Talking About Ice

There are two very interesting conversations worth taking a look at related to the 'global warming debate' worth a read. The first is an analysis of “Warming of the Antarctic ice-sheetsurface since the 1957 International Geophysical Year”, Steig, E.J., D.P. Schneider, S.D. Rutherford, M.E. Mann, J.C. Comiso, and D.T. Shindell. Nature, January 2009, pp 459-462 from Fabius Maximus. As is highlighted, once again we have questionable information where many scientific observers in the media are finding consensus online while the scientific community is up in arms wondering why these articles get so much attention when the raw data is not released as per normal publishing standards required in the scientific community for virtually every other research topic.

The second conversation worth a look is over at Watts Up With That where they are looking at ice flows of both the Arctic and Antarctic and attempting to make sense of the trends. The arctic ice is well within normal levels dating back to 1979 while the Antarctic ice continues expansion, when global warming models have long suggested this should be contracting.

Am I skeptic of global warming? Absolutely, if politicians weren't so blatantly exploiting climate change for a reason to raise taxes while allowing scientists to hide the raw data, maybe I'd be less skeptical. Global Warming is a consensus theory, not a fact, and as Fabius Maximus highlights there are serious agendas at play that somehow make Global Warming science immune to the scientific requirements and standards every other science is held to. That should concern people who are tired of politics tampering with science, and that includes the politics of religion and the politics of environmental agenda.

I also don't believe there is any doubt at all the planet is in the midst of a climate change cycle we have we do not understand very well. The big problem is that what is happening is both unique in that it is not normal but also does not match any of the models for global warming. That tends to suggest to me that something is actually happening with our climate, and I find it troubling governments don't seem to actually care that they don't know what it is.

That second part is key, because policy decisions are being discussed largely absent good information of knowing what exactly we should be planning for. In my opinion, Congress should substantially increase funding for the collection and review of climate data for the scientific community, and the data should be made public so we can move beyond consensus and into the realm of fact, where science should be.

And when Congress substantially increases research funding, I hope they also invest in icebreakers, because contrary to the global warming models, the amount of ice on the ocean surface is increasing globally off South America while the summer months in the Arctic are producing more drift ice that will create dangers should commercial maritime traffic expand use of the northwest passage.