PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE

There are many more that the comparison published in The Observer, via The Raw Story. The photos were taken by spy satellites, and it is alleged their publication was prevented by the Bush Admninstration. They are certainly dramatic.

Can I believe the evidence as presented? How could it be that one year the ice is close to shore and the next it is not seen?

Suzanne Goldenberg and Damian Carrington report in The Observer (Sunday 26 July 2009):

The photographs demonstrate starkly how global warming is changing the Arctic. More than a million square kilometres of sea ice – a record loss – were missing in the summer of 2007 compared with the previous year.

Nor has this loss shown any sign of recovery. Ice cover for 2008 was almost as bad as for 2007, and this year levels look equally sparse.

“These are one-metre resolution images, which give you a big picture of the summertime Arctic,” said Thorsten Markus of Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Centre. “This is the main reason why we are so thrilled about it. One-metre resolution is the dimension that’s been missing.”

Disappearing summer sea ice poses considerable dangers, scientists have warned. Ice shelves are used by animals such as polar bears as platforms for hunting seals and other sea creatures. Without them, they could starve. In addition, ice reflects solar radiation. Without that process, the Arctic sea could warm up even more. The phenomenon threatens to set off runaway heating of the planet, say climatologists.

The latest revelations have triggered warnings from scientists that they no longer have the funds to keep a comprehensive track of climate change. Last week the head of the US’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Professor Jane Lubchenco, warned that the gathering of satellite data – crucial to predicting future climate changes – was now at “great risk” because America’s ageing satellite fleet was not being replaced.

“Our primary focus is maintaining the continuity of climate observations, and those are at great risk right now because we don’t have the resources to have satellites at the ready and taking the kinds of information that we need,” said Lubchenco, who was appointed by Obama. “We are playing catch-up.”

This evidence is easier to assimilate than that presented by Will Steffen via Brian at Larvatus Prodeo.

POSTSCRIPT:

It seems to me that similar photographic evidence might show the glacial recession, for example, in the Himalayas and others around the world.

The Himilayian Glaciers are interesting for their implications for the sub continent but equally because the Indian Minister for the Environment and Forestry is defending the right of his country to pollute the atmosphere. His ministry is expected to publish a report on the state of the Himilayan glaciers on 10 August. This could be the perfect example for the “deniers” or “delusionists” to reinforce their claim that science is the handmaiden of politics. (“Delusionists” et al call themselves “skeptics” or independent scientists and everybody else “alarmists” – all very silly, but there it goes.)

ELSEWHERE:

Nicholas Gruen at Club Troppo shows photos of a glacier retreat in Alaska.

Advertisements