Oops! Meant to add some more text, there is that computer illiteracy rearing its electronic head once again.

Now, I just don’t see the reason to get all in a dither about this. Arctic Sea Ice is going to continue freezing for at least the next 40-60 days, so the possibility that it will exceed 1979 is quite good.

Thanks for trying to clarify the math for people here Carrick. I only commented on this blog post because the misunderstanding that seemed to be taking place in regards to “a period of growth”, and “actual current levels”. They are two very different things. I am not here to belittle anyone. Only offering some critical criticism on how the current news has been taken out of context. Most sea ice on record isn’t 2008. And none of this blog post proves either case.

I however concede as well that the measured “global warming” trend can also be a grossly misrepresented “fact”, since we don’t have data on the last 10k years or 100k years.. only guesses.. no matter how educated. This whole thing could have happened many times over before… Or this carbon emissions/global warming/human caused thing could be the only thing shy of a City sized asteroid wiping out the sun that has ever caused it. Or maybe a failed stargate caused MacGyver to leave a candle lit in the wrong place. I dont know.

None of us really know that do we?

2Hotel9, that line is the median ice coverage. It likely will return to that median value this winter (or even pass it), but to be clear 1/2 of the winters the ice coverage extended well beyond that line.

The anomaly value is the difference between current ice levels and the average for the same day over the last 30 years, so it is comparing a different thing.

2Hotel9, this is the issue (from Chris’s link): Antarctic ice levels have been increasing (for reasons that are generally understood), which makes the global ice levels look pretty steady.

As Chris points out, it may have nothing (or little) to do with global warming. Certainly shifts in ocean currents are playing a role, as are regional warming trends that are much larger than the global warming trend we are seeing.

And even with the global warming, we can’t definitely say what the origin of all of that is. Computer models suggest that prior to 1980, any anthropogenic warming associated with human-generated CO2 was pretty much balanced with sulfate emissions. That means the warming from about 1850 or so until 1980 (up to about 0.1 C or so) was due to natural processes.

And part of the rapid warming trend seen post 1980, was probably due to the reduction in sulfate emissions in industrialized nations (it was unmasking the effect from CO2 emissions).

Without the data prior to 1953 (which is about the point when the last big warming trend post the Little Ice Age occurred), we can’t say how normal/anomalous what we are seeing in the Northern Arctic is. We do know that the Northwest Passage was briefly open in 1944, so there is at least a suggestion that this has happened in the past as well.

Chris:

Only offering some critical criticism on how the current news has been taken out of context. Most sea ice on record isn’t 2008. And none of this blog post proves either case.

I’m pretty sure that point has been conceded.

The lines around parts of the ice show the 1979 extent. I don’t know. That don’t look like no 3 million sq kilometers.

Arctic Sea Ice is going to continue freezing for at least the next 40-60 days,

And then what? It’ll MELT!

Everyone Panic!

So, several times since 1979 there has been MORE ice than in 1979. That what you are saying? Given that, all of this is bullshit and means absolutely nothing.

Let me clear this up. In the summer there is less ice, in the winter there is more ice. Nothing humans do has any effect AT ALL on that. It is this thing called “seasons”. One season is warm and ice melts, one season is cold and ice freezes. End of discussion and fuck Algore and all the little scumbag, lying environazis.

Now, what is affecting Earth’s climatic cycles? Go outside at lunchtime and look up, you will see it.

See, we are back to the point of agreeing that all of this is bullshit and means absolutely nothing.

How about the Steelers!

Whistler:

I guess you missed the part where we had a late surge and ARE equal to 1979.

Global ice levels are equal. The Antarctic has gained ice, the Arctic has lost ice. The Arctic is still well below its level in 1979. See Chris’s link.

Also your title is a bit misleading. It’s certainly NOT the “Most Sea Ice on Record”.

Haven’t you heard? Haven’t you read the WP? The “new” UN “approved” word now is climate change, not global warming. That way they are covered warm, hot, cool or cold! Anything to scam people out of their hard earned money.

Al Gore was a piker.

jimmypop, time for your meds to get adjusted?

I’m just guessing.

The claims that the Arctic Sea Ice had lost the equivalent area of several US states is absolutely true. And it happens every spring and summer. And is completely regained every fall and winter, usually before the actual first day of winter.

Climate is not static. There is no “optimum”, and HCCC is a lie. As was Human Caused Global Warming.

If global cooling continues, will the environmentalists insist that we burn more fossil fuels to counter the impact on the earth?