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Scientists Cut Greenland Ice Loss Estimate By Half

bonch writes "A new study on Greenland's and West Antarctica's rate of ice loss halves the estimate of ice loss. Published in the journal Nature Geoscience, the study takes into account a rebounding of the Earth's crust called glacial isostatic adjustment, a continuing rise of the crust after being smashed under the weight of the Ice Age. 'We have concluded that the Greenland and West Antarctica ice caps are melting at approximately half the speed originally predicted,' said researcher Bert Vermeeersen."

6 of 414 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Science at work folks by Eunuchswear · · Score: 4, Informative

    It is now a known fact that at least one journal (Climate Research), when publishing papers that the "top dog" climate scientists didn't like, then faced retribution from those same "top dogs" who conspired to then boycott said publication (to not publish in it, or even cite any publications in it) to manipulate its editorial staff.

    What crap. Been reading Cato.org much recently? http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=11022

    Try http://climateprogress.org/2010/01/05/cato-institute-patrick-michaels-falsehood-stolen-emails-climategate-michael-mann-peer-review/ and follow the links, notably to the statement of the Editor-in-chief of "Climate Research", here: http://coast.gkss.de/staff/storch/CR-problem/cr.2003.htm

    "Climate Research" was indeed manipulated, but but the "skeptics", not the "warmists". One editor slipped in some crap papers (which have since been comprehensively demolished). When the other editors complained and requested that an editorial explaining what happened be printed the "skeptic" refused, so the other editors resigned.

    --
    Watch this Heartland Institute video
  2. Re:Great news! by elbow_spur · · Score: 5, Informative

    > We all know that the ice is still melting (but slower than we thought).
    This year we are going to see a new record low for arctic sea ice --- surpassing even the dramatic 2007 decline.
    http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.recent.arctic.png
    What's really startling is that this year, both the NE and the NW passages are completely open. This animation tells the story
    http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/CT/animate.arctic.color.0.html
    Typically, shipping through the NE passage relies on Russian icebreakers. Judging by the satellite photos, at this point the icebreakers aren't needed
    Source: cryosphere today http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/

  3. Re:Great news! by dtjohnson · · Score: 4, Informative

    This year we are going to see a new record low for arctic sea ice --- surpassing even the dramatic 2007 decline.

    No one can say with certainty what 'might' happen...but it can be said
    what has already happened with arctic sea ice extent...and you are
    wrong. Arctic sea ice extent this year is greater
    than it was on the same date in 2007 AND 2008.

       

  4. Re:Why I no longer believe in global warming by chrb · · Score: 4, Informative

    I had my first doubts about global warming, when they introduced the term climate change“

    The general public/media did not understand that "global warming" refered to the global mean temperature. This meant it was possible for some regions to cool whilst others warmed. Despite this, the myth grew that Any cooling disproves global warming. The change in terminology was a response to this confusion amongst the public, and wouldn't have been necessary if everyone understood "mean warming" actually meant.

    If the “hockeystick” were correct, we should have experienced a record-breaking hot climate in every year or at least most years between 2000 and 2010

    Incorrect. As already pointed out, some regions of the world may still cool despite the global mean increasing. (Incidentally, "the Hockey stick has been proven wrong" is a myth.

    The warm periods, no matter when we talk about humans (medieval warm period, little ice age, etc.) or life in general were always the better periods

    Climate myths: It's been far warmer in the past, what's the big deal?
    Climate myths: Higher CO2 levels will boost plant growth and food production

    Well, science is not a popularity contest and is also not democratic.

    So we should always ignore the opinion of the majority of scientists if it disagrees with our personal opinion?

    Socialism

    ... has nothing to do with global warming. (Unless you believe it's all a conspiracy)

  5. Re:Great news! by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Informative

    So even if there's no climate change, it verifies climate change.
    But if there's +5C change, then, by golly, global warming has been falsified! The results didn't match prediction.

    In all seriousness, though, I think there's a real paradox in what we consider falsification and verification in science if the above two statements are both true.

    Yes, there's a problem with what you consider falsification. Falsification applies to theories, not to observations.

    If the temperature rises 5C, it would falsify the theory by which we model and predict global warming. However, the observation of global warming would be stronger than ever. So, we'd have to change our theories.

    It's similar to how experiment falsified the Caloric theory of heat because the result did not match predictions, but did not falsify the concept of heat. Observations that did not match Newton's Law of Gravity did not "falsify" the observation that gravity exists.

    On the other hand, a temperature change of 0 degrees, that would validate the theory by which we model and predict global warming. However the observation would be of no global warming for that period. It would be correct to say "there was no global warming in this ten year period". Just remember that unlike a theory or model, this would not "falsify" the previous observations of warming.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  6. Re:Science at work folks by oiron · · Score: 4, Informative

    You really should read a little into the damn thing, and not just right-wing blogs...

    In early 2003, the small journal Climate Research published a paper by climate change “skeptics” Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, which challenged the established view that the late twentieth century saw anomalously high temperatures. The paper didn’t present original research; instead, it was a literature review. Soon and Baliunas examined a wide range of “proxy records” for past temperatures, based on studies of ice cores, corals, tree rings, and other sources. They concluded that few of the records showed anything particularly unusual about twentieth century temperatures, especially when compared with the so-called “Medieval Warm Period” a thousand years ago.

    Soon and Baliunas had specifically sent their paper to one Chris de Freitas at Climate Research, an editor known for opposing curbs on carbon dioxide emissions. He in turn sent the paper out for review and then accepted it for publication. That’s when the controversy began.

    Soon mainstream climate scientists fought back. Thirteen authored a devastating critique of the work in the American Geophysical Union publication Eos. After seeing the critique, Climate Research editor-in-chief Hans von Storch decided he had to make changes in the journal’s editorial process. But when journal colleagues refused to go along, von Storch announced his resignation.

    Several other Climate Research editors subsequently resigned over the Soon and Baliunas paper. Even journal publisher Otto Kinne eventually admitted that the paper suffered from serious flaws, basically agreeing with its critics. But by that point in time, Inhofe had already devoted a Senate hearing to trumpeting the new study. However dubious, it made a massive splash.

    (source here, all emphasis mine).

    I realize that you confused context with right wing punditry, but it's not.