EScienceNews reports:
Much attention is paid to melting sea ice in the Arctic. But less clear is the situation on the other side of the planet. Despite warmer air and oceans, there’s more sea ice in Antarctica now than in the 1970s — a fact often pounced on by global warming skeptics. The latest numbers suggest the Antarctic sea ice may be heading toward a record high this year. A University of Washington researcher says the reason may lie in the winds. A new modeling study to be published in the Journal of Climate shows that stronger polar winds lead to an increase in Antarctic sea ice, even in a warming climate.
“The overwhelming evidence is that the Southern Ocean is warming,” said author Jinlun Zhang, an oceanographer at the UW Applied Physics Laboratory. “Why would sea ice be increasing? Although the rate of increase is small, it is a puzzle to scientists.”
His new study shows that stronger westerly winds swirling around the South Pole can explain 80 percent of the increase in Antarctic sea ice volume in the past three decades.
The polar vortex that swirls around the South Pole is not just stronger than it was when satellite records began in the 1970s, it has more convergence, meaning it shoves the sea ice together to cause ridging. Stronger winds also drive ice faster, which leads to still more deformation and ridging. This creates thicker, longer-lasting ice, while exposing surrounding water and thin ice to the blistering cold winds that cause more ice growth…
Many of the global climate models have been unable to explain the observed increase in Antarctic sea ice. Researchers have been working to improve models to better reproduce the observed increase in sea ice there and predict what the future may bring.
Eventually, Zhang anticipates that if warmer temperatures come to dominate they will resolve the apparent contradiction.
“If the warming continues, at some point the trend will reverse,” Zhang said.
Always remember from this point onwards that good news is bad news and bad news is worse news.
Remember you worthless, useless, clueless imbecilic sheep that 2+2=5 now.
So shut up and do as we tell you because we know best. Nothing else to see here. All is still on course. This changes nothing. Now stay in your houses and keep your eyes glued to the television for full explanation(s) as to what is really going on.
Don’t read. Just stare!
Magic winds.
Last summer strong winds associated with a storm caused a massive breakup of the Arctic sea ice.
This winter, down under, strong winds cause the sea ice to expand.
Wonder what no wind would do?
Of course warming causes more ice! Didn’t you hear, the scientists got together and by consensus, decided that the freezing point of water should be ‘adjusted’ up.
One of Aesop’s fables recounts the confusion and rage of a Satyr ( or some other mythical creature ) when confronted by a traveler that blew on his hands to warm them and blew on his soup to cool it.
He threw the traveler out, claiming no one but a witch or demon could blow both hot and cold air from his mouth.
I conclude that warmists are much like the Satyr, a Greek joke about those unable to fathom even the simplest of concepts.
It’s all good.
Howdy GH05T
Apparently, at least once more…
Someone who spends their life explaining why what is happening is happening is a scientist. Someone who spends their life explaining why what they said would happen isn’t happening is a bad prophet. How many times can the apocolypse call in late before the faithful give up and go home?
Only among fundamentalists of various kinds can people cherish cognitive dissonance like this. Global warming makes less ice because the Antartic ice sheet is breaking up, but it makes the ice sheet bigger by pushing the chunks together and exposing open water to freezing.
When you insist that contradictory results flow from the same cause, you get the burden of, as Gamecock puts it, doin’ the ‘splainin.
Add this to John Brignell’s list
http://www.numberwatch.co.uk/warmlist.htm
Yes. In their world, all things are possible: https://junkscience.com/2013/07/25/global-warming-causes-warmcold-wetdry-biggersmaller-lobsters/
The world would have to warm almost 10 degrees C for that to happen 😀
We should call climate models “Lucy,” cause they’ve got some splainin’ to do.
Maybe it’s Ice-nine. Arctic ice growing to cover the world could be the next big government-sponsered scare.
So, record levels of new ice formation is evidence of…wait for it…wait for it…global warming. I though that Climate-gate (leading scientists in climate change circles admitting they were wrong)
would finally put a stop to this pseudoscience. Temps go up and temps go down. So, within certain parameters, the climate changes. Because climate change is a well established money generating machine, it will continue to be pushed.
In their desperation to avoid admitting they may have been wrong at first, the warmists are now resorting to Orwellian double-speak: warming makes ice???
So now “warming” causes more ice…
Wonder about the 1/5 which the model dosn’t explain. Though to be honest 4/5 is very good when it comes to climate models 🙂
“If the warming continues…” ? Perhaps he means “If it resumes…”.