Among the issues most commonly discussed are individuality, the rights of the individual, the limits of legitimate government, morality, history, economics, government policy, science, business, education, health care, energy, and man-made global warming evaluations. My posts are aimed at intelligent and rational individuals, whose comments are very welcome.

"No matter how vast your knowledge or how modest, it is your own mind that has to acquire it." Ayn Rand

"Observe that the 'haves' are those who have freedom, and that it is freedom that the 'have-nots' have not." Ayn Rand

"The virtue involved in helping those one loves is not 'selflessness' or 'sacrifice', but integrity." Ayn Rand

For "a human being, the question 'to be or not to be,' is the question 'to think or not to think.'" Ayn Rand

01 November 2015

NASA Finally Agrees that Antarctic Ice has Long been Increasing

A NASA paper published in the Journal of Glaciology found that Antarctic ice has long been increasing in agreement with many other studies, but in disagreement with the UN IPCC report of 2013.  Its main conclusions are:
  • The Antarctic ice sheet had net gains in ice of 112 billion tons per year from 1992 to 2001.
  • Antarctic ice from 2003 to 2008 had a net gain of 82 billion tons per year.
  • Extra snowfall in East Antarctica began about 10,000 years ago as the Earth warmed after the last Ice Age and this snowfall thickened the East Antarctic and the interior regions of the West Antarctic by 1.7 cm/year.  This accumulation over vast expanses more than offsets the melting of ice on the West Antarctic peninsula which gets so much publicity.
  • The increased ice in Antarctica is now acting to reduce sea levels by 0.23 mm/year.
One of the more interesting observations on this data is that the global warming due to the end of the last Ice Age caused more snowfall in Antarctica, which serves to counterbalance the rise in sea level due to the thermal expansion of water in a warmer world.  This is one of many ways in which the Earth moderates climate changes.

The findings of this study were the result of more accurate measurements of the small thickening of the ice in most of Antarctica from satellite measurements, with the exception of the ice core investigations by others that indicated the increase in snowfall beginning 10,000 years ago.  It would not be surprising if the application of these satellite analysis methods to Greenland were to find that previous claims of large ice losses there were also wrong.  It is easy to observe large glaciers calving into the ocean while missing the slow increases of ice thickness over much larger areas.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

IDIOT’S GUIDE TO GLOBAL WARMING

Knowing that there is no escape from

THE FOUR LAWS WITHOUT WHICH NOTHING WHATSOEVER IN THE UNIVERSE THAT HAPPENS, HAPPENS

– and which cannot be overruled by edicts from whoever, be it Dalai Lama, Pope, Obama, Merkel, IMF, UN, EU, IPCC, the Supreme Court, EPA, or anyone, it is high time to remember Alexius Meinong:

TRUTH IS A PURELY HUMAN CONSTRUCT BUT FACTS ARE ETERNAL.

My results of trying to follow this tenet are:

In the light of this: http://tinyurl.com/pvzva68
I calculated this: http://tinyurl.com/ot2hlp4
Resulting in this: http://tinyurl.com/naexuho
…and this: http://tinyurl.com/nbfc2qo
...and finding this: http://tinyurl.com/pufzloc

Best introductions to critical thinking on this subject I could find.

Meanwhile, SUSTAINABILITY is decoded, defined and published at
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/CleanEnergyPundit



Unknown said...

IDIOT’S GUIDE TO GLOBAL WARMING

Knowing that there is no escape from

THE FOUR LAWS WITHOUT WHICH NOTHING WHATSOEVER IN THE UNIVERSE THAT HAPPENS, HAPPENS

– and which cannot be overruled by edicts from whoever, be it Dalai Lama, Pope, Obama, Merkel, IMF, UN, EU, IPCC, the Supreme Court, EPA, or anyone, it is high time to remember Alexius Meinong:

TRUTH IS A PURELY HUMAN CONSTRUCT BUT FACTS ARE ETERNAL.

My results of trying to follow this tenet are:

In the light of this: http://tinyurl.com/pvzva68
I calculated this: http://tinyurl.com/ot2hlp4
Resulting in this: http://tinyurl.com/naexuho
…and this: http://tinyurl.com/nbfc2qo
...and finding this: http://tinyurl.com/pufzloc


Best introductions to critical thinking on this subject I could find.

Meanwhile, SUSTAINABILITY is decoded, defined and published at
http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/CleanEnergyPundit