I find it appalling that people calling themselves scientists would dare continue to make failed climate predictions based on a defunct theory "AGW" and have absolutely no clue whatsoever what drives such basic climate phenomena such as Enso and PDO cycles that have immediate and powerful effects on climate. It is about time to start suing the media for continuing to repeat the lies of quacks, that global warming is accelerating and it is a social issue that we must pass legislation to fix.
The South Pole is over land, and overall Antarctic _land_ ice has been melting:
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/61...
although only by about 50 billion tons per year, versus the much faster losses in Greenland.
Antarctic _sea_ ice has recently grown slightly in winter, even though sea temperatures are rising.
Part of the reason seems to be that the ozone hole has cooled the upper air over Antarctica (normally ozone absorbs sunlight and heats the upper atmosphere), while the rest of the world has got warmer. This means that the temperature difference is bigger, and that drives faster winds around Antarctica. These spreads out the thin sea ice, making it stretch over a bigger area and leading to a bigger extent:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.10...
Another effect seems to be that the increased melt from Antarctica has meant lighter, fresher water sitting on top of the ocean, which doesn't sink and prevents mixing. This insulates the ice and protects it.
http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v6/n5...
The spreading of ice in winter doesn't act to cool us down much, because it's dark in winter then. Actually, it acts a bit like an insulating blanket and keeps more of the ocean heat.
Unfortunately, the biggest decline in the Arctic has been in summer, and the Arctic shrinkage has been lots faster than the slow Antarctic growth.
The area of ice is expanding, this is to be expected as a consequence of global warming – which is precisely what the articles says (did you read it or just see the headline then copy and paste the rest of it).
As Antarctica melts the freshwater flows into the surrounding oceans, the average temperature of the oceans is below freezing so the meltwater rapidly turns to ice.
Whilst the area is increasing, the all important mass (how much ice there actually is) is significantly decreasing - by about half a trillion tonnes per year.
Your added details make sense – sort of. As the area of Antarctic ice expands it will reflect more incoming solar radiation back into space, this will induce cooling. However, this is offset many times over by the phenomenal loss of ice in the Arctic. Today it’s at the 6th lowest ever known for this time of year with summer extend just half what it was 30 years ago. The change in albedo helps explain why the Arctic is warming faster than anywhere else.
Globally ice is decreasing no matter how you measure it – area, volume, extent, mass and density are all down. Half the glaciers outside the Polar regions have melted, almost all those that remain are melting, soon Glacier National Park could have no glaciers remaining. Around the world glaciers are receding faster than ever before, up to 40 metres per day for several of the Greenlandic glaciers. Melting glaciers have created thousands of new lakes in mountain regions, Antarctica has more rivers and lakes than it used to, both the fabled northwest and northeast sea passages have been open for business as the Arctic shrinks to record lows.
- - - - - - - -
EDIT: TO KANO
A common mistake that people make is to think that Antarctica is frozen solid, but that’s not the case. There are several rivers and lakes, these two sections of maps show some of them:
http://wy.water.usgs.gov/projects/antarc...
http://wy.water.usgs.gov/projects/antarc...
Neither is it the case that Antarctica is nothing but ice. Grass has now started growing in parts of Antactica and during the summer the ice all but disappears in some places. There’s no snow or ice in the Dry Valleys as it almost never snows there, making this area one of the world’s driest deserts:
Grass: http://meteora.ucsd.edu/cap/pdffiles/gre...
Ice free McMurdo: http://www.robswebstek.com/2012/03/mcmur...
Dry Valleys: http://photography.nationalgeographic.co...
There used to be a research station on the shores of Lake Vanda that boasted it’s own swimming club. The base was dismantled in the 90’s because the level of the lake was rising and also to prevent any environmental impact.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Vanda
Another common error is the belief that temperatures are always below freezing. Most of Antarctica is sub-zero all year round but some places regularly see temperatures above freezing. Vanda Station has the record for the highest temperature (15°C) and at places like McMurdo the summer peak sees temps above freezing almost as often as they are below freezing. When the Sun shines and the wind drops the weather can be quite pleasant indeed.
"Who cares about the Antarctic ice in the middle of winter!" - Global Warming followers.
Yes it is growing, and this year looks like it will be an all time record, it is not through global warming as some people say, as the atmospheric and southern ocean temperatures are stable and slightly colder.
The Albedo so far has not increased, as during winter there is not much sun to reflect, and usually during summer all the ice melts back to the land mass, except last year 2012 it didn't quite, and if next summer's minimum increases again, yes albedo will be altered.
I think it is scary and a sign of cooling to come.
Sea ice is not glacier. More sea ice is consistent with warming, as more glacier would thaw and break off into the sea.
Larger area, thinner layer, that mean less ice
Denialist= Liar
as always
All the ice missing from The Arctic has actually broken off, drifted south and joined the ice in Antarctica,
On the way it has cooled the Earth, which is where the "missing heat" has gone.
Ridiculous?
Prove it hasn't.
"The Daily Mail says."
Denialists always go to Faux News, The Telegraph or the Daily Mail and never to the sourcr. Heaven forbid they find out what the scientists are really saying.
It's a phenomena known as "weather."
Daily Mail Reports: the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Colorado, The record Antarctic sea ice cover was revealed in satellite images: to see Satellite images go to wed site
ce around the South Pole has expanded to cover a record area, scientists revealed yesterday – a month after saying that the North Pole had lost an unprecedented amount of its ice.
Researchers say – rather confusingly – that both occurrences are down to the ‘complex and surprising’ effects of global warming
At the end of the southern winter in September, ice covered 7.51million square miles of sea – more than at any time since records began in 1979.
For the last 30 years the amount of Antarctic sea ice has been increasing by 1 per cent each decade.
While the rest of the world has been getting warmer over the last 50 years, large parts of the Eastern Antarctic have been getting cooler. Scientists say a cooler Antarctic fits in with the unpredictable nature of climate change.
Dr Ted Scambos, of the National Snow and Ice Data Centre in Colorado, said: ‘It sounds counterintuitive, but the Antarctic is part of the warming as well.’
Dr Ted Maksym, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, added: ‘A warming world can have complex and sometimes surprising consequences.’ Unlike the Arctic – which is open sea surrounded by land – the Antarctic is a massive continent surrounded by water.
The area of land and the surrounding sea covered by ice peaks each September and retreats to its minimum in February – towards the end of the southern summer
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2216238/Now-theres-ice-South-Pole-So-global-warming-thawing-Antarctica.html
>>Researchers say – rather confusingly – that both occurrences are down to the ‘complex and surprising’ effects of global warming<<
It is only "confusing" if you are scientifically illiterate and too uneducated to understand the subject.
there's also a huge crack in the south pole that wasn't there before. and what about the north pole... it continues to melt doesn't it?
If you are going to look at a news item from almost a year ago, I suggest you actually read it.
It's all due to global warming.
