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Arctic Ice Cap Rebounds From 2012 — But Does That Matter?
bricko writes "There has been a 60 per cent increase in the amount of ocean covered with ice compared to this time last year, the equivalent of almost a million square miles. In a rebound from 2012's record low an unbroken ice sheet more than half the size of Europe already stretches from the Canadian islands to Russia's northern shores, days before the annual re-freeze is even set to begin. The Northwest Passage from the Atlantic to the Pacific has remained blocked by pack-ice all year, forcing some ships to change their routes. A leaked report to the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) seen by the Mail on Sunday, has led some scientists to claim that the world is heading for a period of cooling that will not end until the middle of this century." "Some scientsts" in this case do not include Dana Nuccitelli, who blogs cogently in reaction at The Guardian that the 60 percent increase observed in Arctic ice is "technically true, [but] also largely irrelevant." He has no kind words for the analysis in the Daily Mail (and similar report in The Telegraph), and writes "In short, this year's higher sea ice extent is merely due to the fact that last year's minimum extent was record-shattering, and the weather was not as optimal for sea ice loss this summer. However, the long-term trend is one of rapid Arctic sea ice decline, and research has shown this is mostly due to human-caused global warming." If you want to keep track of the ice yourself, Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis offers frequent updates.
For all they care, the ice cap could return to the extent of 1980 wthin a couple of years and all they'd say would be:
See, an extreme weather event! This proves climate change is true!
So, to answer the question: Of course it doesn't matter. The whole language of the climate change has been geared to make it impossible for absolutely anything to happen that could make the true believers doubt their creed. Be it warm or cold or average. Be there storms or a lack of them. Be there rain or drought in contradiction to forecasts - they will merely say that the "climate has become unpredictable" - which is yet another proof that the climate is changing, because as we know from historical records, the climate has always been predictable in all the thousands of years of recorded history.
Absolutely nothing matters when the object of science is politics, except for money and rhethorics.
In other words
it doesn't support my political position in which global warming is an important factor, therefore this data is irrelevant"
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"t's business as usual in AGW-land."
Hey, careful. This is Slashdot. When it comes to AGW, stating the obvious truth can get you lots of negative mod points.