Does the news say that the polar ice 'could' be gone because it knows there's more ice there today?

Question

http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/images/n_plot_hires.png

There's more ice at the Arctic today then since 2001. Clearly the warm spell has passed, and the ice is growing.

So what is the motivation of a news story saying that there's a 50/50 chance that the polar ice 'could' be gone by the end of the year?

Is it because they see the data and they know that the ice isn't melting, but they also know no one will verify their data?

Is it because so many just believe anything about global warming that anything that supports their belief is automatically assumed to be true?

Is it that global warming believers are just so gullible that they believe anything?

Or is this possible to soften them up to accept higher takes and higher prices for goods and services?

What do you think the motive is of a corporation putting out a bogus news story?

Answer 1

The earth is getting warmer.

Humans are using and expelling carbon into the atmosphere.

These two events, however, do not coincide with each other. Earth has temperature patterns of its own, the warming and cooling. Carbon emissions due to the human impact do not effect earths natural heating and cooling (i.e. the various ice ages through history)

Answer 2

I wonder is pegminer (not too many geologists have fallen for global warming, not in my circle anyway) is paranoid of ice melting.  It used to be a harbinger of summer and good times ahead.  Now a warm day is seen with gloom and doom by some and they fret over some ice melting in Arctic Ocean as if that is a new phenomena and portent of doom.   It is ridiculous in the extreme.

Answer 3

Dr. Jello, you are 100% correct my friend, the liberals don't believe it but the conservatives do, like me.

I've tried to say the same thing myself, but the liberals tor me up, but i have your back!

Answer 4

Nope.  You are incorrect.  

Your graph only shows annual averages.  Linked below is the most recent monthly sea ice extent data from the same source.  Clearly it shows Arctic sea ice extent is almost as low as last year's record melt.

Answer 5

http://www.ecologyfund.com

http://www.care2.com

http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com

http://www2.povertyfighters.com/

Answer 6

A simpler reason would be because it's true and they feel that they have a duty to report true things...

Answer 7

Dr. Jello-- I have seen the "ice" chart and the blue line on the chart is HIGHER than the dotted line for last year-- this does not matter as GW advocates still claim:

1. NO-- the ice is less--

2. No the chart indicates the ice is less-(even though it shows there is more)

3. Say, " what do you know about it that is better than a trained scientist!".

4. Continue to post --- "the polar bears will all die!"

I am at a loss to know why people respond in that fashion?-------- as far as the media is concerned-- they are in the business of selling papers and getting good ratings-- the more sensational the story sounds the better.

Answer 8

i think for the most part the news anchors r unaware of whats really going on all they do is read the news from a teleprompter its the higher ups who r writing this junk and the reason for them saying the ice is gonna be gone in a year is because they're trying to scare us into action so we'll buy more fruity lightbulbs and carbon credits they're just trying to turn a profit from the publics gullibility

Answer 9

The news is only reporting what the scientists say, and it's no big surprise given the studies referenced below.

The entire Arctic Ocean still isn't expected to be mostly ice free until 2012 at the earliest.  

The North Pole is one interesting point in the Arctic, but these data points on record low Arctic ice volume and record high melt rate could indicate serious problems for the whole region:

"Ground-based surface temperature data shows that the rate of warming in the Arctic from 1981 to 2001 is eight times larger than the rate of Arctic warming over the last 100 years. There have also been some remarkable seasonal changes. Arctic spring, summer, and autumn have each warmed, lengthening the seasons when sea ice melts from 10 to 17 days per decade."

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/eart...

The news is far more grim in the Arctic, despite a slight increase in overall winter sea ice extent in March, when the sea ice pack peaks in the northern hemisphere. The concern is that the perennial sea ice — the thick, multi-year ice that survives through more than one summer — is rapidly declining in the Arctic.

“The area of the thicker, perennial ice has reached an all-time minimum,” Martin said. “In other words, the volume of the Arctic pack ice is continuing to decrease.”

Perennial ice used to cover 50 to 60 percent of the Arctic, but this year it covers less than 30 percent, according to NASA data from the satellites. Very old ice that remains in the Arctic for at least six years comprised over 20 percent of the Arctic area in the mid to late 1980s, but this winter it decreased to just six percent.

http://www.antarcticconnection.com/antar...

"This week, after reviewing his own new data, NASA climate scientist Jay Zwally said: "At this rate, the Arctic Ocean could be nearly ice-free at the end of summer by 2012, much faster than previous predictions."

Ominous Arctic Melt Worries Experts

'Arctic Is Screaming,' Say Scientists Seeing New Data; Worry Over 'Tipping Point'

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireSto...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080424/sc_...

The volumes of the Greenland Ice Sheet and ice in the Arctic Ocean were estimated at 2.9 million and 4.4 million cubic metres respectively in September 2007 -- the lowest ever levels recorded, the organization said Wednesday.

The sea ice shrank to 39 percent below its 1979-2000 mean volume, it said.

"Recently observed changes are happening at rates significantly faster than predicted" by the 2005 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA) and last year's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), WWF said.

The melting of arctic sea ice and the Greenland Ice Sheet was happening so fast that experts were now questioning whether the situation is close to "tipping point," where sudden and possibly irreversible change takes place.

Answer 10

If you actually read the story (I'm guessing you didn't) it said that the ice may be gone by the end of summer because it's gotten so thin.  So, while your image does show more AREAL coverage, the article was saying that it might be gone because of the smaller VOLUMETRIC coverage. The thinner it is the faster it melts and the faster the area covered by ice will disappear.

Are you so paranoid that you think everything you read about global warming is just part of some vast conspiracy of scientists, environmentalists, liberals, Tony Blair, Kofi Annan, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Barack Obama, John McCain and now even George Bush?

Answer 11

The news media and the Left has generated the hold thing. There are some making millions.

   But the young people need to get involved or there chance of having a car for school is disappearing and it all is a Lie....Most working families will not be able to afford a car and that is where the Left want U ,but it doesn't apply to them.

Answer 12

It's because ONE guy told ONE reporter he THINKS there is a 50/50 chance it will melt.

He could have told the reporter he believes there is a 50/50 chance that it will NOT MELT but the reporter would NOT HAVE LISTENED

Answer 13

Arctic is will be gone this year.

Answer 14

Your sentence "There's more ice at the Arctic today then since 2001" makes no sense.

Your chart doesn't even show data from June, so how can you be making statements about todays levels?  And every winter the extent is greater than right now (we're on a 6 - 7 month decline during summer) so clearly there's not more ice right now than anytime since 2001.

Answer 15

I saw the same reference, and knew it was just an emotional appeal. The moment they said; ' new sea ice couldn't be monitor with success,'  made me wonder...ice is melting and reforming??? Another contradiction perhaps. I wonder when they are going to correlate tax's,and Federal budgets to increases in temps. Now that would be a interesting study.