GETRUNTAH

North Atlantic Waters Preventing Greenland Ice Melt

Well WhadYa know? Despite alarmist cries, it turns out that warming is good after-all and the arctic is doing just fine:

Hidden Plumbing Helps Slow Greenland Ice Flow: Hotter Summers May Actually Slow Down Flow of Glaciers

Hotter summers may not be as catastrophic for the Greenland ice sheet as previously feared and may actually slow down the flow of glaciers, according to new research.

A letter published in Nature on 27 January explains how increased melting in warmer years causes the internal drainage system of the ice sheet to adapt and accommodate more melt-water, without speeding up the flow of ice toward the oceans. The findings have important implications for future assessments of global sea level rise.

The study was funded by the Natural Environment Research Councils National Centre for Earth Observation.

More details here: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/01/110126131538.htm

Is this natural warming effect that protects glaciers actually happening though? Another recent study also on ScienceDaily suggests that yes, it is:

Warming North Atlantic Water Tied to Heating Arctic

Led by Robert Spielhagen of the Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Literature in Mainz, Germany, the study showed that water from the Fram Strait that runs between Greenland and Svalbard -- an archipelago constituting the northernmost part of Norway -- has warmed roughly 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the past century.

and furthermore they report that arctic sea ice decline has been caused by the Atlantic, not by CO2:

"We must assume that the accelerated decrease of the Arctic sea ice cover and the warming of the ocean and atmosphere of the Arctic measured in recent decades are in part related to an increased heat transfer from the Atlantic," said Spielhagen.

Well color me surprised. Looks like nature is just fine and can take care of itself after-all. Ive always said we have more to fear from Global Cooling. Now we can add melting ice caps to the list of problems a little ice age would cause.

Available link for download

NASA Not Man Behind Arctic Sea Ice decline

A submarine in open ice-free water in 1960. I caption this picture The implications are obvious


Arctic Sea Ice summer minimas since 1979 (according to the NSIDC). Note they leave off the Submarine Warming Period (SWP)

Why do they start in 1979? Well putting my blog science skills to good use, I navigated a browser client through their website and found a secret folder link named disclaimer1 - hmm a suspicious name. Nicely hidden but I uncovered it anyway (if you are a journalist for The Australian or another leading media publication, please give me due credit for uncovering this on my own)

The folder contains very interesting information. I have added some bold highlighting at random points:

"Image derivation is from the Sea Ice data product, which relies on NASA-developed methods using passive-microwave data from the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) F13 Special Sensor Microwave/Imager (SSM/I). The basis for the Sea Ice Index is the data set, "Near Real-Time DMSP SSM/I Daily Polar Gridded Sea Ice Concentrations", and the NASA-produced "Sea Ice Concentrations from Nimbus-7 SMMR and DMSP SSM/I Passive Microwave Data". The Sea Ice Index was developed with financial support from NOAA NESDIS and in cooperation with NOAA NGDC. Please note that our daily sea ice images, derived from microwave measurements, may show spurious pixels in areas where sea ice may not be present. These artifacts are generally caused by coastline effects, or less commonly by severe weather. Scientists use masks to minimize the number of "noise" pixels, based on long-term extent patterns. Noise is largely eliminated in the process of generating monthly averages, our standard measurement for analyzing interannual trends."*

So NASA are behind this afterall. And worse we find out that satellites are being used to measure ice. Denial Depot has reported numerous problems with the satellite record before. NASA and the NOAA have yet to respond to these problems or even acknowledge my importance.

But worse we find out these satellites are using microwaves to measure ice! As an experiment I took a glass of ice and put it in a microwave oven. This of course proves nothing, but it does raise some questions. I figured that 30 seconds in the microwave oven would be at least equivalent to 30 years of satellite microwaving. Well my microwave didnt tell me how thick the ice was (of course immune from Team Science I never thought it would), but I did observe the microwaves melting ice.

So is in fact arctic ice decline being caused by sustained subjection of arctic ice by microwave radiation emitted from NASA satellites? Is NASA literally cooking the books (ie ice)? Is it a coincidence that satellite "measurements" of sea ice and temperature both began in 1979, the year in which Jimmy Carter resumed diplomatic relations with the Peoples Republic of China?

Proposal

I am only concerned that the reputation of science will be harmed for decades. That and taxes.

I propose to salvage science we must abandon the lunacy of the satellites. Measuring from so far in space is prone to manipulation. A blog scientist cannot go check on the satellites themselves can they? We have no idea what codes and adjustments they have loaded aboard those bloated machines. We should go back to the tried and tested method of deploying fleets of surfacing submarines to measure arctic ice thickness.

Clarification: Despite what the NSIDC claim, real scientists would never use masks.

Update: In the comments Lars Karlsson points out that
"There is already extensive research proving beyond any doubt that microwaves from satellites cause global warming!"
I havent read that site enough to bank my reputation on its concusions, but it does show that the debate over the use of satellites and their role in "warming" certainly isnt over.

Available link for download