Or two Antarcticas? Watts Up With That? points to an article in the May 12, 2014 Australian about how Antarctic sea ice is at record expanse. (Unfortunately the article in the Australian is behind a paywall.) All the mainstream media are reporting stories like this:
The huge West Antarctic ice sheet is starting a glacially slow collapse in an unstoppable way, two new studies show. Alarmed scientists say that means even more sea level rise than they figured.
Could they both be true? It seems a bit unlikely. But the Democrats are aware that they are at real risk of losing control of the Senate in November, so they need a distraction.The worrisome outcomes won't be seen soon. Scientists are talking hundreds of years, but over that time the melt that has started could eventually add 4 to 12 feet to current sea levels.
Yes, they both can be true -- sea ice = the ice floating on the water, ice-sheet = the overall covering of antarctica, which is not being replenished by precipitation, or is being sublimated in the low humidity, or...
ReplyDeleteBut note that even the New York Times is saying of the ice-sheet reporting that the "headlines are completely overwrought". Many are reporting on the disconnect between what is claimed in the academic paper, and what is claimed to be in the paper according to the press releases.
http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/12/keep-in-mind-scientific-and-societal-meanings-of-collapse-when-reading-antarctic-ice-news/
I believe it depends on what you're definition of "global" is.
ReplyDeleteThis seems quite odd since, if I recall correctly, that chartered ship carrying a group of global warming activists which had to be rescued recently was caught in an expanding Antarctic ice pack.
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