Tag: Antarctica

Antarctic Glacier Melted Just as Fast 8,000 Years Ago

Published on by sunshinehours11 Comment

The AGW Cult loved the word “unprecedented”. They claim the warming that stopped in 1998 was unprecedented.

It turned out that was not true. Another nail in the coffin for “unprecedented” is this paper.

“Pine Island Glacier, a major outlet of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, has been undergoing rapid thinning and retreat for the past two decades. Here we demonstrate, using glacial-geological and geochronological data, that Pine Island Glacier also experienced rapid thinning during the early Holocene, around 8,000 years ago. Cosmogenic 10Be concentrations in glacially-transported rocks show that this thinning was sustained for decades to centuries at an average rate of more than 100 cm yr−1, comparable to contemporary thinning rates. The most likely mechanism was a reduction in ice shelf buttressing. Our findings reveal that Pine Island Glacier has experienced rapid thinning at least once in the past, and that, once set in motion, rapid ice sheet changes in this region can persist for centuries.”

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/02/19/science.1247385.abstract?sid=728bc951-1376-4f52-8009-ab19309ac956

(h/t Register via GWPF)

 

Andy Revkin Annoyed With “Climate Change Contrarians” Being “Energized”

Published on by sunshinehours11 Comment

Andy Revkin has posted an attack on the researchers who sailed into infamy in the Antarctic on the ill-fated MV Akademik Shokalskiy.

He is using terms like “bungled trip” , “unessential expedition” ,  “misadventure”,  “distraction from serious research”  and “tarnish the wider field of Antarctic science”.

But reading between the lines, it is clear to me what Revkin is really trying to say.

1) He has never gone to Antarctica and therefore managed to avoid reporting on record sea ice in Antarctica.

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2) The attention brought to record sea ice in Antarctica has “energized climate change contrarians“.

Revkin_Climate_Change_Contrarians_1

I would translate the term “distraction from serious research” as meaning “brought attention to the wrong pole” … the one with record sea ice.

If the bunglers in charge of the expedition had found open water and managed to blame it on climate change, he would have jumped in with both feet trumpeting their success.