Re: Anonymous Coward
Anonymous Coward:
Have you actually read the link in thedailygreen you posted? It is talking about ice extent in Dec 2007. Of course it re-froze; this is what happens in winter!
Summer ice extent in 2007 was the lowest ever recorded. 2008 was the second lowest. There is a widespread and significant loss of multiyear ice. Arctic ice is melting much faster than any models predicted.
"...swings and roundabouts, mate.". Is it really? Larsen B ice shelf was stable for 10,000 years when it collapsed in March 2002. The same will probably apply to Wilkins Ice shelf which is disintegrating in front of our eyes. It will be the tenth major ice shelf to collapse recently.
Swings and roundabouts, is it?
"...On closer examination though, his conclusions are based on mathematical models which could be called simplistic at best, naive at worst.". This statement betrays a shocking lack of understanding of climatology. All based on models, is it? Let me open your eyes a bit - climatology is based on: 1) paleo record over the last 500 million years, 2) recent instrumental record over the last several centuries and 3) climate models.
Want to see what happens when you dump gigatons of carbon into the atmosphere in a short period of time without relying on models? Google PETM (except that was over 10,000 years and we will do it in 300 years if we burn all fossil fuel).
Have a look at ocean acidification whilst you are at it. At 450ppm polar oceans are expected to become corrosive to key marine calcifiers:
http://ioc3.unesco.org/oanet/Symposium2008/MonacoDeclaration.pdf
The evidence for unusual nature of recent warming is widespread based on observational evidence: "melting on the summits of ice caps on Ellesmere Island and Quelccaya and other Andean mountains, the widespread retreat of glaciers in mountain ranges around the world (which in some places has exposed decomposing organic matter that dates to well before A.D. 1000), the recent disintegration of the Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica, and the fact that ice cores from both Greenland and coastal Antarctica show evidence of 20th century warming (whereas only Greenland shows warming during medieval times). Ice cores from the Andes and Tibetan plateau and the recession of the ice caps on mountains in equatorial Africa, which reflect both temperature and hydrologic processes, also suggest that the 20th century climate is unusual in the context of the last few thousand years."
http://books.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11676&page=19
"...Unfortunately, ignorance and poor educational standards..." - tell me about it!