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Science Forum Index » Anthropology - Paleo Forum » Media Hype On 'Melting' Antarctic Ignores Record Ice...
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| Claudius Denk... |
 Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 8:41 am |
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Media Hype On 'Melting' Antarctic Ignores Record Ice Growth
Marc Morano
27 Mar 2008
http://tinyurl.com/6dmm8y
The media is once again hyping an allegedly dire consequence of man-
made global warming. This time the media is promoting the ice loss of
one tiny fraction of the giant ice-covered continent and completely
ignoring the current record ice growth on Antarctica. Contrary to
media hype, the vast majority of Antarctica has cooled over the past
50 years and ice coverage has grown to record levels since satellite
monitoring began in the 1979, according to peer-reviewed studies and
scientists who study the area.
Former Weather Channel Meteorologist Joe D'Aleo rejected the hype
surrounding the recent Wilkins Ice Shelf collapse in Western
Antarctica. "The shattered part of the Wilkins ice sheet was 160
square miles in area, which is just 0.01% of the total current
Antarctic ice cover, like an icicle falling from a snow and ice
covered roof," D'Aleo wrote on March 25. "We are very likely going to
exceed last year's record [for Southern Hemisphere ice extent]. Yet
the world is left with the false impression Antarctica's ice sheet is
also starting to disappear," D'Aleo added.
Climate scientist Dr. Ben Herman, past director of the Institute of
Atmospheric Physics and former Head of the Department of Atmospheric
Sciences at the University of Arizona, stated, "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 warming. How about the net 'no change' or 'cooling' over the
rest of the continent, which is probably about 95% of the land mass,
not to mention the record sea ice coverage recently."
Former Colorado State Climatologist Dr. Roger Pielke, Sr., presently
senior scientist at the University of Colorado in Boulder, chastised
the media's Antarctic reporting as "typical of the bias that many
journalists have." Pielke wrote on March 25, "The media has ignored in
their reporting the increase in Antarctic sea ice cover in recent
years, with, at present, a coverage that is well one million square
kilometers above average." Pielke added, "Unfortunately, it appears
that most journalists just parrot the perspective of the first news
release on these climate issues, without doing any further
investigation. If this is inadvertent, they need to be educated in
climate science. If deliberate bias, they are clearly advocates and
the reporters should be clearly and publically identified as having
such a bias. In either case, the public is being misinformed!"
But the news media sadly tossed out objectivity and balance when it
came to this new Antarctic story. Media headlines blared: Bye-bye,
Antarctica? (Salon Magazine 3-26-0 ; Massive ice shelf collapsing off
Antarctica (C/Net News 3- 26-0; Slab of Antarctic ice shelf
collapses amid warming (Reuters 3-26-0; Ice shelf 'hangs by a
thread' (Sydney Morning Herald 2-26-0.
True to form, Associated Press reporter Seth Borenstein could not
allow himself to include any scientists or peer-reviewed studies
countering alarm over the allegedly "melting" Antarctic. Borenstein
instead hyped alarm by writing on March 27, "Scientists said they are
not concerned about a rise in sea level from the latest event, but say
it's a sign of worsening global warming." [Note: Borenstein has a long
history of incomplete reporting on global warming. See here and here.
Also see related s section below for examples of the media's shoddy
environmental reporting. In addition, ABC World News Sunday anchor Dan
Harris this week produced a low brow smear segment on atmospheric
physicist Dr. Fred Singer, a prominent dissenter of man-made climate
fears. ABC News violated basic journalistic standards by citing
"anonymous" scientists to attack Dr. Singer. See: here, here, here and
here. ]
Yet, if only the media would spend a moment to get beyond the hype and
alarmism, they would discover that scientists are already thoroughly
debunking the media characterization of the "melting" Antarctic.
[Note: 2007 and now 2008 are overwhelmingly turning into the "tipping
points" for climate alarmism as new peer-reviewed studies continue to
debunk rising CO2 fears, a U.S. Senate minority report reveals over
400 scientists dissented from man-made climate fears, and more and
more scientists continue in 2008 to declare themselves skeptical of a
man-made climate "crisis." The Earth's failure to continue warming has
also confounded promoters of man-made climate fear. Here is a sampling
of inconvenient developments for climate alarmists in 2008 alone: 1)
Oceans Cooling! Scientists puzzled by "mystery of global warming's
missing heat"- 2) New Data from NASA's Aqua satellite is showing
"greatly reduced future warming projected as a consequence of carbon
dioxide."- 3) Former NASA Climatologist Dr. Roy Spencer found not
one peer-reviewed paper has 'ruled out a natural cause for most of our
recent warmth' - 4) UN IPCC in 'Panic Mode' as Earth Fails to Warm,
Scientist says - 5) UN IPCC Chairman Rajendra Pachauri "to look into
the apparent temperature plateau so far this century."- 6) New
scientific analysis shows Sun "could account for as much as 69% of the
increase in Earth's average temperature" - & . 7) An International
team of scientists released a March 2008 report to counter UN IPCC,
declaring: "Nature, Not Human Activity, Rules the Climate" - MIT
Climate Scientist Dr. Richard Lindzen's new analysis finds the Earth
has had "No statistically significant warming since 1995."
Below are a few samples of what scientists have said in the past few
days since the Antarctic "melting" stories have hit the media:
1) Climate Scientist Dr. Ben Herman, past director of the Institute of
Atmospheric Physics and former Head of the Department of Atmospheric
Sciences at the University of Arizona, is a member of both the
Institute for the Study of Planet Earth's Executive Committee and the
Committee on Global Change. Herman commented on March 25:
"That ice [the media is hyping] is just a tiny fraction of the
Antarctic ice and probably the increase each winter more than
compensates. The ice loss does not show up, at least not yet on the
Illinois site, http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere, which still
shows increasing sea ice heading into [Southern Hemisphere's] winter.
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 warming. How about the net 'no change' or
'cooling' over the rest of the continent, which is probably about 95%
of the land mass, not to mention the record sea ice coverage
recently," Herman wrote on March 25.
2) Meteorologist Joseph D'Aleo served as the first Director of
Meteorology at The Weather Channel, was the Chief Meteorologist at
Weather Services International Corporation and served as chairman of
the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Committee on Weather
Analysis and Forecasting. D'Aleo commented on his website Icecap.us on
March 25:
"The shattered part of the Wilkins ice sheet was 160 square miles in
area, which is just 0.01% of the total current Antarctic ice cover
(just 0.003% of the extent last September), like an icicle falling
from a snow and ice covered roof. And this winter is coming on
quickly. 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% ahead (4.0 vs 2.5
million square km extent) of last year when it set a new record. The
total ice extent is already approaching the second highest level for
extent since the measurements began by satellite in 1979 and just a
few days into the Southern Hemisphere fall season and 6 months ahead
of the peak. We are very likely going to exceed last year's record
[for Southern Hemisphere ice extent]. Yet the world is left with the
false impression Antarctica's ice sheet is also starting to
disappear," D'Aleo wrote on march 25.
Other scientists and peer-reviewed studies have recently debunked the
notion of a "melting" Antarctic as well.
3) Former Virginia State Climatologist Dr. Patrick Michaels and Paul
C. Knappenberger, a senior researcher with New Hope Environmental
Services posted comments on Antarctica in February on their website
WorldClimateReport.com. Michaels and Knappenberger wrote a February
27, 2008, article titled "Antarctica Ain't Cooperating": "Another
major article on temperature trends in the Antarctic has appeared in a
recent issue of the Journal of Geophysical Research by a team of
scientists from Ohio State University, the University of Illinois, and
the Goddard Space Flight Center; the research was funded by the
National Science Foundation Office of Polar Programs Glaciology
Program. [.] That is correct - despite all you have heard elsewhere on
the subject, the South Pole has been cooling over the past half
century. The previous research team also reported that any warming in
Antarctica has slowed and the cooling has accelerated in the more
recent three decades. According to Monaghan et al., yet another team
previously examined Antarctic temperatures and "noted that prior to
1965 the continent-wide annual trends (through 2002) are slightly
positive, but after 1965 they are mainly negative (despite warming
over the Antarctic Peninsula)." The truth from Antarctica is hard for
the greenhouse crusade to accept, and in the long run, the truth from
Antarctica might melt away the flimsy, well-publicized claims about
global climate change-especially the concerns of a rapid sea level
rise."
4) In addition, the media's reporting on the alleged "melting" of
Antarctica fails to take into account other factors. "Volcano, Not
Global Warming Effects, May be Melting an Antarctic Glacier" read a
headline in a January 21, 2008, article. The article read in part:
Scientists have discovered a layer of volcanic ash and glass shards in
Antarctica, evidence of an old eruption by a still active volcano that
researchers believe may be contributing to the thinning of Antarctic
glacial ice. Hugh F.J. Corr and David G. Vaughan, two scientists with
the British Antarctic Survey, recently published their discovery of
the volcanic layer in the journal Nature Geoscience. The discovery is
unique, according to Dr. Vaughan. He said, "This is the first time we
have seen a volcano beneath the ice sheet punch a hole through the ice
sheet." The volcano's heat could possibly be melting and thinning the
ice and raising the speed of the Pine Island Glacier in West
Antarctica. (Other s on Antarctic Volcanoes: Map of volcanoes in
Antarctica; and NASA Image of Antarctic Peninsula and pacific ring of
fire groups of volcanoes. )
5) Another inconvenient fact that the media likes to avoid is
Antarctica ice extent GREW to record levels in 2007. A September 11,
2007, article on IceCap.US explained: "While the news focus has been
on the lowest ice extent since satellite monitoring began in 1979 for
the Arctic, the Southern Hemisphere (Antarctica) has quietly set a new
record for most ice extent since 1979. This can be seen on this
graphic from this University of Illinois site, The Cryosphere Today,
which updated snow and ice extent for both hemispheres daily. The
Southern Hemispheric areal coverage is the highest in the satellite
record, just beating out 1995, 2001, 2005 and 2006. Since 1979, the
trend has been up for the total Antarctic ice extent."
6) A January 12, 2008, peer-reviewed paper in AGU (American
Geophysical Union) found "A doubling in snow accumulation in the
western Antarctic Peninsula since 1850." The abstract of the paper by
Thomas, E. R., G. J. Marshall, and J. R. McConnell, states: We present
results from a new medium depth (136 metres) ice core drilled in a
high accumulation site (73.59°S, 70.36°W) on the south-western
Antarctic Peninsula during 2007. The Gomez record reveals a doubling
of accumulation since the 1850s, from a decadal average of 0.49 mweq y?
1 in 1855-1864 to 1.10 mweq y?1 in 1997-2006, with acceleration in
recent decades. Comparison with published accumulation records
indicates that this rapid increase is the largest observed across the
region. &
7) A February 2007 study reveals Antarctica is not following predicted
global warming models. Excerpt: "A new report on climate over the
world's southernmost continent shows that temperatures during the late
20th century did not climb as had been predicted by many global
climate models." The research was led by David Bromwich, professor of
atmospheric sciences in the Department of Geography, and researcher
with the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University. [See:
Antarctic temperatures disagree with climate model predictions - ]
8) Dr. Duncan Wingham, Professor of Climate Physics at University
College London and Director of the Centre for Polar Observation and
Modeling, has presented evidence that Antarctic ice is growing.
According to a December 15, 2006, article in Canada's National Post,
"Early last year at a European Union Space Conference in Brussels, for
example, Dr. Wingham revealed that data from a European Space Agency
satellite showed Antarctic thinning was no more common than
thickening, and concluded that the spectacular collapse of the ice
shelves on the Antarctic Peninsula was much more likely to have
followed natural current fluctuations than global warming." "One
cannot be certain, because packets of heat in the atmosphere do not
come conveniently labeled 'the contribution of anthropogenic warming,'
" Wingham said, noting that the evidence is not "favorable to the
notion we are seeing the results of global warming." Wingham and his
colleagues found that 72% of the ice sheet covering the entire land
mass of Antarctica is growing at the rate of 5 millimeters per year.
"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" the National Post article reported.
9) Statistician Dr. Bjorn Lomborg, author of The Skeptical
Environmentalist and professor at the Copenhagen Business School,
questioned former Vice President Al Gore's claims about Antarctica in
a January 21, 2007, Wall Street Journal op-ed. "[Gore] considers
Antarctica the canary in the mine, but again doesn't tell the full
story. He presents pictures from the 2% of Antarctica that is
dramatically warming and ignores the 98% that has largely cooled over
the past 35 years. The U.N. panel estimates that Antarctica will
actually increase its snow mass this century. Similarly, Mr. Gore
points to shrinking sea ice in the Northern Hemisphere, but doesn't
mention that sea ice in the Southern Hemisphere is increasing.
Shouldn't we hear those facts?" Lomborg added.
10) UN scientist Dr. Madhav L. Khandekar, a retired Environment Canada
scientist and an expert IPCC reviewer, noted in 2007 that the Southern
Hemisphere is COOLING. Dr. Khandekar wrote on August 6, 2007: "In the
Southern Hemisphere, the land-area mean temperature has slowly but
surely declined in the last few years. The city of Buenos Aires in
Argentina received several centimeters of snowfall in early July, and
the last time it snowed in Buenos Aires was in 1918! Most of Australia
experienced one of its coldest months of June this year. Several other
locations in the Southern Hemisphere have experienced lower
temperatures in the last few years. Further, the sea surface
temperatures over world oceans are slowly declining since mid-1998,
according to a recent world-wide analysis of ocean surface
temperatures."
11) Ivy League Geologist Dr. Robert Giegengack, the chair of
Department of Earth and Environmental Science at the University of
Pennsylvania, explained that the Earth has been warming for about
20,000 years, and humans have only been collecting data for about 200
years. "For most of earth's history, the globe has been warmer than it
has been for the last 200 years. It has only rarely been cooler,"
Giegengack said according to a February 2007 article. Giegengack
further explained that extremely long geologic timescales reveal that
"only about 5% of that time has been characterized by conditions on
Earth that were so cold that the poles could support masses of
permanent ice." |
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| rmacfarl... |
| Posted: Mon May 12, 2008 1:37 pm |
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On May 13, 4:41 am, Claudius Denk <claudiusd... at (no spam) sbcglobal.net> wrote:
Abuse reported to Google Groups: "Repeated deliberate off-topic cross-
posting of irrelevant material to sci.anthropology.paleo." |
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