Greenland Defying Alarmists

Greenland set a record cold in January 2020, its glaciers are relatively stable, its ice sheet is cooling and it has been warmer in the past. People might be surprised to see how today’s frigid Greenland looked during the last two interglacial periods.

A new reconstruction for SE Greenland (1796-2013) shows temperatures have risen and fallen without any hockey stick like trajectories for the last 200+ years. Temperatures were warmer than today in the 1920s and 1940s and even briefly during the 1800s. (2)

Yet, according to alarmists, if rising CO2 concentrations are a driver of Arctic warming, the 19th and 20th centuries presumably have been much colder than today.

One study (2019) instead finds there were: – warming and cooling episodes of multiple degrees per decade throughout the last 215 years in southeast Greenland – decadal periods in the 1800s were occasionally warmer than 2013 – more sustained warming the the 1920s and 1940s than during the 21st century. (3)

A 2020 study affirms a significant warming trend occurred in the late 20th century across Greenland mirroring the warming that occurred in the early 20th century. Since 2001, the temperature trends across Greenland have stopped rising and begun cooling. (4)

Record Cold Temperatures

The DMI (Danish Met Institute) confirmed that the NOAA GeoSummit records showed it got down to -64.9C, an all-time record in January 2020. (5)

Glaciers Relatively Stable

Greenland’s largest glacier (Jakobshavn) has quite abruptly thickened since 2016. The thickening has been so profound the ice elevations are nearly back to 2010-2011 levels. The nearby ocean has cooled ~1.5C, a return to 1980s average temperatures. (6)

The 47 largest Greenland glaciers also experienced a ‘relatively stable’ period of rather insignificant retreat from 2013 to 2018. (7)

Ice Sheet Cooling

The Greenland Ice Sheet (GIS) we are told will inevitably melt if market forces are left unchecked, leading to utter ruin for our descendants. The collapse of the GIS is one of a handful of frequently cited ‘tipping points’ that ostensibly show just how irresponsible it would be to delay aggressive government intervention to severely restrict greenhouse gas emissions. (8)

For over 40 years (1961-2002), the GIS cooled, thickened, and gained mass just as anthropogenic CO2 emissions were sharply rising. (9)

A new analysis of recent trends for the GIS reveals that since 2012 there has been an abrupt slowing of melt rates and a trend reversal to cooling and ice growth. Large regions of the oceans surrounding Greenland have been rapidly cooling by as much as 1-2C in the last few years. Temperature trends across the ice-free part of Greenland indicate cooling since 2001. (10)

Greenland hasn’t been showing signs of warming since man made CO2 started rapidly rising after World War II. Indeed Greenland has been not responding to CO2 for 140 years or maybe a million. (11)

All of this in the place that is supposed to be the canary in the climate coal mine.

References

1. Steve Milloy, “Study: ancient Greenland was much warmer than previously thought,” junkscience.com, June 4, 2018
2. Kenneth Richard,, “A new 1796-2013 Greenland reconstruction showsit was warmer in the 1920s-1940s—and no hockey sticks,” notrickszone.com, April 6, 2020
3. David J. Wangner et al., “Sea surface temperature variability on the SE-Greenland shelf (1796-2013 CE) and its influence on Thrym Glacier in Norre Skjoldungesund,” Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology, December 5, 2019
4. Edward Hanna et al., “Greenland surface air temperature changes from 1981 to 2019 and implications for ice-sheet melt and mass-balance change,” International Journal of Climatology, August 17, 2020
5. Joanne Nova, “Jan 2020: coldest ever day in Greenland -65C comes and goes, no one notices,” joannenova.com.au, February 20, 2020
6. Kenneth Richard, “New study: Greenland’s largest glacier has rapidly thickened since 2016…fueled by 1.5C ocean cooling,” notrickszone.com, February 17, 2020
7. Jonas K. Anderson et al., “Update of annual calving front lines for 47 marine terminating outlet glaciers in Greenland (1999-2018), Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, GEUS Bulletin Vol. 43, June 26, 2019, eng.geus.dk
8. Robert P. Murphy, “Greenland’s ice sheet and climate change policy, Part 1 of 2,” instituteforenergyresearch.org, August 16, 2019
9. Kenneth Richard, “CO2 emissions tripled during 1961-2002 as Greenland cooled and gained 1.35 trillion metric tons of ice,” notrickszone.com, October 31, 2019
10. Kenneth Richard, “Greenland has been cooling in recent years—26 of its 47 largest glaciers now stable or gaining ice,” notrickszone.com, May 20, 2019
11. Joanne Nova, “Climate change means Greenland is the same temperature now as 1880,” joannenova.com.au, April 19, 2018

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