Media Credibility, Not Ice Caps, In Meltdown

American Thinker ^ | February 23, 2009 | Peter C Glover

[neverdem]

Eco-warriors and media hype aside, the fact is, as we head into 2009, that the world's ice mass has been expanding not contracting. Which will surprise evening news junkies fed a diet of polar bears floating about on ice floes and snow shelves falling into the oceans. But if a whole series of reports on ice growth in the Arctic, the Antarctic and among glaciers are right, then it is truth in the mainstream media (MSM) that's in meltdown not the polar ice caps.

The problem for the MSM is that it long ago nailed its colors to the climate alarmist mast. No ice cap meltdown, no rising waters. No disappearing islands, no reason for alarm. No alarm, no story. Worst of all having called yet another global apocalypse wrong: No credibility. So the MSM has a significant stake in running highly selective warm-mongering headlines. Not to mention disparaging those scientists who have the temerity to disagree as 'holocaust deniers' and 'pseudo-scientists'.

There's nothing more the climate alarmist media loves than a 'melting Arctic' ice cap story. So why not stories from the far larger expanse of ice that is the 'melting' Antarctic? Well it might have something to do with the fact that the Antarctic ice grew to record levels in 2007 - and continues to grow.

The Antarctic

Climate scientist Dr Ben Herman, past director of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics and former head of Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Arizona, notes that for the media, "What happens in the Arctic may be an indicator of what will happen in the rest of the world. How about what happens in the Antarctic then? Since its ice area has been increasing, is this also an indicator of what might be happening in the rest of the world?" The FACT is that the majority of Antarctica has cooled over the past 50 years and ice coverage has grown to record levels. Take the well-publicized collapse of a 160 square mile block of the Wilkins Ice Shelf in Antarctica in March 2008. For the alarmist media this was conclusive proof of the dramatic global warming effects. The Los Angeles Times ran, 'Antarctica Collapse' referring to the "rapid melt of the Wilkins Shelf". The Sydney Morning Herald ran 'Ice Shelf Hangs By a Thread' and the Salon online news site had the absurd headline 'Bye-bye Antarctica?'  But Joseph D'Aleo, first Director of Meteorology at The Weather Channel and Chief Meteorologist at Weather Services International, was more prosaic.  On his IceCap website, D'Aleo wrote that the collapse was the equivalent, given the enormity of Antarctica, of "an icicle falling from a snow and ice covered roof." He added, "The latest satellite images and reports suggest the ice has already refrozen around the broken pieces. In fact the ice is returning so fast, it is running an amazing 60 percent ahead of last year when it set a new record." Noting the ludicrous media hype, D`Aleo laments, "Yet the world is left with the false impression Antarctica's ice sheet is also starting to disappear." 

Dr Herman adds an apposite footnote: "It is interesting that all of the AGW (anthropogenic global warming) stories concerning Antarctica are always about what's happening around the western peninsula, which seems to be the only place on Antarctica that has shown any warming." Herman asks, "How about the rest of the continent, which is probably about 95 percent of the land mass, not to mention the record sea ice coverage recently."

Former Colorado State Climatologist and current senior scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, Dr Roger Pielke Sr is severely critical of the "typical bias that many journalists have." Pielke notes, "The media has ignored the increase in Antarctica sea ice cover in recent years, with at present, a coverage that is one million square kilometres above average."

In December 2006, Dr Duncan Wingham, Professor of Climate Physics at University College London and Director for Polar Observation and Modelling, presented evidence that showed "Antarctic thinning was no more common than thickening". Wingham and his colleagues found that 72 percent of the Antarctica ice sheet was growing at the rate of 5 millimetres per year. Most significantly, Dr Wingham commits media heresy when he states: "That makes Antarctica a sink, not a source, of ocean water. According to their best estimates, Antarctica will 'lower global sea levels by 0.08 mm' per year." Sacrilege.

Statistician Dr Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical Environmentalist and professor at the Copenhagen Business School, observes the media covers only the "2 percent of Antarctica [that] is dramatically warming and ignores the 98 percent that has largely cooled over the past 35 years." Lomborg also rounds on Al Gore who "points to shrinking sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere, but doesn't mention that sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere is increasing."

And for those for whom the UN IPCC is the last word on all things climate, Dr Madhav L. Khandekar, retired Environment Canada scientist and an expert IPCC reviewer, says, "In the Southern Hemisphere, the land-sea mean temperature has slowly but surely declined in the last few years." He adds, "Several other locations in the Southern Hemisphere have experienced lower temperatures in the last few years" the result of "surface temperatures over world oceans slowly declining since mid-1998." Interestingly the very year the mean global temperature itself began a decline.

Fair enough. But the Arctic is melting, right? Sorry, it just ain't that simple. October 2008 saw the fastest Arctic sea ice extent growth ever recorded.

The Arctic

During October and November 2008 the extent of Arctic ice was 28.7 percent greater than during the same period in 2007. According to data published by the International Arctic Research Center (IARC/JAXA) October 2008 saw "the fastest ever growth" of Arctic Sea ice since records began. Not good news for doomsayers like Dr Mark Serreze of the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Dr Serreze had predicted an ice-free North Pole in the summer of 2008.

The Arctic has indeed undergone some warming in some areas, especially Greenland, a warming that culminated in a summer temperature high of 5 degrees C in 2007. The gradual melt has opened up the prospect of newly navigable seaways - and a rush for the Arctic's energy-rich deepwater reserves. The reality is, however, warming periods are nothing new to the Arctic. When the Vikings settled Greenland they grew crops in temperatures higher than those of today.

The media has also made much of the potential opening of the Northwest Passage. But it rarely mentions that similar weather patterns prevailed in the 1930s when two boats, the Nascopie and Aklavik, famously met up in the Passage in 1937. In October 2008, a study by Ohio University confirmed that current Arctic warming patterns mimic those in the 1920s-1940s. By July 2008 the Arctic ice had increased by nearly half a million square miles over the same first half year period in 2007. A NASA study published in the peer-reviewed Geophysical Research Letters in October 2007 had already noted that thinning Arctic ice was more likely the result of "unusual winds" that had blown "older thicker" ice into warmer southern waters. In other words, the Arctic warming experienced more recently could well be the result of the unusual strength of winds, not man-made warming.

According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center's own figures, world sea ice in April 2008 reached "unprecedented" levels for the month of April. The World Meteorlogical Organization (WMO) went to declare 2008 the coolest since 2000. Moreover, the WMO reports that the fall in the global mean temperature since 1998 is not just affecting the polar ice caps either, it is also affecting glaciers elsewhere.

The Glaciers

In October 2008, after a particularly bitterly cold Alaskan summer, glaciologists began reporting that Alaskan glaciers, particularly those at Glacier Bay where the shrinkage had mainly been had begun advancing for the first time in years. Glaciologist Bruce Molnia of the US Geological Survey said, "In mid-June, I was surprised to see snow still at sea level in Prince William Sound." He adds "On the Juneau Icefield, there was still 20 feet of new snow on the surface in late July. At Bering Glacier, a landslide I am studying did not become snow free until early August." In short, 2008 was the first time since record began that Alaskan glaciers did not shrink during the summer months.

In late November 2008, reports from Norway showed that Alaska's glacier experience was being replicated there too. Hallgeir Elvehoy of the Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate (NVE) reported that the magnitude of glacial growth appears to have been underway for two years. Glacier growth has also been reported from Canada and New Zealand.

The facts adduced here represent just the tip of an under-reported iceberg (no pun intended). The fact that the world's ice mass is expanding not contracting is plainly of seismic importance in the climate debate. But, in many of its parts, the Western media appears to have a stake in freezing out the truth - having sold its journalistic soul for a mess of warm-mongering alarmist pottage.

Peter C Glover is a British writer specializing in political and energy issues and is European Associate Editor at Energy Tribune and has been published widely on climate issues. His website is here.

[skinkinthegrass]

Media Credibility, Not Ice Caps, In Meltdown
*snicker*....WHAT CREDIBILITY! (not since 1967)... no more needs to be said.
"Socialism is great until you run out of someone elses money" Margaret Thatcher
There are two sets of rules. One set for the rulers and another for the rest of us. —Richard Yancey, former IRS tax collector

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks neverdem.

· join · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post new topic ·

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks neverdem.

Neverdem does a superb job with variety, coverage, and discretion (and formatting) — I think I’ll stop or very greatly greatly reduce my no doubt too-active mini list pinging, which I’ve always filenamed “The Usual Suspects”.

Is that okay with everyone?

[Monkey Face]

Thanks, Elsie!
I need that!

ROTFL!!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks....well this is some positive news....need more such news.!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Anyone see the CSPIN presentation of Boone Pickens at the National Governors conference...last night ( likely a replay ) where he was followed by the Executive from a big Electric Utility...who launced into a recital of how the Grid must be expanded and the only way to pay for it was utilizing the mechanism of either Cap and Trade or Carbon Credits...that we had to do something about Global Warming....

His bill for expanding the Grid and adding power plants ...etc will raise cost per kilowatt hour by at least $0.15 ( double for me in CA ( most expensive in the Nation I believe ) and would require over a Trillion dollars over the next decade or two....

****************************

Disclaimer it was late and I was more focused on Pickens who was into some good details on why aren't we using Natural Gas for our 18 wheelers...the LA Basin is the pilot project...he is doing well with it...particularly at the port ) and didn't mention a thing about Wind Power...

The air here is still very dirty...ran a fan around in my neighborhood and it gets a nice collection of crap on the fan edge over time....really screws up the fans in a computer case if case doesn't have good filters....

Been replacing motherboards which get hot from this cause. Gov Rendell of PA ,,...was somewhat aghast at that omission...and had a number of words and facts....

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Norm may have posted a thread on that...someone did.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

FR Threads....

Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated for Weeks Due to Faulty Sensor (OBAMA Conspiracy!!)

	02/20/2009 7:47:50 PM PST · by milwguy · 50 replies · 1,330+ views slashdot ^ | 2/20/2009 | Alex Morales "The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) has been at the forefront of predicting doom in the arctic as ice melts due to global warming. In May, 2008 they went so far as to predict that the North Pole would be ice-free during the 2008 'melt season,' leading to a lively Slashdot discussion. Today, however, they say that they have been the victims of 'sensor drift' that led to an underestimation of Arctic ice extent by as much as 500,000 square kilometers. The problem was discovered after they received emails from puzzled readers, asking why obviously sea-ice-covered regions were...
Satellite Sensor Has Catastrophic Failure - Arctic Sea Ice Underestimated For At Least 45 Days
	02/19/2009 2:05:53 AM PST · by zeestephen · 23 replies · 1,145+ views WattsUpWithThat.com ^ | 18 February 2009 | Anthony Watts Today NSIDC [National Snow and Ice Center] announced they had discovered the reason [for an abrupt drop in Arctic sea ice]. The sensor on the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellite they use had degraded and now apparently failed to the point of being unusable. Compounding the bad news they discovered it had been in slow decline for almost two months, which caused a bias in the arctic sea ice data that underestimated the total sea ice by 500,000 square kilometers. This will likely affect the January NSIDC sea ice totals.
Global warming 'underestimated'
	02/14/2009 8:35:03 PM PST · by listenhillary · 41 replies · 819+ views BBC ^ | 15 February 2009 | BBC The severity of global warming over the next century will be much worse than previously believed, a leading climate scientist has warned. Professor Chris Field, an author of a 2007 landmark report on climate change, said future temperatures "will be beyond anything" predicted. Prof Field said the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report had underestimated the rate of change. He said warming is likely to cause more environmental damage than forecast. Speaking at the American Science conference in Chicago, Prof Field said fresh data showed greenhouse gas emissions between 2000 and 2007 increased far more rapidly than expected. "We...
Satellite sensor errors cause data outage
	02/19/2009 5:15:35 AM PST · by RKV · 22 replies · 529+ views Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis ^ | 18 Feb. 2009 | NA As some of our readers have already noticed, there was a significant problem with the daily sea ice data images on February 16. The problem arose from a malfunction of the satellite sensor we use for our daily sea ice products. Upon further investigation, we discovered that starting around early January, an error known as sensor drift caused a slowly growing underestimation of Arctic sea ice extent. The underestimation reached approximately 500,000 square kilometers (193,000 square miles) by mid-February. Sensor drift, although infrequent, does occasionally occur and it is one of the things that we account for during quality control...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

How am I gonna hear about stuff?

[aruanan]

On his IceCap website, D'Aleo wrote that the collapse was the equivalent, given the enormity of Antarctica, of "an icicle falling from a snow and ice covered roof."

...given the enormous size of Antarctica...

[NormsRevenge]

I was gonna post it but it’s a
Bloomberg. not worth the effort.
I linked to it and moved on. ;-)

bloomy excerpts verboten

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for the reply.

Not sure if I pinged you to ...or even if you wanted to visit a thread.... where the rehash of whether even McCain is a Natural born citizen...and of course the question applies to Obama.

[BOBTHENAILER]

Didn’t catch it but glad I missed the exec wanting a cap & trade or carbon credits to expand grid. I’d have a blown flat screen if I would have seen that.

[SunkenCiv]

Well, okay, ya talked me out of it. ;’) I’d considered setting it up under the name “It’s News To Me”, and even built a little graphic to use. ;’) But that’s out of the question.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

LOL!....

[mvpel]

The iconic Mt. Kilamanjaro, AGW poster child:

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the

Ping

[GOPJ]

One of the main sensors used to measure the rate of arctic ice melt has been found to be defective, and has been reorting high rates of melt, where there have in fact been increasing rates of ice developing...

Odd how all the "mistakes" are in favor or global warming. Kinda like shopping in a store where all the price mistakes favor the store...

[ForGod'sSake]

Keep ‘em coming. I don’t always respond to the articles but nearly always read and learn something from them.

[steelyourfaith]

Great picture, and I really appreciated the link.

I was not aware that the snows had returned to Kilimanjaro. I argued a few years back on another talk board with ecotards about the cause of the Kilimanjaro glacier recession that was observed at that time. Patrick Michaels had written that the receding glaciers previously noted at Kilimanjaro were correlated to a localized unusually dry period. Anthropogenic Precipitation Change, anyone???