A Non-Melting Arctic Ice Update

A sharp friend sent along these contrasting links: The Washington Post published an op-ed Tuesday from Vikki Spruill of the Ocean Conservancy about environmental issues for the new president:

Focus on the Arctic. The Arctic, Earth's air conditioner, is already experiencing some of the most severe effects of climate change. Not only is sea ice melting, but coastal communities have been dislocated.

The Post accompanied this with a photo of melting Arctic ice over the piece captioned “Disintegration in the Arctic Ocean’s Ward Hunt Ice Shelf.” But the Daily Tech cites new research from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign:

Rapid growth spurt leaves amount of ice at levels seen 29 years ago.

Thanks to a rapid rebound in recent months, global sea ice levels now equal those seen 29 years ago, when the year 1979 also drew to a close. ...Earlier this year, predictions were rife that the North Pole could melt entirely in 2008. Instead, the Arctic ice saw a substantial recovery. Bill Chapman, a researcher with the UIUC's Arctic Center, tells DailyTech this was due in part to colder temperatures in the region. Chapman says wind patterns have also been weaker this year. Strong winds can slow ice formation as well as forcing ice into warmer waters where it will melt.

Why were predictions so wrong? Researchers had expected the newer sea ice, which is thinner, to be less resilient and melt easier. Instead, the thinner ice had less snow cover to insulate it from the bitterly cold air, and therefore grew much faster than expected, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

It’s always wise to check out the actual science developments on global warming issues when liberal reporters insist, with a rather unscientific attitude, that there is no opposing side to report on.

"There are ways of confusing the public in putting ping-pong matches onto television which we did not particularly think was useful...I'm not sure it's useful to include every single point of view simply in order to cover every base because you can come up with a program that's virtually impossible for the audience to sort out." --- PBS Nova producer Linda Harrar in an interview with me in 1990.