The New Antarctic “Tipping Point”—Headlines and Facts
A recent headline in the New York Times says “Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans from Polar Melt.” Other newspapers propagated the story with titles like “Ice sheet collapse ‘unstoppable,’ scientists warn” and “Huge Antarctic ice sheet collapsing.”
The story refers to two recent publications that conclude that “warm water upwelling from the [Antarctic] ocean depths has most likely triggered an inherent instability” that will lead to the envisaged collapse.
There are some problems with such predictions: The facts show otherwise.
Antarctic Ice Cover
The Antarctic ice sheet covers the land mass and millions of square miles of ocean. It has been growing by leaps and bounds (with seasonal fluctuations) to reach a new all-time record size of over 9,000,000 square miles a few days ago. This isn’t exactly demonstrating its collapse, rather the opposite.
But let’s overlook that minor detail and come to the crux of the matter, the “warm water” rising from the ocean depth to melt that little ice cube floating above.
The Myth of Warm Bottom Water
The existence of warm water at the ocean bottom is a myth. The international ARGO program has several thousand floats around the world’s ocean. They move with the currents and dive regularly to great depths, recording water temperature and other parameters. Without fail, water temperature in the ocean is warmer at the top and decreases with depth, unless it’s covered with ice to begin with. Many thousands of temperature profiles confirm that down to the several thousand meters of depth. Even near the fissures along the mid-oceanic ridges where hot gases are expelled at great rates, the ocean temperature is ice-cold just a few feet away. So, it escapes me where this “warm water” claimed to be upwelling is supposed to come from.
The “Warming” Propaganda
If there is any truth to “Warming,” it must be that the propaganda machine proclaiming such is still in control of much of the media reports. In fact, any headline with the phrase “scientists warn” can almost guaranteed to be of that nature. In contrast, the few media reports that even dare to mention any dissent from such doomsday scenarios are not likely to use the term “scientists” in that context at all.
Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser Most recent columns
Dr. Klaus L.E. Kaiser is author of CONVENIENT MYTHS, the green revolution – perceptions, politics, and facts
convenientmyths.com
Dr. Kaiser can be reached at:[email protected]
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