Environmental Law

GREENLAND-NOT MELTING AFTERALL!

By STEPHEN HOLZER

     Note the following article by Andrew C. Revkin in (of all places!) The New York Times  (is Hell about to freeze over, too?):

One of the most vivid symbols of global warming used by scientists and campaigners to spur society to curb climate-warming emissions is photography of gushing rivers of meltwater plunging from the surface of Greenland?s ice sheet into the depths.

Recent studies have shown these natural drainpipes, called moulins, can speed up the slow seaward march of the grinding ice by lubricating the interface with bedrock below. The faster that ice flows, the faster seas rise. Now, though, a new Dutch study of 17 years of satellite measurements of ice movement in western Greenland concludes that the speedup of the ice is a transient summertime phenomenon, with the overall yearly movement of the grinding glaciers not changing, and actually dropping slightly in some places, when measured over longer time spans.

     The above-quoted article was apparently published both in the Times' print and on-line editions.  In the online edition, Mr. Revkin--so as not to be politically incorrect, which of course would be a no-no at the Times-- publishes, among other things, these "insigtful" comments by experts on the loss of one of their sturdiest sky-is-falling arguments:

Richard B. Alley, an expert on Greenland?s ice sheet at Penn State, told me it?s still possible that flows of meltwater from surface lakes could start large areas of ice moving seaward, particularly if the melt zones continue to expand inland as they have been doing for years now.

Dr. van de Wal said the picture of what makes Greenland?s ice stable or unstable is still evolving. ?This time we do not predict a disaster, but who knows what the next finding will [teach] us,? he said.

(emphases added).

     Shall we say, er, pathetic reasoning if these comments are designed to justify impoverishing society to fight a now-admittedly uncertain "climate change".  Insofar as "who knows what the next finding will [teach] us"--that the global-warming scare is a hoax?

Full post as published by Environmental Legal Blogs on July 05, 2008 (boomark / email).