Antarctic: Surprising Sea Ice and Cooling

Just two years ago, many of Germany's mainstream outlets declared sea ice at the South Pole was melting at an 'astonishing ' rate. German national daily Suddeutsche Zeitung reported in June 2019 that Antarctic sea ice had shrunk 1.8 million square kilometers, writing 'the massive disappearance of ice is astonishing.' Today, two years later, German climate science site Die Kalte Sonne looks at recent sea ice developments in Antarctica—noting that the climate ambulance chasing mainstream media like the Suddeutsche Zeitung have since mysteriously stopped reporting on Antarctica. Here's why: Sea ice at the south Pole has rebounded over the past two years to levels seen 30 years ago. In June 2021, Antarctic sea ice was even well above normal. ¹

Sea ice at the south Pole has rebounded over the past two years to levels seen 30 years ago

In 2015 NASA reported that during the 1990s and the first decade of the 21st century (1992-2008) the gains in ice accumulation in East Antarctica outstripped the losses in West Antarctica, leading to a net gain of about 100 billion tons. of ice per year on the West Antarctic ice sheet during this period. ² The doomsday scenario has disappeared, and not the ice. The Antarctic sea ice rebound shows that there's still a lot about natural divers that remain unknown. All the hoopla about warming is contradicted by findings from Antarctic ice cores that during the Eemian, the last interglacial (130,000 to 115,000 years ago), global climate was warmer than today and global mean sea level was 6-9 m higher, reports Doug Hoffman. ³ John Turner and colleagues report that the Antarctic Peninsula has actually cooled in the past two decades. ⁴ In the Southern Hemisphere, an accumulating collection of 29 referenced studies indicate that not only has the southern Ocean, Antarctic Peninsula, West Antarctica, and East Antarctica been cooling or not warming in recent decades, but many regional glaciers have begun advancing again. ⁵ NASA mean annual temperature data going back a quarter century show no warming over Antarctica. In late June 2021 the Scott Base crew in Antarctica experienced a near-record cold of -81.7 C (record is -89.6). Antarctic New Zealand science tech Jamie McGraw says, “He can't imagine that extreme cold.” ⁶

References

1. Climate Change Dispatch, “Antarctic sea ice recovery surprises scientists; media silent,” principia-scientific.com, August 23, 2021
2. “NASA study: mass gains of Antarctic ice sheet greater than losses,” nasa.gov/feature, October 30, 2015
3. Doug Hoffman, “Stay frosty Antarctica,” the resilientearth.com, August 17, 2016
4. John Turner et al., “Absence of 21st century warming on Antarctic peninsula consistent with natural variability,” Nature, 535, 411, July 2016
5. “Previously unsuspected volcanic activity confirmed under West Antarctic Ice Sheet at Pine Island Glacier” National Science Foundation
6. “Antarctic bases enduring near-record breaking winter cold,” principia- scientific.com, June 23, 2021