Wilkins Ice Shelf: Old, Inaccurate News

In the event you didn’t HEAR the ASS-ociated Press when they published this SAME STORY a few weeks ago, here it is again—the Wilkins Ice Shelf fear piece. Make sure you digest this along with the “swine” flu fear mongering that’s rampant in the news right now. Speaking of the swine flu, I wonder when the first lunatic will come out and say that global warming is the cause. I’m sure we won’t have to wait for long.

This particular article, however, is chock full of little delights that are ripe for analysis and digestion. First, just as with the previous article, they fail to mention that the EASTERN ANTARCTIC’S ICE HAS GROWN, such that the total continental ice has increased, even with this western portion breaking up (this is what happens in the spring and summer anyway).

Next, they’re finally admitting HERE FOR THE FIRST TIME that this ice breaking and melting WILL NOT raise sea levels. Yay! Let’s hear it for small victories.

Last, they’re admitting that all this scrutiny of the ice has been made possible by these new satellite images—as he says ‘for the first time…we can see the demise of the ice shelf.’ What that tells me is that the previous billions of years in Earth’s history could have had this situation occur and we wouldn’t have known about it. So should we just accept, given this one time in the billions of years of Earth’s history in which we happen to be paying attention, that it is a first occurrence?!? Again, this question is elementary for any first-year statistics student in college. The answer is no, you should not accept such an assertion.

Antarctic Ice Shelf Beginning to Break Up

BERLIN — Massive ice chunks are crumbling away from a shelf in the western Antarctic Peninsula, researchers said Wednesday, warning that 1,300 square miles of ice — an area larger than Rhode Island — was in danger of breaking off in coming weeks.

The Wilkins Ice Shelf had been stable for most of the last century, but began retreating in the 1990s. Researchers believe it was held in place by an ice bridge linking Charcot Island to the Antarctic mainland.

***

"There is little doubt that these changes are the result of atmospheric warming," said David Vaughan of the British Antarctic Survey.

The falling away of Antarctic ice shelves does not, in itself, raise sea levels, since the ice was already floating in the sea.

***

Researchers said the quality and frequency of the ESA satellite images have allowed them to analyze the Wilkins shelf breakup far more effectively than any previous event.

"For the first time, I think, we can really begin to see the processes that have brought about the demise of the ice shelf," Vaughan said.

Antarctic Melting? Not So Fast!

Ice melt fears feature prominently in the empirical arguments of global warming alarmists. However, as shown time and again on this blog and others, they’re full of crap.

Now comes a story from the Australian News.com which puts this fear-mongering into perspective. The Wilkins Ice Shelf in the Western Antarctic was alarmingly trumpeted in the news recently for its apparent melting, but the same article made no comment on the Eastern Antarctic WHICH IS GROWING. Once again, the media tries to spin stories by the facts they leave out—same continent with two different stories, and which side does the media jump on? The one that points to warming, of course. The story is the same in the Arctic; ice is getting thicker, not shrinking like some media stories have asserted and predicted.

In reality, the Antarctic Continent is cooling as a whole. But the EPA and other like-minded environmentalist fruitcakes and opportunists only have so much time remaining to get the maximum socialist benefit out of this scam.

Antarctic ice is growing, not melting away

Ice is expanding in much of Antarctica, contrary to the widespread public belief that global warming is melting the continental ice cap.

The results of ice-core drilling and sea ice monitoring indicate there is no large-scale melting of ice over most of Antarctica, although experts are concerned at ice losses on the continent's western coast.

Antarctica has 90 percent of the Earth's ice and 80 percent of its fresh water, The Australian reports. Extensive melting of Antarctic ice sheets would be required to raise sea levels substantially, and ice is melting in parts of west Antarctica. The destabilization of the Wilkins ice shelf generated international headlines this month.

Absolute iceberg malarkey

For the fearmongering and alarmist portions of the article, please follow the link and read it for yourself. I've highlighted the disclaimer portions below (my emphasis in bold), whereby the author is letting loose little facts that actually detract from the fear this story is meant to instill in you (because of your greenhouse gas emissions, loser).

These collapses happen. They ARE NOT PROOF that human-emitted CO2 is causing the earth to warm. Don't let them snow you, so to speak.

Now, look here to see where ice is reforming. Note how they're still not wanting to admit that the new ice means anything.

Pressdemo.com Headlines | Western Antarctic Ice Chunk Collapses:

While icebergs naturally break away from the mainland, collapses like this are unusual but are happening more frequently in recent decades, Vaughan said. The collapse is similar to what happens to hardened glass when it is smashed with a hammer, he said.

Climate in Antarctica is complicated and more isolated from the rest of the world.

Much of the continent is not warming and some parts are even cooling, Vaughan said. However, the western peninsula, which includes the Wilkins ice shelf, juts out into the ocean and is warming. This is the part of the continent where scientists are most concern about ice-melt triggering sea level rise.

Here's Reuter's version, which is even more preposterous. Note the huge leap he makes in the last paragraph; they're watching ice break up, and that's all. They HAVE NOT IN ANY WAY TIED THIS TO GREENHOUSE GASES. A high school science student could recognize what an abysmal bit of reaching that is in terms of the scientific method. PUH-LEEEZZZZEEE!!! Again, this is empirical evidence, and empirical evidence pointing in the other direction is always ignored or sited as proof of manmade climate change (i.e., record cold and snow THIS VERY WINTER ACROSS THE WORLD). Let's also not forget this unfortunate fact--the earth has cooled FOR THE LAST 10 YEARS, while CO2 levels have reportedly continued rising; why are these "geniuses" ignoring this?

If he has to say it has been in place for "at least a few hundred years," does that mean he knows for sure? And if so, how did it form before 200 years ago. Can it form again? Scam-bos is a good name for this guy. The NYT is giving its opinion too, so I'll be watching the Wilkins ice shelf carefully, even though they admit in the editorial it will reform due to the winter that's now starting...which is funny, because it means it just broke up during a seasonally warmer period?!

Slab of Antarctic ice shelf collapses amid warming | Reuters:

"One corner of it that's exposed to the ocean is shattering in a pattern that we've seen in a few places over the past 10 or 15 years. In every case, we've eventually concluded that it's a result of climate warming," Scambos added.

Scambos said this ice shelf has been in place for at least a few hundred years, but warm air and exposure to ocean waves are causing a breakup.

"The warming that's going on in the peninsula is pretty clearly tied to greenhouse gas increases and the change that they have in the atmospheric circulation around the Antarctic," Scambos said.