Global warming paused, polar bears thriving, more coral on the Great Barrier Reef than you can shake a stick at – it’s been a difficult gig for climate alarmists of late. But there is always the melting Arctic ice, and the prospect of the Greenland ice sheet slipping off its perch and ending up in your front room. Alas, even that old standby is looking shaky, with evidence gathering that the ice is no longer melting as fast as in the recent past. On August 16th, summer sea ice in the Arctic was at its third highest extent since 2007.
According to the U.S.-based National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), the northern sea route along Eurasia “may not become ice free” this year for the first time since 2007. Preliminary estimates by NSIDC suggest a 30% chance that sea ice will cover five million square kilometres, something that has not happened for eight years.
The cooling trend has been apparent for some time. Earlier this year, the Daily Sceptic reported that the coverage of Arctic sea ice was now very close to the 1991-2020 average, well above the 2012 low point and higher in 2021 than the previous year. According to Copernicus, the EU’s weather service, the 2021 March sea ice extent was just 3% below the 30-year average. March is the maximum extent of sea ice in the Arctic. Recent figures show March 2022 was slightly higher. In his recent Global Warming Policy Foundation climate report, Emeritus Professor Ole Humlum noted: “The trend towards stable or higher ice extent at both poles probably began in 2018 and has since strengthened.” Observational records of Arctic ice go back to the start of the 1800s, and display moving cycles of both temperature and ice extent.
Poster Comment:
Putin is building a fleet of super ice breakers to exploit mineral and oil deposits in the Arctic. The US and EU has listened to the Greens and Al Gore. No need for icebreakers because it has to be ice free some day, maybe in 2150. Then the Russians can turn Siberia into a summer resort.