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The Global Warming hoax hasn't gained sufficient traction in the news media using scientific evidence and reasoning, so the proponents of global warming hysteria have resorted to arguments that are based on feelings and emotions rather than cold hard facts. This is especially useful when selling the global warming frenzy to school children or to the always-helpful news media. Subsections: Polar Bears Polar Ice Rising Sea Levels Hurricane numbers and intensity The coral reef scare Polar Bears Note: The newest material is at the top of this subsection. Unbearable Legislation. The decision announced yesterday by the Secretary of the Interior, to list the polar bear as "threatened," removes all doubt that the Endangered Species Act is broken and in need of urgent repair. It is the environmental movement that must take responsibility for breaking it. A sensible discussion of the polar bear requires acknowledging a simple fact: that the polar bear is merely a proxy for something else. Playing God with "Endangered" Species. In an effort to ensure that no exploration or drilling for oil could occur anywhere in the habitat of the polar bear, this species was put forward for listing as "endangered" even though its population has been growing steadily since the 1950s. The reason cited, however, involved the projection of melting sea ice over the course of the next fifty years resulting from global warming. That's right. A perfectly fine population of polar bears that have been around for millions of years is deemed "endangered" based on computer models for something that is not happening. Officials say polar bears to be protected species. The Interior Department has decided to protect the polar bear as a threatened species because of the decline in Arctic sea ice from global warming, officials said Wednesday [5/14/2008]. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne scheduled a news conference to announce the action. It comes a day before a court-imposed deadline on deciding whether the bear should be put under the protection of the federal Endangered Species Act. Polar Bear Melodrama: Polar bears are not the fragile, vulnerable creatures of liberal iconography. They have thrived in the Arctic for thousands of years, both through periods when their sea-ice habitat was smaller, and larger, than it is now. They will continue to adapt — and the Endangered Species Act can't make the slightest difference. Such realities haven't prevented green showboaters from claiming victory after the Bush Administration designated the polar bear as a "threatened" species yesterday [5/14/2008]. Arctic Fairy Tale. The decision on Wednesday by the U.S. Interior Department to declare the polar bear a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act is a major victory for environmentalists who have been looking for a back-door legal mechanism to limit carbon-dioxide emissions. The decision was made after nine U.S. Geological Survey studies looked into the possibility that the polar bear might be faced with extinction late in this century. Are Polar Bears Really an Endangered Species? Environmentalists use charismatic megafauna to raise awareness of and promote policy solutions to perceived environmental threats. Studies show charismatic species are more likely to be protected than are less photogenic animals. Giant pandas are charismatic megafauna, as are whales, salmon, eagles, and caribou. The latest example is Ursus maritimus, the polar bear. Environmental groups, claiming manmade global warming threatens the polar bears' survival, have called for an endangered species listing with extraordinarily far-reaching consequences. Fears about Polar Bear Populations Are Refuted by Scientific Forecasting. [Scroll down] When I joined forces with a prominent forecasting expert and one of the world's leading climate scientists to audit the government's forecasts, we found the predictions were based on false assumptions and violated many principles of scientific forecasting. In fact, we found the government forecasters followed less than one-sixth of the relevant principles of scientific forecasting. The bottom line is that the government studies are irrelevant to the question whether polar bears are endangered or threatened. Alaska's 'Frustrated' Governor Palin On Our 'Nonsensical' Energy Policy. We believe that listing polar bears as such is a significant threat to development, because most live on the North Slope. (But) the biggest problem with the ruling is that we are the only state that is impacted. Most polar bears (are found) in Canada. We've got other places in the world once again telling us Alaskans how to live, and whether we can develop. We've coexisted with bears for decades to no detrimental effect. Our bear population is thriving. This listing is nothing but interference from outsiders who insist on keeping Alaska from developing our resources responsibly. Oil Companies Brace for Battles Over Polar Bear Listing. The lawyers aren't clearing their calendars just yet, but the oil industry is bracing for some courtroom battles to maintain its stake in Alaska's oil-rich fields now that the Interior Department has listed polar bears as a threatened species. Polar Bear Ruling to Bring Tsunami of Lawsuits. As expected, the U.S. Department of the Interior added the polar bear to the list of threatened species under the Endangered Species Act last week. … Such an action is logically and ethically indefensible. For the administration to determine that the polar bear is threatened, it had to conclude that global warming will melt the ice that polar bears need to survive. Having reached that conclusion, the Endangered Species Act requires them to take action to slow global warming. They can't decide not to do their job and enforce the law. Governor: Alaska to challenge polar bear listing. The state of Alaska will sue to challenge the recent listing of polar bears as a threatened species, Gov. Sarah Palin announced Wednesday [5/21/2008]. She and other Alaska elected officials fear a listing will cripple oil and gas development in prime polar bear habitat off the state's northern and northwestern coasts. Palin argued that there is not enough evidence to support a listing. Polar bears are well-managed and their population has dramatically increased over 30 years as a result of conservation, she said. Canadians argue for polar bear hunt. Officials from northern Canada were in Washington on Monday to make an unpopular argument: Let U.S. hunters continue to kill polar bears for sport. The politicians from Canada's Northwest Territory asked Interior Department officials to allow U.S. sportsmen to still bring back polar bear hides after their hunts in Canada's Arctic region, despite the increased protection now afforded the bear under the Endangered Species Act. The Endangered Values List. Environmentalists have now succeeded in placing the polar bear on the Endangered Species List despite the fact that, according to The International Union for Conservation of Nature, their population has almost doubled from 10,000 in 1965 to over 20,000 in 2006. This action will restrict the production of oil and natural gas in Alaska even further. March of the Polar Bears. A preventive war worked out so well in Iraq that Washington last week launched another. The new preventive war — the government responding forcefully against a postulated future threat — has been declared on behalf of polar bears, the first species whose supposed jeopardy has been ascribed to global warming. Policy Experts Reject Proposal to List Polar Bears as Threatened. U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne proposed on December 27 that polar bears be listed as a "threatened" species, not because their populations are currently in decline but because global warming may threaten them in the future. Kempthorne's proposal came in response to a lawsuit filed by environmental groups against the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice. I'm not quite sure what the future holds for polar bears, but it doesn't appear that any alleged manmade global warming has anything to do with it. The report, entitled "Impacts of a Warming Arctic," pretty much debunks itself on page 23 in the graph labeled, "Observed Arctic Temperature, 1900 to Present." If polar bears really are getting skinnier as the 1999 study suggested, it may actually be due to an increased population subsisting on the same level of available food. After all, the harvesting of Alaskan polar bears has been limited by the Marine Mammal Protection Act and international agreements since 1972. The Polar Bears Are All Right. In 1817, nearly a century before Roald Amundsen first navigated the long-sought Northwest Passage, the Royal Society in London got word of "new sources of warmth" in the Arctic. The society was the Victorian-era equivalent of NASA, and its president reacted with great enthusiasm to the sudden prospect of discoveries "not only interesting to the advancement of science but also to the future intercourse of mankind and the commerce of distant nations." Times change, as does the climate. New sources of warmth are no longer greeted with such good cheer. The Great Polar Bear Population Puzzle. Before anybody tries to change the world to save polar bears, which the Department of Interior listed as "threatened" last week, somebody should figure out how many polar bears there are. When the world's foremost polar bear scientists gathered in Alaska in 1965 for their first international meeting, they confronted a cold fact: They did not know. Church of Green: The U.S. government just put polar bears on the threatened species list because climate change is shrinking the Arctic ice where they live. Never mind that polar bears are in fact thriving — their numbers have quadrupled in the last 50 years. Never mind that full implementation of the Kyoto protocols on greenhouse gases would save exactly one polar bear, according to Danish social scientist Bjørn Lomborg, author of the book Cool It! A Bear of a Problem. Declaring the polar bear a "threatened" species imperiled by global warming certainly hands a public relations victory to environmentalist groups. Now they have cute and cuddly mascot for their climate-change campaigns. Given the structure of the ESA, the listing may provide them with a powerful legal weapon as well. Because the ESA can be used to force legal action even when unwarranted or unwise, it can provide pro-regulatory forces with tremendous leverage over private development. The one thing the listing will not do, however, is help save polar bears or the arctic habitat in which they reside. Arctic Warming Update. Once again claims are flying thick and fast regarding dramatic, in fact, unprecedented Arctic warming. Once again, we look at the available data, now updated to the end of 2004. Once again, we find the claims to be dead flat wrong. There's no need to 'save' the polar bear. Environmental groups are pushing to list the polar bear as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act, and the Bush administration is considering their demands. It might make sense — if the polar bear were endangered. But the worldwide population of these bears has more than doubled since 1965, to an estimated 20,000-25,000 today. Far from being threatened, by all accounts the bears are thriving. So what's behind the push to "save" the bears? A desire to ban energy exploration in much of Alaska, and a threatened species tag is just the ticket to make it happen. Bear Necessities: [Scroll down] … It was foolish of the Interior Department to add the polar bear to the endangered species list. Anyone who thought that environmental groups would settle for half a loaf — a "threatened" listing with caveats — has failed to learn the lessons of history. Environmental groups are, by their nature, extreme in their desires: they are single-value groups that subordinate all other concerns to the preservation of nature. Polar Bear Scare on Thin Ice. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) on September 7 claimed that two-thirds of the world's polar bears may die by 2050 due to global warming. Such claims are strongly contradicted by real-world evidence. The Polar Bears Are All Right. Despite this unusually cold weather, scientists at NASA and elsewhere remain concerned about the state of the Arctic. … They also point to the long-term trend, though long-term may be a misnomer. Reliable records on arctic ice go back only to 1979, when satellites first started to survey the poles. As Richard Lindzen, a prominent global warming skeptic and a professor at MIT, puts it, "this is a primitive field where nobody has much idea of anything." Companies get OK to annoy polar bears. Less than a month after declaring polar bears a threatened species because of global warming, the Bush administration is giving oil companies permission to annoy and potentially harm them in the pursuit of oil and natural gas. Referring to the article above... Polar Bears Are More Important Than Western Civilization. Years ago we might have chuckled at reading such a silly article and shaken our heads in comical disbelief. Today, it is clear beyond doubt that the mainstream media seeks to stage a coup by imposing their beliefs and values on the citizens of this country through incessant propagandizing and opinion shaping. A press that writes every article with a preordained agenda and bias against individual liberties can be very dangerous if its audience does not recognize the propaganda for what it is. Federal Government Continues to Weigh ESA Listing of Polar Bears. Dr. Mitchell Taylor, a biologist recently retired from the Nunavut Territorial government in Canada, pointed out in testimony to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service that modest warming may be beneficial to the bears because it creates better habitat for seals and makes blueberry bushes more abundant. "Ice has declined in some areas of polar bear range, and this decline in ice appears to have reduced the viability of two populations — at Western Hudson Bay and the Southern Beaufiort. However, polar bears are currently abundant in all populations, and are not threatened with extinction by sea ice reductions," Taylor said. Arctic Ice Melting, Polar Bears Endangered, Govt. Says. The Bush administration wants to add polar bears to the endangered species list as a result of the ice melting in the Arctic. Global warming is being blamed for harming the bears' habitat, but global warming skeptics are unconvinced. Do polar bears need U.S. protection? That's the question under consideration at the US Fish and Wildlife Service, which is poised to recommend whether the icon of the Arctic should be officially designated as a threatened species — even though the bear's numbers currently are not in precipitous decline. The judiciousness of protecting the polar bear under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), in anticipation that its frozen habitat will be thawing as a consequence of climate change, is a matter of hot debate. Canada Inuit rap U.S. greens for polar bear campaign. Leaders of Canada's Arctic Inuit people denounced U.S. environmentalists on Monday [1/14/2008] for pushing Washington to declare the polar bear a threatened species, saying the move was unnecessary and would hurt the local economy. The United States last week delayed a decision on whether global warming threatened polar bears on the grounds that it needed more time to analyze the data. Three U.S. green groups said they would sue for quicker action. Top 10 'Global-Warming' Myths: (#6) Global warming has doomed the polar bears! For some reason, Al Gore's computerized polar bear can't swim, unlike the real kind, as one might expect of an animal named Ursa Maritimus. On the whole, these bears are thriving, if a little less well in those areas of the Arctic that are cooling (yes, cooling). Is it proven fact, or just conventional wisdom? "If you look at the long term records, the Arctic has been as warm or warmer than it is today," says [University of Alabama at Huntsville climatologist John] Christy. He cites temperature data from the Hadley Centre in the UK showing that from 70 degrees north latitude to the pole, the warmest years on record in the Arctic were 1937 and 1938. This area is just slightly above the Arctic Circle. Furthermore, those same records show that the Arctic warmed twice as fast between 1917 and 1937 as it has in the past 20 years. After 1940, the Arctic saw a big cool-down and climatologists noted sea ice expanding in the northern Atlantic. The miraculous survival power of the polar bear: Polar bears have become the poster animals of the catastrophic MMGW movement, like the panda is for the World Wide Fund for Nature. Many environmental organisations are predicting the imminent extinction of polar bears because of MMGW. The Australian activist Tim Flannery recently predicted that polar bears could be extinct in 25 years. However, as with so many of the 'predictions' by global warming alarmists, a reality check shows this to be highly unlikely. Alaska disputes polar bear threat. The polar bear can be found in just one place in America — Alaska — and is perhaps as much a symbol of the state as, say, alligators are of Florida. So you might think Alaska's politicians would be pounding on doors in Washington to protect it. You'd be wrong. As the federal government decides whether to list polar bears as threatened under the Endangered Species Act, Gov. Sarah Palin and the state's Republican congressional delegation are solidly opposed to the idea. Polar Bears and Stalking Horses: If the polar bear is declared "threatened," this could trigger a number of restrictions on activities that produce carbon emissions in the "lower forty-eight" states — a persistent objective of the more extreme environmentalists. To get to that point, several groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed suit to put the bears into the "threatened" category. The environmentalists' concern for polar bears is touching, but the furry creatures are only a stalking horse for their real objective: stopping the construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska to the Lower Forty-Eight in order to tap the 35 trillion cubic feet of proven natural gas reserves in the North Slope. The Polar Bear And The ESA: Backdooring Global Warming Regulations. The federal Endangered Species Act has long been known as extremely burdensome to practioners and the landowners they represent. If the polar bear is listed, a new set of industries will feel those burdens directly. Polars bears on the brink? Don't you believe it. When you're up above the Arctic Circle, on the trail of polar bears who haven't eaten a square meal in months, it's advisable to follow a few basic rules. Number one, as perishing cold as you may be, is don't drink too much coffee. … Polar bears, you see, have an acute sense of smell which helps them to track down prey up to 60 miles away. ESA Listing Not Needed for Polar Bears. Many analysts see the proposal to list the polar bear as threatened as not so much about the welfare of the bears themselves but as an effort to force the Bush administration to adopt regulations to limit greenhouse gas emissions. … [Steven] Milloy noted, "If the administration admits that the bear is dying due to climate change, it may be forced to start energy rationing to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in order to comply with the Endangered Species Act. This is what the environmentalists filing the lawsuit had in mind all along." Saving 0.06 polar bears per year: Given limited resources to address the problem, we should put our money into the highest-yielding policies. For example, [climate scientist Bjorn] Lomborg writes that following the enormously expensive Kyoto recommendations would save 0.06 polar bears per year at most. "But 49 bears from the same population are getting shot every year, and this we can easily do something about." Theory On Thin Ice. Global warming alarmists have made a big deal out of North Pole ice melting and polar bears suffering due to climate change. Before they mouth off again, they should look at a new NASA study. … "Our study confirms many changes seen in upper Arctic Ocean circulation in the 1990s were mostly decadal in nature, rather than trends caused by global warming," said the University of Washington's James Morison. Polar bears in danger? Is this some kind of joke? No wonder Greenpeace had trouble getting polar bears placed on the endangered species list. A fivefold population increase isn't exactly a catastrophic decline. Polar bears 'thriving as the Arctic warms up'. Pictures of a polar bear floating precariously on a tiny iceberg have become the defining image of global warming but may be misleading, according to a new study. A survey of the animals' numbers in Canada's eastern Arctic has revealed that they are thriving, not declining, because of mankind's interference in the environment. ESA Listing for Polar Bears Unsupported by Sound Science. "The leftist Center for Biological Diversity conceived abuse of the Endangered Species Act for creating in the public mind a false crisis over polar bears that will force radical social changes it has been unable to obtain through the democratic process. … The intended outcome is the crippling of the U.S. economy through fossil fuel starvation, increased dependence on insecure energy sources, and a green path to serfdom…." Deadline Postponed on Polar Bear Listing. Citing the complexity of the decision, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced Monday [1/7/2008] it would not meet a deadline for a recommendation on listing polar bears as a threatened species due to global warming under the federal Endangered Species Act. The Polarizing Politics of the Polar Bear: The question that the Fish and Wildlife Service must answer is: Is there clear, scientific evidence that current worldwide polar bear populations are in trouble and facing possible extinction in the foreseeable future? As the Fish and Wildlife Service reviews the issue over the next year, I feel confident they will conclude as I have, that listing the polar bear is unwarranted. Canadian Survey Reveals Polar Bears Populations Increasing. If the polar bear is the 650-kilogram canary in the climate change coal mine, why are its numbers increasing? The latest government survey of polar bears roaming the vast Arctic expanses of northern Quebec, Labrador and southern Baffin Island show the population of polar bears has jumped to 2,100 animals from around 800 in the mid-1980s. As recently as three years ago, a less official count placed the number at 1,400. Polar Bears on Thin Ice, Not Really! Though polar bears are uniquely adapted to the Arctic region, they are not wedded solely to its coldest parts nor are they restricted to a specific Arctic diet. Aside from a variety of seals, they eat fish, kelp, caribou, ducks, sea birds and scavenged whale and walrus carcasses. In addition, as discussed above, Arctic air temperatures were as high as present temperatures in the 1930s and polar bears survived. The Bear Facts: The International Union for the Conservation of Nature has just put the polar bear on the endangered species list because it is supposedly "facing extinction" — mainly, it claims, as a result of global warming. But statistics show the polar bear is not facing extinction, not by a long shot. The bears are in trouble, but they're not on thin ice. Reports of the imminent extinction of polar bears are exaggerated, says Stuart Wavell, while another threat is ignored. Polar Bears Endangered — By Greenie Bureaucrats. There [are] roughly twice as many polar bears in the world today as thirty years ago. But on May 14th U.S. Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, invoking the U.S. Endangered Species Act, proclaimed polar bears as a "threatened species." In 1972 the creatures had already lost value in the U.S. when the Marine Mammal Protection Act prohibited their hunting in Alaska. (And no, it's not the hunting ban that caused their increased numbers; they proliferated equally in Canada which continued the polar bear season.) Polar Ice Reality cools climate cultists. While one ice floe does not amount to a mini-ice age, the dramatic evidence runs counter to the mantra of the climate warming cult which has claimed the Arctic is becoming progressively free of ice. The mantra of less ice has long been coupled with the warning that rising sea levels will soon swamp coastal areas and both claims have been used to heighten fears about climate change and add a greater sense of urgency to calls for action now. Alarmist global warming claims melt under scientific scrutiny. Gore claims global warming is causing an expansion of African deserts. However, the Sept. 16, 2002, issue of New Scientist reports, "Africa's deserts are in 'spectacular' retreat … making farming viable again in what were some of the most arid parts of Africa." Gore argues Greenland is in rapid meltdown, and that this threatens to raise sea levels by 20 feet. But according to a 2005 study in the Journal of Glaciology, "the Greenland ice sheet is thinning at the margins and growing inland, with a small overall mass gain." Arctic ice refuses to melt as ordered. Just a few weeks ago, predictions of Arctic ice collapse were buzzing all over the internet. Some scientists were predicting that the "North Pole may be ice-free for first time this summer". Others predicted that the entire "polar ice cap would disappear this summer". The Arctic melt season is nearly done for this year. The sun is now very low above the horizon and will set for the winter at the North Pole in five weeks. And none of these dire predictions have come to pass. More Ice Than Ever. Despite a warming Southern Ocean, the amount of ice surrounding Antarctica is now at the highest level ever measured for this time of the year, since satellites first began to monitor it almost thirty years ago. This represents a continuation of the record set last winter (our summer). … At present, the coverage of ice surrounding Antarctica is almost exactly two million square miles above where it is historically supposed to be at this time of year. Where ice caps grow: You've probably heard the permanent ice cap in the Arctic has receded considerably, because the people who are worried about global warming talk about it all the time. You may not know ice in Antarctica is growing. This is an awkward topic for global warming alarmists, because if global warming were, er, global, this shouldn't be happening. Does CO2 really drive global warming? The model we now have is that if the Arctic Ocean is frozen over, as is the case today, the existing ice cap is not being replenished and must shrink, as it is doing today. As it does so, the Earth can absorb more of the Sun's radiation and therefore will heat up — global warming — as it is doing today, so long as the Arctic Ocean is closed. When it is warm enough for the ocean to open, which oceanographic (and media) reports say is evidently happening right now, then the ice cap can begin to re-form. The Top of the World: Is the North Pole Turning to Water? Water at the North Pole was big news in August 2000. Was it just another media scare story, or is the Arctic sea ice really disappearing? This report details the whole issue of Arctic sea ice. Antarctic Ice Melt Scare Lacks Scientific Support. Despite a warming Southern Ocean, the amount of ice surrounding Antarctica is now at the highest level ever measured for this time of the year, since satellites first began to monitor it almost 30 years ago. Experts challenge ice shelf claim. Two scientists have claimed that climate change was not the only cause of the collapse of a 500bn tonne ice shelf in Antarctica six years ago. The 656ft (200m) thick, 1,255 sq mile (3,250 sq km) Larsen B shelf broke apart in March 2002. But Neil Glasser of Aberystwyth University and Ted Scambos of Colorado University claim in a new study that it had been on the brink for decades. Ice returns as Greenland temps plummet. On Disko Bay in western Greenland, where a number of prominent world leaders have visited in recent years to get a first-hand impression of climate change, temperatures have dropped so drastically that the water has frozen over for the first time in a decade. 'The ice is up to 50cm thick,' said Henrik Matthiesen, an employee at Denmark's Meteorological Institute who has also sailed the Greenlandic coastline for the Royal Arctic Line. 'We've had loads of northerly winds since Christmas which has made the area miserably cold.' Arctic Sea Ice Not Melting. A Canadian scientist is pouring cold, unfrozen water on the notion that global warming is melting arctic sea ice like a Popsicle at the beach. The end of the fake consensus on global warming. [In his new book, Lawrence Solomon] attempts to give readers insight into how non-settled and fragmentary the science actually is on climate change. For example, think the polar icecaps are melting? That's true at the North Pole, but it's not certain at the South Pole, according to Duncan Wingham. A portion of Antarctica's northern peninsula is melting. But that's a tiny slice of the 14 million square kilometre continent. And confounding evidence exists. Since the inception of the South Pole research station in 1957, recorded temperatures have actually fallen. When 'green' is shorthand for environmental idiocy. Unfortunately, the lights-out campaign exemplifies the state of much of our environmental debate. We are spoon fed stories that fit preconceived frameworks. For example, the recent breakup of a massive glacier in the Antarctic supposedly proves the mounting effects of global warming. But we don't hear that the area was ice-free, possibly just some 400 years ago, without the help of global warming. We don't hear that the Wilkins Glacier makes up less than 0.01 percent of Antarctica. Nor do we hear that the Antarctic is experiencing record sea ice coverage since satellite measurements began. 'Nightly News' Gives One Side of Antarctica Ice Changes. Defying the tenets of ethical journalism has become the norm for some media outlets when it the issue is global warming. "NBC Nightly News" was no exception. On January 14, "Nightly News" aired a biased alarmist report of changes in the ice shelf in Antarctica during its "Our Planet" segment, blaming "manmade carbon dioxide" for the shift and ignoring any other possibilities. Study show Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for 100 years. Greenland's glaciers have been shrinking for the past century, according to a Danish study, suggesting that the ice melt is not a recent phenomenon caused by global warming. World's largest ice sheet in 'stable' condition. An ice sheet in Antarctica that is the world's largest — with enough water to raise global sea levels by 200 feet — is relatively stable and poses no immediate threat to ocean levels, according to new research. North Atlantic Warming Tied To Natural Variability. A Duke University-led analysis of available records shows that while the North Atlantic Ocean's surface waters warmed in the 50 years between 1950 and 2000, the change was not uniform. In fact, the subpolar regions cooled at the same time that subtropical and tropical waters warmed. Global Warming Is Not the Cause of Polar Ice Cap Retreat. Although Arctic sea ice last summer reached its minimum extent since satellites began measuring the ice in 1979, NASA scientists have discovered the sea ice retreated due to variable local wind patterns rather than global warming. Moreover, the ice re-formed at a record pace last fall. In the Southern Hemisphere, Antarctic sea ice is at its greatest extent in recorded history. The majority of Antarctica is in a prolonged cold spell and has been accumulating snow and ice for decades. Gulf Stream Will Not Shut Down, Science Magazines Admit. Putting to rest nearly a decade of scare scenarios involving polar ice caps quickly reclaiming Canada, the northern United States, and northern and central Europe, scientists now report there is no chance of the Gulf Stream shutting down any time soon, regardless of any predicted global warming. Testing The Waters: According to the greenies, the Earth is supposed to warm continuously and disastrously without taking any rest breaks. Yet after taking actual data from the Labrador Sea where the Gulf Stream gives up its warmth before sinking and returning southward and projecting forward, the Kiel team says the Atlantic currents will keep rising temperatures in check around the world, much as the warming and cooling associated with El Niño and La Niña in the Pacific affect global temperatures. Open Water at the North Pole is Not Proof of Global Warming. Polar Ice Cap Studies Refute Catastrophic Global Warming Theories: More recent studies of the polar ice caps show the polar ice caps are holding their own and actually growing slightly. Greenland's disappearing lakes leave giant ice sheets largely unmoved. Fears that the rapid draining of water from the top of Greenland's ice sheet may be contributing to the rise of global sea levels have been allayed by new research. Though scientists confirmed that the water can drain away faster than Niagara Falls, it did not seem to accelerate the movement of the ice sheet into the ocean as previously thought. Arctic Sea Ice — Is it Disappearing? If we want to understand variability of Arctic sea ice (and, for that matter, sea and air temperature) we should take our eyes off greenhouse gases, at least for a moment, and study multidecadal phenomena. We should also avoid the temptation of taking the last 20–30 years of data, computing a trend, and assuming that that trend will continue for 50–100 years. History tells us that long-term linear trends will not occur. More breathtaking stupidity from the mainstream media. Tom Nelson comments on the article posted immediately below. "It's not even rare for the North Pole to be ice free." Exclusive: No ice at the North Pole. It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year. The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic — and worrying — examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Editor's note: First of all, the statement that there is open water at the North Pole "for the first time in human history" is simply a canard. A group of environmental scientists on the Russian icebreaker Yamal went to the North Pole in August 2000. "When they got to the North Pole they were greeted by an expanse of open water, photographs of which became the subject of sensationalist reporting in the media."* Second, since there has been no global warming in several years, it is not likely that global warming is the cause of the open water at the pole. If this report is true, however, the open water might be due to volcanic activity in the area. (Am I the only one to connect these dots? Can they be connected?) It could be a case of abrupt local warming. Keep reading... Study finds Arctic seabed afire with lava-spewing volcanoes. The Arctic seabed is as explosive geologically as it is politically judging by the "fountains" of gas and molten lava that have been blasting out of underwater volcanoes near the North Pole. "Explosive volatile discharge has clearly been a widespread, and ongoing, process," according to an international team that sent unmanned probes to the strange fiery world beneath the Arctic ice. Volcanic eruptions reshape Arctic ocean floor: study. Recent massive volcanoes have risen from the ocean floor deep under the Arctic ice cap, spewing plumes of fragmented magma into the sea, scientists who filmed the aftermath reported Wednesday. The eruptions — as big as the one that buried Pompei — took place in 1999 along the Gakkel Ridge, an underwater mountain chain snaking 1,800 kilometres (1,100 miles) from the northern tip of Greenland to Siberia. Arctic Volcanoes Found Active at Unprecedented Depths. Buried under thick ice and frigid water, volcanic explosions are shaking the Arctic Ocean floor at depths previously thought impossible, according to a new study. Are Volcanoes Melting Arctic? In August 2000 the New York Times ran a piece claiming the pole was free of ice for the first time in 50 million years, long before SUVs roamed Earth. As earth scientist Patrick Michaels noted, "It was retracted three weeks later as a barrage of scientists protested that open water is common at or near the pole at the end of summer." As reported in the June 26 edition of ScienceDaily, a research team led by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (WHOI) has uncovered evidence of massive undersea volcanic eruptions deep beneath the ice-covered surface of the Arctic Ocean. 
Looks to me like there's plenty of ice at the North Pole and the South Pole. Source: The Cryosphere Today. 
Chart: Global Sea Ice Area 1979-present. [A tip of the hat to Greenie Watch.] Are the ice caps melting? The headlines last week brought us terrifying news: The North Pole will be ice-free this summer "for the first time in human history," wrote Steve Connor in The Independent. Or so the experts at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado predict. This sounds very frightening, so let's look at the facts about polar sea ice. As usual, there are a couple of huge problems with the reports. Firstly, the story is neither alarming nor unique. Rising Sea Levels The Effects of Burning Hydrocarbon Fuels over the last 100 years: This is a guest editorial by Dennis Barr, who asserts that the burning of hydrocarbon fuels — not global warming — is the reason for the one-foot increase in the mean sea level over the last century. Dennis ran the numbers and calculated that the combustion of one gallon of octane produces one gallon of water — and it is water that did not previously exist. When Will We Tire of the Fear Mongers? Sea level may rise a foot this century, according to a new report from that font of unvarnished truth, the United Nations. But seas have been rising seven inches a century for at least the past 800 years. No one knows where former vice president Al Gore gets his scary 20 foot prediction for sea level rise. Global Warming: Unfinished Business. Sea level rise is a major feared impact of a future warming. It seems likely, however, that increased evaporation from the ocean may lead to more rapid accumulation of polar ice and a lowering of sea level. This possibility is supported by an observed inverse correlation between sea level rate of rise and tropical sea surface temperature. The Truth about the Maldives and Sri Lanka. In 2000 we launched an international sea level research project in the Maldives to shed new light on these manifold sea level problems. We soon understood that this region was by no means undergoing a present sea level rise, and we are now able to give the all-clear for the near future. [PDF] Climate chaos? Don't believe it. In 1988, James Hansen, a climatologist, told the US Congress that temperature would rise 0.3°C by the end of the century (it rose 0.1°C), and that sea level would rise several feet (no, one inch). The UN set up a transnational bureaucracy, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The UK taxpayer unwittingly meets the entire cost of its scientific team, which, in 2001, produced the Third Assessment Report, a Bible-length document presenting apocalyptic conclusions well beyond previous reports. The history of Greenland alone should be enough to convince you that global warming is a natural process. Who's Afraid of Global Warming? J.R. Dunn debunks the presupposition of global warming's connection to rising sea levels, eroding beaches, threats to coral reefs, mass extinction, storm severity, melting ice sheets, and widespread tropical diseases. 
This chart shows sea level has risen, by best estimates, between four and eight inches in the last 150 years. Will sea levels rise 20 feet as Gore predicts? First of all, let's understand just how cold the Antarctic is. Winter temperatures on its high, cold interior plateau range from 40 to 95°F below zero! In the summer (December) it "warms," with temperatures dipping only to 49°F below zero — and sometimes rising within 25°F of the melting point (32°F). But even then, the ice reflects virtually all of the sun's rays back out into space. Sea Level Rise: The 20th Century in Perspective. In contrast to the oft-stated claim that the rate of sea-level rise has been accelerating in tandem with the rate of rise in the air's CO2 concentration and/or its temperature, Larsen and Clark could find no evidence that supports that contention. Warming Likely to Have Modest Effect on Sea Level, If Any. One of the great fears generated by global warming is that the oceans are about to rise and swallow our coasts. These concerns have been heightened by the substantial uptick in Atlantic hurricane activity that began in 1995. The frequency of really strong storms striking the United States now resembles what it was in the 1940s and '50s, however, which few people (aging climatologists excepted) remember. Volcanic eruptions cause sea level spike. The fiercest volcanic eruptions affect global sea level in unexpected ways — at least, in the short term — according to a new study. Particles produced by major eruptions are known to block out sunlight and cool both the ground and the ocean. But computer modellers previously thought this might result in a drop in sea level, since water becomes denser as it cools. In fact, sea levels shoot up after an eruption — initially, at least — according to Aslak Grinsted of the University of Lapland in Finland and colleagues. Why Worry About Global Warming? (1) Whereas the climate modelers in 1980 were forecasting an increase in sea levels of 30 feet, that forecast fell to three to five feet by 1988, and the current forecast is only 12 inches. (2) New evidence shows that the polar ice caps are growing, not melting; and almost all the warming at the poles is occurring during the polar winters, when no melting can occur. (3) New research on hurricanes shows they are not produced by global warming and, if anything, warmer temperatures make hurricanes less severe. (4) Most of the warming so far has occurred at night, reducing the number of frosts and increasing the growing season for farmers – 1990, one of the warmest years in recent history, was also a record year for crops. Flatter oceans may have caused 1920s sea rise. The movement of a colossal "mounds" of water in the North Atlantic and Pacific oceans may have caused sea levels to suddenly begin rising more quickly in the 1920s, researchers say. Their analysis presents a more complex picture of sea-level change and suggests that the rate of change has been more dramatic than previously thought. Global warming impact may be overstated. The most pessimistic predictions of sea level rises as ice sheets are melted by global warming may have to be scaled back as a result of an extraordinary discovery that ice persisted when the Earth was much hotter than today. Scientists have discovered that glaciers survived for hundreds of thousands of years during an extraordinary era when crocodiles roamed the Arctic and the tropical Atlantic Ocean was as warm as human blood. Don't boo-hoo for Tuvalu: If you heard that the island nation of Tuvalu was being swallowed up by the ocean thanks to global warming, Patrick J. Michaels would like to put your mind at ease. Sea level around Tuvalu has been falling precipitously for the last half-century. The natives want out because they wrecked the place. Hurricane numbers and intensity Related topic: You may wonder if it is possible to forecast global warming trends for the next 100 years, when forecasters can't make accurate predictions about this year's hurricane season. Latest science debunks Hurricanes and Global Warming Link. Before the media starts predictably linking Hurricane Gustav and Hannah to man-made global warming a sampling of a few of the most recent studies should easily silence such chatter. M.I.T. Scientists: Warming Will Actually Reduce Number of Hurricanes. After Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005, global warming alarmists claimed greenhouse gas emissions had led to a season that had 22 named tropical storms. Recent reports raise strong doubts about those claims. Global Warming Hurricane Scare Exposed as Hot Air. Two new studies of historical hurricane patterns have slammed the door on claims that global warming has caused unusually strong and frequent hurricanes during the past few years. The studies add to a growing body of research that is quietly discrediting global warming alarmism. In the June 7 issue of Nature, scientists documented their reconstruction of Atlantic Ocean hurricane activity dating back 270 years. They found the 1970s and 1980s were periods of "anomalously low" hurricane activity compared with historical norms. Revisiting the global warming-hurricane link: Since the devastating 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, scientists have been briskly testing the notion that global warming's fingerprints have already appeared on tropical-cyclone activity worldwide. Now, a new analysis from the scientist who helped trigger that flurry of studies suggests that the answer to questions about global warming's impact on current tropical cyclone trends may instead be: No, not yet. Hurricane expert reconsiders global warming's impact. One of the most influential scientists behind the theory that global warming has intensified recent hurricane activity says he will reconsider his stand. The hurricane expert, Kerry Emanuel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, this week unveiled a novel technique for predicting hurricane activity. Hurricane Intensity Trends Are Natural, Not Manmade. Clearly, Floridians have a lot at stake when hurricane season approaches each year. Hence the question of whether human-induced changes in the Earth's greenhouse effect may impact current or future hurricane patterns is probably nowhere more important than it is in Florida, with its 17.3 million coastal residents (making up half of the vulnerable coastal population from Texas through North Carolina). Decisions to name storms draw concern. With another hurricane season set to end this Friday, a controversy is brewing over decisions of the National Hurricane Center to designate several borderline systems as tropical storms. Some meteorologists, including former hurricane center director Neil Frank, say as many as six of this year's 14 named tropical systems might have failed in earlier decades to earn "named storm" status. Expert disputes storms' link to global warming. Chris Landsea, science and operations director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said the notion that global warming is causing an increase in hurricanes gained widespread attention after the stormy seasons of 2004 and 2005. But that perception is wrong and the statistics don't bear it out, Landsea told about 200 students and professors in the auditorium at USC's geography building. Further study continues to show that hurricane activity occurs in cycles of 20 to 45 years, he said. Hurricanes: are they or aren't they? Much is being made of increased hurricane threat as a result of human-induced (anthropogenic) global warming (AGW). This is a contentious issue, to say the least, with a great deal of "he said, she said" making the situation as clear as mud. Let's see if we can't slice through a little of the heated rhetoric and try to find any cold facts that may be available.  Global Mean Temperature in degress Kelvin, 1850-2000 Carbon dioxide, storm strength not linked, Gray says. Major cuts in carbon emissions would hurt the nation's economy and provide little or no environmental benefit, a top hurricane predictor said Friday [5/18/2007]. And there's scant evidence that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases affect hurricane power or frequency, professor William Gray told an audience Friday, the final day of the Governor's Hurricane Conference in Fort Lauderdale. Big increase in hurricanes is not caused by global heating, say scientists. Hurricanes in the Atlantic are increasing because of natural weather patterns rather than global warming, a study has concluded. Growing numbers of hurricanes battering the United States and the Caribbean have made their presence felt in the past decade and are forecast to worsen. Global warming has been cited as a possible cause but researchers looking at sediment and coral deposits have now identified natural variations in their frequency. Three Things to Know About Global Warming: (#2) Global warming does not affect the frequency and strength of hurricanes. According to Max Mayfield, director of the National Hurricane Center: "Hurricanes, and especially major hurricanes, are cyclical. We'll have a few decades of really active hurricanes, and then inactive periods, followed by active periods again. Blaming Bush. About the connection between hurricanes and global warming, [Stanley] Goldenberg [meteorologist at the Hurricane Research Division of NOAA] concludes, "I speak for many hurricane climate researchers in saying such claims are nonsense." Hurricane Katrina and Global Warming: Katrina has nothing to do with global warming. Nothing. It has everything to do with the immense forces of nature that have been unleashed many, many times before and the inability of humans, even the most brilliant engineers, to tame these forces. Study: Global warming may diminish Atlantic hurricane activity. The debate over whether global warming affects hurricanes may be running into some unexpected turbulence. Many researchers believe warming is causing the storms to get stronger, while others aren't so sure. Now, a new study raises the possibility that global warming might even make it harder for hurricanes to form. Global Warming and Hurricanes: Still No Connection. While the impacts of the currently active hurricane period are being felt especially hard in the United States, there remains no scientific proof that human contributions to an enhanced greenhouse effect are the root cause. Assigning blame for Hurricane Katrina: This kind of stupidity merits no attention whatsoever, but I'll give it a paragraph. There is no relationship between global warming and the frequency and intensity of Atlantic hurricanes. Period. CBS Whips Up Worry about Hurricane Season: The first day of spring [2006] proved perfect timing for the CBS's Jim Acosta to resurrect global warming as the villain behind last year's hurricane season, downplaying how hotly debated the matter is in the scientific community. Dr. Gray says Al Gore does 'great disservice' by stirring up alarm over global warming. Dr. William Gray, the scientist known as America's most reliable hurricane forecaster, on Friday called Al Gore "a gross alarmist" for making the Oscar-winning documentary about global warming. Forecaster Blasts Gore on Global Warming. A top hurricane forecaster called Al Gore "a gross alarmist" Friday [4/6/2007] for making an Oscar-winning documentary about global warming. "He's one of these guys that preaches the end of the world type of things. I think he's doing a great disservice and he doesn't know what he's talking about," Dr. William Gray said in an interview with The Associated Press at the National Hurricane Conference in New Orleans, where he delivered the closing speech. Florida Billboards Blame Bush for Hurricanes. Because President George W. Bush has "ignored the threat of global warming," Floridians can expect to be hit by increasingly destructive hurricanes, a new billboard campaign says. The billboards, going up along Interstate 4 between Tampa and Orlando — a week before the presidential election — read, "Global warming equals worse hurricanes. George Bush just doesn't get it." The Editor says... This demonstrates that the global warming issue isn't about science, it's about politics. I'm No Climatologist. I'm sure Al Gore will find some way to spin the spectacular lack of serious tropical storms this year into more proof of human caused climate damage. He is probably just waiting for the right moment. Tornadoes are not a sign of global warming. Climate and environment were previously outside of politics, but once they became potential election issues politicians exploited them better than environmentalists. … So before anyone attempts to make political gain from the tragic events of the tornados that killed people across the southern US recently, let's put the science on the record. And while we're at it let's explode another false claim that storms and severe weather will increase with global warming. The coral reef scare Moved to this page. Back to The Global Warming Page Jump to The Global Cooling Page Jump to the Kyoto Protocol Jump to the Environmental Issues Page Back to the Home page |
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Document location http://www.akdart.com/warming6.html Updated September 4, 2008. Page design by Andrew K. Dart ©2008 |