The icecaps of Greenland and Antarctica: are they melting?
NASA scientists have published a paper warning that there is growing evidence that the melting at the polar caps is accelerating. From the press release:
The pace at which the polar ice sheets are losing mass was found to be accelerating rapidly. Each year over the course of the study, the two ice sheets lost a combined average of 36.3 gigatonnes more than they did the year before. In comparison, the 2006 study of mountain glaciers and ice caps estimated their loss at 402 gigatonnes a year on average, with a year-over-year acceleration rate three times smaller than that of the ice sheets.
Several things to note after reading the actual paper:
- The scientists used two independent sources of information and found that they agreed.
- One source involved the use of a computer model, which is always fraught with problems.
- The other source was data from the climate satellite Grace. Here also they made some corrections and assumptions, but far less so.
- Finally, the scientists themselves admit that there “is considerable uncertainty” about their conclusions.
The results are without doubt worrisome, especially because of the Grace data. However, before I would accept them wholesale, I’d want to see what other scientists say about it. Also, the amount of computer modeling and corrections in the research gives me pause. The results might be correct, but they might also be the result of “garbage in/garbage.” Sadly, we have had too many examples recently of pro-global warming scientists fudging their data to serve their political ends. It leaves me very skeptical of any of this work.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Well said. Worst case is a foot rise by 2050– an anemic prediction, at best– my main question in all of this is, “Why is it assumed that man is a major/main contributor in all of this, one way or the other?” We have seen changes of hundreds of feet in sea levels over the last 100,000 years– and very major ones in the last 10,000– it would seem that rises and falls in ocean levels is the norm, not the exception. All the hype just seems agenda driven — and the solutions are not practical, unless you see humanity as an infestation.
Love your spots on Batchelor– keep up the good work!
Steven