Antarctic: A Nightmare For Alarmists

The mainstream media often skews scientific reporting to serve the interests of the climate industrial complex. This bias often manifests in selective coverage, where sensationalist narratives about climate change are given prominence, while contradictory nuanced findings are ignored. If it bleeds, it leads.⁽¹⁾

Constant alarmist coverage of the Thwaites Glacier and Western Antarctica

A prime example is the recent study highlighting significant ice growth in Eastern Antarctica, which has received little to no media attention compared to the constant alarmist coverage of the Thwaites Glacier and Western Antarctica. Eastern Antarctica is experiencing significant ice growth and stability in many regions, contradicting the prevalent narrative of uniform ice melt across the continent. The authors state: “Our results demonstrate that the stability and growth in ice elevations observed in terrestrial basins over the past few decades are part of a trend spanning at least a century.” ⁽²⁾

Using hundreds of old aerial photographs dating back to 1937, combined with modern computer technology, researchers have tracked the evolution of glaciers in East Antarctic. The area covers approximately 2,000 kilometers of coastline and contains as much ice as the entire Greenland Ice Sheet.

Compared to modern data, the ice flow speeds are unchanged, or at least not in any way related to our emission of 1,600 billion tons of carbon dioxide. ⁽³⁾

In stark contrast, the Thwaites Glacier in Western Antarctica has been the subject of extensive media coverage. Dubbed the ‘Doomsday Glacier’, it is often portrayed as a ticking time bomb that could lead to catastrophic sea level rise. Yet research in 2018 funded by National Science reported unsuspected volcanic activity in the region.

Antarctica has undergone rapid glacier and sea ice expansion in recent centuries

Recent data have been reported for 10 Antarctic stations under operation scattered along the Antarctic coastline. These results are not impacted by volcanic activity. Results? Zero warming which is really inconvenient news for global warming activists. ⁽⁴⁾

West Antarctica’s mean annual surface temperatures cooled by more than -1.8 C (-0.93 C per decade) from 1999-2018. Not just West Antarctica, but most of the continent also has cooled by more than -1 C in the 21st century. ⁽⁵⁾

Throughout the Holocene (Medieval Warm Period, Roman Warm Period, and earlier) and until a few hundred years ago (from ~ 7,100 to 500 years before the present), coastal Antarctica’s Victoria Land (VLC) was substantially warmer than today.

The Ross Sea was also sufficiently ice free to allow for elephant seal populations (as large as ~200,000 individuals) to thrive. Today, however, elephant seal populations, which require extended sea ice free sea waters to breed, forage, and provide nourishment for their pups, can no longer subsist anywhere even remotely close to the coasts of the Antarctic continent. It is now too cold and the sea ice is too extensive. ⁽⁶⁾

More evidence emerges that Antarctica has undergone rapid glacier and sea ice expansion in recent centuries, in line with long term and recent Antarctic cooling trend.

Extreme cold was reported in Antarctica as the mercury plummeted to almost minus 80 C on April 29, 2024, and it is not even winter yet

About 6,000 years ago Antarctica’s Collins Glacier frontline was a full 1 km southwest of its current extent. The frontline advanced to today’s extent—~5,000 years ago. The glacier then continuously retreated south of the modern extent for another 4,000 years, with peak ice loss 1,000 years ago. ⁽⁷⁾

One last note: Extreme cold was reported in Antarctica as the mercury plummeted to almost minus 80 C on April 29, 2024, and it is not even winter yet. The record, -89.3 C was recorded in the middle of winter, on July 21, 1983, thus making the last week’s late April reading very unusual. ⁽⁸⁾

References

1. Matthew Wielicki, “Eastern Antarctica’s ice growth: the story you haven’t heard”, irrationalfear.com, June 8, 2024
2. Mads Domgaard et al., “Early aerial expedition photos reveal 85 years of glacier growth and stability in East Antarctica,” Nature Communications, May 25, 2024
3. Jo Nova, “2,000 kilometers of East Antarctic glaciers don’t look much different after 85 years and 1.6 trillion tons of carbon dioxide,” joannenova.com.au June 14.2024
4. P. Gosselin, “10 of 10 coastal Antarctic stations show zero warming over past decades,” notrickszone.com, May 31, 2019
5. Xueying Zhang et al., “Significant West Antarctic cooling in the past two decades driven by tropical Pacific forcing,” AMS Journals, June 26, 2023
6. Kenneth Richard, “Antarctica is currently colder than it was 5000 years ago,” principia-scientific.org, April 22, 2024
7. Kenneth Richard, “Antarctic is colder, icier today than at any time in 5,000 years,” climatechangedispatch.com, April 29, 2024
8. P. Gosselin, “-80 C: Antarctic Vostok station records extreme winter cold, not even winter yet,” notrickszone.com, May 8, 2024