Exile wrote:canadiansaddler wrote:Also strange that if the world is in fact now cooling then why is it the large deterioration in the ice sheets has occurred since 2002. 1998 may have been a spike but the longer term trend is still upwards and that sadly is a fact.
I'd dispute the trend (how long is long term) and the ice sheet deterioration. Here's a graph showing ice extent globally since 1979 - looks like a pretty regular seasonal heartbeat to me.
canadiansaddler wrote:A question for all though, what is the harm in trying to live on a better bluer planet, small changes in energy consumption are easy to do, and actually can save money.
I concur wholeheartedly, but the changes proposed by governments will cost us all dearly.
This where interpretation of the results suffers from a lack of expertise.
The graph above is correct I'm sure - accurately relaying the
area of ice coverage during these years.
Ice is a funny thing though and is not a static mass of rock. Every year ice is laid down during the winter months as snow compacts under it's own weight. Every summer some of the ice melts.
Previously, large masses of very old ice (100,000s of years old in some cases) formed a reservoir of material and new ice was laid down or melted away. There is a slow progress of the ice towards the sea. Recently (last 30 years) the depth, thickness and area of this old ice has dramatically decreased, leaving the total ice block to be composed more and more of the new ice. The old ice takes ages to thaw, melt and disappear but the new ice is weak and is easily eroded.
Another process is the rate at which ice sheets and glaciers advance towards the sea, calving ice floes off to float around. This also has dramatically increased.
The upshot is that the area of ice means
nothing and it may actually increase (as ancient ice speeds towards the sea and breaks up) - a nice little factoid for the followers of pseudo-science. Sadly, that's not the whole story as the quality of the ice (along with some evidence) is weak, fragile and is easily eroded under closer inspection.