The Arctic Could Be Functionally Ice-Free in Just a Few Years

www.scientificamerican.com The Arctic Could Be Functionally Ice-Free in Just a Few Years

The Arctic is likely to become “ice-free” by midcentury—and could pass that grim milestone much sooner—unless much more is done to combat climate change

The Arctic is likely to become “ice-free” by midcentury—and could pass that grim milestone much sooner unless much more is done to combat climate change

Well, good luck with that.

Collapse @lemm.ee

The Arctic Could Be Functionally Ice-Free in Just a Few Years

www.scientificamerican.com /article/the-arctic-could-be-functionally-ice-free-in-just-a-few-years/

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Scientific American @rss.ponder.cat

The Arctic Could Be Functionally Ice-Free in Just a Few Years

www.scientificamerican.com /article/the-arctic-could-be-functionally-ice-free-in-just-a-few-years/

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22 comments

there is a relevant xkcd comic showing the heat of the earth since humans have been able to record it...the last half inch is humans...
- https://m.xkcd.com/1732/

BOE 2025 LET'S GOOO
/s

I was in the audience at Web 2.0 Summit in 2008 when Al Gore said on stage that according to scientists this would happen "within five years".
- I guess the models and estimates changed. Science is like that: it responds to new discoveries. It's only a minor difference in the time scale though: whether it's 2013 or 2030, we're in serious trouble now.
  
  It's the difference between scientific consensus and doomists.
  Scientific consensus isn't that the north pole sea will be ice free in the summer in the next few years.
- His actual statement:
  He added: “Some of the models suggest to Dr [Wieslav] Maslowski that there is a 75% chance that the entire north polar ice cap during some of the summer months could be completely ice-free within the next five to seven years.”
  Gore cited findings from climatologist Dr Wieslav Maslowski, a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School (here).
  However, it appears he mis-stated the forecast, according to reporting at the time.
  In an interview with The Times published on Dec. 15, 2009 (here), Dr Maslowski said: “It’s unclear to me how this figure was arrived at. I would never try to estimate likelihood at anything as exact as this.”
  According to the report, Gore’s office acknowledged after his speech that the 75% figure was used by Dr Maslowski as a “ballpark figure” in a conversation with the vice president several years before COP15.
  
  No, this is not the statement I refer to. Youtube link exists in a comment for all to verify.
- https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/arctic-sea-ice/
- Pretty amazing to see all these downvotes on a purely factual statement. Watch it yourselves:
  https://youtu.be/7hI5t3Uwfkk?t=1619
  
  The problem is the statement seriously misrepresents what Gore said, which was in turn a misrepresentation of the current state of research
  
  Then maybe you should pay more attention to the actual climate scientists then politicians.

22 comments