Clouds cause melting ice according to reports in ScienceDaily 3 April 2013 and Nature vol. 496, p86, 4 April 2013, doi:10.1038/nature12002. The increased melting of ice in Greenland over recent northern hemisphere summers is regularly presented as one the effects of man-made global warming. A group of scientists led by Ralf Bennartz, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Space Science and Engineering Center, along with Dave Turner, a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Severe Storms Laboratory, carried out a study of the conditions surrounding the melting Greenland ice in July 2012. They found that thin, low level liquid clouds were important in keeping temperatures above freezing, allowing the ice to melt. The clouds were thin enough to allow solar energy to penetrate to the surface, but were still thick enough to trap some of the heat that was reflected from the snow surface. According to the research team “these thin, low-level liquid clouds occur frequently, both over Greenland and across the Arctic, being present around 30–50 per cent of the time”. Bennartz commented: “We know that these thin, low-level clouds occur frequently. Our results may help to explain some of the difficulties that current global climate models have in simulating the Arctic surface energy budget”.
Editorial Comment: This study is a good reminder that climate models are not the same as actual observations, and they are only as good as the data fed into them. If something occurs around 30–50 per cent of the time, yet has not been included in the data base, then the climate models are woefully inadequate. One “of the difficulties” in current global climate models is that those used by the IPCC, and by politicians and bureaucrats show a relentless rise in global temperature, but in fact, there has been no overall warming for about 15 years. For more details see “No Global Warming for Almost Two Decades” by Christopher Monckton. (PDF here.) It is about time scientists, politicians, environmentalists and journalists stopped putting their faith in man-made models, and started looking at the real world, and putting their faith in the Creator Christ whose word alone could control the weather – and still can. (Ref. Greenland, Arctic Ocean, weather, atmosphere)