And this passes for science?

Someone should tell these scientists that the North Pole has almost
always melted in the summer. In fact, the North Pole is not even a fixed
solid body of ice, the ice moves around and collects based upon the way
the wind blows. American and British submarines have been surfacing at
the North Pole for many years (since the late fifties) coming up through
very thin ice or no ice at all.

Open water in the Artic is normal during summer. Captain Dave Hearding,
Director for Operations of the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet reported: "As
submariners know who have been going to the Arctic and NP since 1959,
during the summer we expect to find open water at or near the pole – we
use the Russian word polynya to describe it – and we look for these
areas to surface more easily..."

Can we get the names of these "scientists" so we can check their
credentials?

As far as "... Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree
Fahrenheit in the last century..." can someone please tell us what that
means? Does it mean that the high temperatures are higher, or does it
mean that the low temperatures are higher, or does it mean that there
are more days with higher highs or fewer days with low lows?  Does it
mean that the temperatures for 99% of the globe are the same but 1% has
risen - that would qualify as "temperature rise".

A little useful information would be nice.  Before we become alarmed can
we at least know what we are talking about?

Chuck Dolci


> Joe Fjelstad wrote:
>
>North Pole Meets South Pole: Earth  Is Melting at Both Ends
>Melting Ice Caps Could Spell  Disaster for Coastal Cities
>By BILL BLAKEMORE
>
>
>(March 2) - For the first time, scientists have  confirmed Earth is melting
>at both ends, which could have disastrous effects for  coastal cities and
>villages.
>
>Antarctica has been called "a slumbering giant" by a  climate scientist who
>predicts that if all the ice melted, sea levels would rise  by 200 feet. Other
>scientists believe that such a thing won't happen, but new  studies show that
>the slumbering giant has started to stir.
>
>Melting at Both Ends
>
>Recent studies have confirmed that the North Pole and  the South Pole have
>started melting.
>
>Experts have long predicted that global warming would  start to melt
>Greenland's two-mile-thick ice sheet, but they also thought the  more massive ice
>sheet covering Antarctica would increase in the 21st  century.
>
>It seems they were wrong.
>
>Two new studies find that despite the increasing  snowfall that comes with
>global warming as a result of the increased moisture in  the air, Antarctica's
>ice sheets are losing far more than the snow is  adding.
>
>According to the National Academy of Sciences, Earth's  surface temperature
>has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the last century,  with accelerated
>warming during the last two decades. Most of the warming over  the last 50
>years is attributable to human activities through the buildup of  greenhouse gases
>— primarily carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. Although  the
>heat-trapping property of these gases is undisputed, uncertainties exist  about
>exactly how Earth's climate responds to them.
>
>
>
> (http://reference.aol.com/nowyouknow/globalwarming/photos)
>The melting rate of Greenland glaciers has doubled since 1996. See  images of
>global warming effects.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>"The warming ocean comes underneath the ice shelves and  melts them from the
>bottom, and warmer air from the top melts them from the  top," said NASA
>glaciologist Jay Zwally. "So they're thinning and eventually  they get to a point
>where they go poof!"
>
>Zwally explains that the ice shelves, which the  Antarctic ice cap pushes out
>into the ocean, are responding more than they  expected to Earth's warming
>air and water. If the melting speeds up to a rapid  runaway process called a
>"collapse," coastal cities and villages could be in  danger.
>
>James Hansen, director of NASA's Earth Science  Research, said that disaster
>could probably be avoided, but that it would  require dramatically cutting
>emission outputs. If the proper actions aren't  taken, Hansen said, the sea level
>could rise as much as 80 feet by the time  today's children reach middle age.
>
>"We now must choose between a serious problem that we  can probably handle
>and, if we don't act soon, unmitigated disaster down the  road," Hansen said.
>
>
>
>
>Scientists looking at ice cores can now read Earth's  temperatures from past
>millennia and match them to sea levels from those  eras.
>
>"Based on the history of the Earth, if we can keep the  warming less than 2
>degrees Fahrenheit, I think we can avoid disastrous ice  sheet collapse,"
>Hansen said.
>
>Hansen and other scientists point out that a rise of at  least 1 degree
>Fahrenheit — and another few feet of sea level — seem virtually  certain to happen
>because of the carbon that mankind has already put in the  atmosphere.
>
>Copyright 2006 ABCNEWS.com
>
>
>2006-03-02  12:18:22
>
>
>