The Northwest Passage has become almost ice free!
Once an impregnable forest of huge ice blocks, the Northwest Passage has — for the first time in recorded history — become almost completely ice-free and open to navigation. Researchers at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center recently announced that: “Analysts confirm that the passage is almost completely clear…
The source website, the Guardian put it more starkly:
The North-West Passage – the sea route running along the Arctic coastline of North America, normally perilously clogged with thick ice – is nearly ice-free for the first time since records began.
Since records began! What, since the turn of the century? The Second World War? 1842? 1726? 1938?
Nope:
Analysts confirm that the passage is almost completely clear and that the region is more open than it has ever been since the advent of routine monitoring in 1972
1972, huh? How does that fit into Artic temperature anomaly patterns? Let’s see now…
Click on that graph. The low point towards the right? The dip between two peaks? 1972, round about when the alarm was about global cooling – because temperatures seemed to have swung alarmingly low. The other high point? 1936, which fits the new data showing 1934 was the warmest year last century.
Out of interest, in what respect do these risings and fallings correlate with CO2 emission rates?
UPDATE: I meant to draw attention to the dishonest alarmism of the first quotation, from a site called treehugger. When did “recorded history” begin? Three thousand years ago? Fifteen hundred? Using this phrase makes it seem the Northwest Passage has never been this clear of ice, not since the dawn of time. Of course, the likelihood is it was at least this clear in the 1930s and for much of the Roman and Medieval eras. The only figleaf of accuracy that treehugger has is the strained truth that this particular set of recordings has a history that goes back just to 1972.
These people are just plain dishonest.
UPDATE: Strangely enough, this story didn’t make the BBC website.
UPDATE: It gets worse. Much worse. Read this.
UPDATE: For people clicking through from the bird forum – the graph plainly shows the Arctic has warmed since the 1970s – there’s no “denial” here, matey. Just an observation about the alarmist and dishonest way these things are reported, and the provision of some hard information to show that the Arctic is no warmer than it was in the 1930s. By the way, I love the commenter on your forum who says, in effect: I don’t know why this is wrong, but I’ll pop over to realclimate to get my prejudices confirmed. Oh, and while the graph is on the (excellent) junkscience blog, the data comes from James Hansen’s NASA. So there.
What evidence have you got or how do you support these words ” Of course,the likelihood is it was at least this clear in the 1930s and for much of the Roman and Medieval eras.” ?