Arctic ice increase reported in the Daily Mail 7 September 2013 and Daily Telegraph 8 September 2013. In the northern hemisphere summer of 2012 the Arctic ice cap shrank to a record low level, but by 2013 “a chilly Arctic summer has left nearly a million more square miles of ocean covered with ice than at the same time last year – an increase of 60 per cent”. The Northwest Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has been blocked by ice throughout the summer and ships attempting to sail through it have become ice-bound or have had to turn back. Over 20 yachts have been stranded in ice, and the Daily Mail comments that they may have been inspired to try the Northwest Passage by a prediction made by Professor Wieslaw Maslowski that the Arctic would be ice free by 2013, which was reported by the BBC in 2007. According to the Telegraph “there is mounting evidence that Arctic ice levels are cyclical. Data uncovered by climate historians show that there was a massive melt in the 1920s and 1930s, followed by intense re-freezes that ended only in 1979 – the year the IPCC says that shrinking began”.
Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, BBC 2007
Editorial Comment: It always helps to put things into the historical context. Satellite monitoring only began in 1979. Prior to that climate scientists and geographers had to depend on the records of those who actually lived and worked in the Arctic. Images and graphs of the post 1979 data are now available from the National Snow and Ice Database, and these do show a downward trend in Arctic ice. However, over the same period the trend for Antarctic ice is upwards, i.e. Antarctic ice is growing. As both ice-caps are part of the same globe this is a clear indication that there is more to formation of polar ice than the overall global temperature, or the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Now we can say the Arctic has started to grow as well. What will next year bring? Watch the real ICE, not the IPCC computers. (Ref. climate, weather, sea-ice)
Evidence News, 2 October 2013