1) E: Less than 5% below normal. The average extent of Arctic sea ice coverage for the end of December from 1981 to 2010 is given as 13.06 million square kilometers. This year it was 12.52 million square kilometers, down about 4.1% from the average. This is about the same as the historic low in 2011-2012. SOURCE: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
2) F: About 33% above normal. The average extent of Antarctic sea ice coverage for the end of December from 1981 to 2010 is shown as about 4.2 million square kilometers. This year it is shown as about 5.7 million square kilometers, up about 33% from the average. This is the greatest Antarctic ice coverage since records were kept. SOURCE: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/ (the “Antarctic Daily Images” link)
For those “warmists” who are alarmed that global warming is not going as catastrophically as planned, take heart: there is an encouraging statement at the top of the official analysis, stating that although Antarctic sea ice extent was again at a record high, it is “poised for a rapid decline as the austral summer wears on.” There is still hope that the catastrophe we have all been so excited about may yet materialize!
3) This is a trick question. ALL of the answers are equally correct. As is the case with most things having to do with “climate change,” what is important is not the correct (that is, “scientifically supported”) answer, but the socially constructed reality (i.e., “mass hysteria”) that drives the policy to save us from the evils of fossil fuels. The correct answer is whatever helps you to best maintain your belief in the boogie man of global warming.
Oh, by the way, the Antarctic sea ice extent set an all-time recorded history last June, with an “excess” sea ice extent of 2.06 million square kilometers.
This represents an area just under the entire size of Greenland.
True, Arctic sea ice was low the last two years, but the past two years Arctic sea ice remained all year within two standard deviations of the day-to-day normal levels. In other words, right within the range of normal weather changes.
By September, each square meter of “excess” Antarctic sea ice will be reflecting five TIMES the solar energy received up north above the Arctic.
Keep in mind that we only have satellite data on the size of the icecaps dating back to 1979. So there is no way to know what ‘normal’ fluctuations are for the icecaps over a long span of time!
We have anecdotal evidence like a picture of a US submarine floating at the north pole in the 1940’s surrounded by open water that would indicate that they do indeed fluctuate quite a bit. I like to mention this to people that belive in the global warming crap.
As for glaciers, its the same thing. There is no long term measurements and data on all of the glaciers, let alone half of them! In fact, I read that we only have long term data (>100 years) on 30 or 40 of them.
Another good example:
Kilimanjaro Snow Gone By 2015 (Hyperventilating panic article from 2001)
http://www.outdoorsmagic.com/travel-news/kilimanjaro-snow-gone-by-2015/1079.html
2011 Article (LOL!): ‘Scientific experts’ confounded by increasing snow cover on Mount Kilimanjaro
http://www.sott.net/article/245883-Scientific-experts-confounded-by-increasing-snow-cover-on-Mount-Kilimanjaro
1/14/2015 Photo: http://climbformemory.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/11/kili.jpg
Bttt.
Bkmrk
We also have such things as the escape hatch stairway leading from Harlech Castle down to the sea, ending a good 6’ above current mean sea level. A few years back, there were photos of this on the Castle website, with commentary that, back when the castle was built (around AD 1200, iirc), “sea levels were much higher.”
The photo and the commentary have since been removed from the website. Wonder why...
By what year did Al Bore say all the polar ice would be gone?
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