By Steve Goddard
Readers will surely recall when WUWT was the first climate news outlet to publish this story:
Oh no! Greenland glacier calves island 4 times the size of Manhattan
In it, an admonition: “Watch the media now as this story is only about an hour old.” So far the media (and foot in mouth politicians) haven’t disappointed in their zeal to make this “business as usual” for a glacier into a poster child.
Image from The Arc
Professor Andreas Muenchow became a media celebrity this week with his quote about an iceberg in Greenland being “four times the size of Manhattan.” This iceberg has become a poster child for global warming, even though a much larger one broke off the same glacier 50 years ago.
From the Kansas City Star
Researchers last week spotted a 100-square-mile chunk of ice that calved off from the great Petermann Glacier in Greenland’s far northwest. It was the most massive ice island to break away in the Arctic in a half-century of observation. The huge iceberg appeared just five months after an international scientific team published a report saying ice loss from the Greenland ice sheet is expanding up its northwest coast from the south. Changes in the ice sheet “are happening fast, and we are definitely losing more ice mass than we had anticipated,” said NASA’s Isabella Velicogna.
Others took the misinformation one step further:
In what he calls ‘a manifestation of warming’, Dr Richard Bates who helps monitor the Greenland ice said he was ‘amazed’ to see such a huge area of ice break off the Petermann glacier. Reported in the Telegraph a team from the University of St Andrews said that a huge 106 square mile chunk of ice had broken away at the start of August. This is the largest ever seen to come from Greenland. The US National Ice Center has named the iceberg the ‘Petermann Ice Island’. They also report that the Petermann glacier, which is located in North West Greenland to the East of the Nares Strait and one of the largest in the Northern hemisphere, has retreated back to a level not observed since 1962.
What the press is not widely reporting is that Professor Muenchow also said :
years of data on the glacier itself show that after this month’s event, the mass of ice is still, on average, discharging about the same amount of water it usually does – some 600 million cubic meters a year, or about 220,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools. “Even a big piece like this over 50 years is not that significant. It’s just the normal rate,” he said. Muenchow warns people not to jump to conclusions. “An event like this, this specific event, all flags go immediately up, ‘Oh, let’s explain this by global warming.’ I cannot support that,” he said.
So what we know is that the glacier is where it was 50 years ago, a bigger chunk broke off 50 years ago, and the rate of ice moving to the sea has not changed. There is absolutely no story here. Our warming friends get more desperate by the day. It is pathetic.
Thanks for that link, Steven Goddard. This is an interesting quote as well:
Earlier this year, ice specialists said to expect thinner ice.
And, according to Environment Canada’s ice service, ice conditions in the Northwest Passage at the end of July resembled those normally found in the second or third week of August.
That’s probably because last winter, no part of the central Arctic experienced colder-than-average temperatures and freeze-up occurred later.
Air temperatures were also above normal throughout last year’s September to December freeze-up period, averaging from 1 to 5 C warmer over the central Arctic.
The impact of this unusual warmth is still felt this month when ice, except for a few places in the passage, is lighter than usual.
RACookPE1978 says:
August 14, 2010 at 9:07 am
Phil. says:
August 14, 2010 at 5:15 am
Re disinformation by RACook the route the ice island has to travel to reach the Nares strait is wide and straight not “narrow and twisting”, if anything delays its travels it will likely be inadequate depth.
—…—…—
But you claim it’s a “straight path” to the sea?
No, as your quotation of my statement clearly shows I did not say that!
You said:
By the way, the “ice island” in question is INSIDE a narrow, twisting fjord,
Which it clearly is not, one of us is telling the truth and it isn’t you as shown by your own post.
Your subsequent post concerning the difficulty of the ice island negiotiating the Nares (sic.) strait has nothing to do with your original false statement, had you said that in the first place there would be no problem.
PUBLIC DISSOCIATION FROM PENN STATE METEOROLOGY.
By Joe Bastardi
Though it will mean nothing to them, it means plenty to me.
And most importantly, it is not meant to diminish the works of the greats that came before me, and are still inspirations to me, one of them being Dr. Joel Myers, THE founder of ACCUWEATHER, a Penn State grad, who has done more than any man alive to advance the cause of private meteorology in the world. You know the saying of Newton.. if I have seen farther than others, its because I have stood on the shoulders of Giants. Well Joel is one of those Giants. But its guys like Joel that made Penn State, not Penn State making Joel. And perhaps that is the problem with Penn State and their stance today on the issue of AGW, they believe that they are more than what they are. Their actions, and recent issuances from people there, who seem emboldened by decisions made in regards to Dr. Mann speak volumes as to true intent
I have to admit, I am a graduate of Penn State in meteorology (1978) and always looked at this as one of the achievements of my life. No more. Though I have a degree from the once proud and great meteorology department, it was EARNED during its glory day, when we graduated 2/3rds of the worlds meteorologists, and were the envy of other schools. That was yesterday, and yesterdays gone.
My words will mean nothing to the people now running what was once the envy of the atmospheric science world, But they mean plenty to me. Penn State has lost its way. The recent events show you are not in pursuit of the answer, but an answer that people in control believe is pre determined and one that promotes an agenda, not science. So no mas, in the words of Roberto Duran. I will know longer refer to myself as a Penn State grad, nor promote the university in my appearances , which will be something they wont mind given the way they have to be thinking. . Those that I learned from there, they will always be my heroes. BUT THEY MADE PENN STATE.. PENN STATE MAKES NO ONE… at least the way they position themselves now.
One can not imagine the betrayal I feel at the hands of this university. AND THAT SAYS IT ALL. While I am greatly pained in writing this, it matters nothing to the people that want to promote an agenda and shut down debate on a matter that I believe will have a completely different outcome from what they try to hoist on the planet It is the toughest thing I have gone through in my whole life. The fact is the university I busted my tail for, and defended all these years, is complicit in not only advancing an agenda driven matter in the name of “science” but also trying to suppress freedom of independent, rational thinking. Its that simple.
I put this out here on this site, because unlike my blog, it will get out there publicly. And believe me, there are many.. legion, that graduated PSU through the 90s that feel the same way I do. We have a cheer we yell at our sporting events.. “we are… penn state.”
In regards to this, and other matters, it would be more accurate to yell, .. “we were..penn state”
Perhaps, time will prove me wrong. I almost hope it does, but I dont see it, I graduated in 1978. 30 plus years of ties that bind, plus actually bleeding and sweating in a PSU uniform on their wrestling team ( which by the way I still love and support) are a tough thing to cut. But the recent articles on “climate ethics” and other things pushed me over the edge. I have always been, right or wrong, honest with my audience though I admit I have avoided this matter. No more.
Just so you know how I feel
ciao for now **** FRIDAY 11 PM
Günther Kirschbaum says:
August 14, 2010 at 8:40 am
Readers will surely recall when WUWT was the first climate news outlet to publish this story:
Why do you lie?
[Reply: With a comment like that you need to provide a verifiable citation. ~dbs, mod.]
Günther, Goddard always feels the need to boost his self-importance, as you rightly point out WUWT was certainly not the first, Patrick Lockerby reported it first before UD, Neven followed it up before WUWT (Aug 5, 2010 5:55:37 PM | Animation, Glaciers, Satellite images) http://neven1.typepad.com/blog/2010/08/animation-10-petermann-glacier-ice-tongue.html
Joe;
And all because a green-as-grass PSU postdoc (Mann) in ’98 latched onto a cornucopia of outside political funding! It appears the negotiations for the sale of its integrity didn’t take much time.
Günther
The Arctic was warm last winter because of the record low Arctic Oscillation, which was spilling the cold air out of the Arctic to lower latitudes like Europe.
Mann was not a PSU postdoc! I assume that the rest of your facts are as reliable.
Phil;
He had just completed his degree; he didn’t have a postdoc position as such, I grant you. But he was a very ordinary junior PhD until he tapped the money vein for the department. The subsequent quality of his work, and his notorious (unwarranted) arrogance, are all of a piece.
Jct: Great article. Great research. Wonderful to have to lies exposed so quickly, even if only to those of us who can still read.
The penquins on the ice island remind me of the warministas, They’re getting a free ride.
The difference is, the penquins are not trying to tell us that there is anything unusual going on here!
Brian H says:
August 15, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Phil;
He had just completed his degree; he didn’t have a postdoc position as such, I grant you. But he was a very ordinary junior PhD until he tapped the money vein for the department. The subsequent quality of his work, and his notorious (unwarranted) arrogance, are all of a piece.
I’m afraid the quality of your research doesn’t get any better.
Mann was a post-doc at UMass until 1998, then a Research Assistant Professor at UMass until 1999 when he was appointed as Assistant Professor at UVa, a post he held until 2005. At which point he was appointed as an Associate Professor and Director of the Earth System Science Center (ESSC), Pennsylvania State University and promoted to full Professor in 2009. At no time could he remotely be described as a post-doc at Penn State nor as “a very ordinary junior PhD”! If you want to criticize Mann try sticking to the facts and not making up nonsense, it ends up undermining your case, and by association that of others.
So there is a Greenpeace ship named Arctic Sunrise. Strange, I seem to recall learning that above the Arctic Circle, and likewise below the Antarctic Circle, is the land of the midnight sun, with “sunrise” occurring only once a year at the poles. Offhand this looks like the frequency of which this ship does anything remotely notable.
It would be in Greenpeace’s best interest to rectify this situation immediately. To highlight the dangers of anthropogenic global warming and the unprecedented loss of Arctic sea ice, Greenpeace should promptly take the vessel on a cruise through the Northwest Passage, to clearly demonstrate how easily navigable it has become. Of course this must be done without the aid of icebreaker vessels, as they use either the horrendous dirty fossil fuels or the potentially more calamitous nuclear fuels, which is moot since such ships are obviously not needed anyway.
Nice pic of the penguins. Is that from the Arctic colony that got started after the Animal Liberation Front rescued those penguins from their captivity at a Northern Canadian zoo and released them into their natural habitat?
😉
its alway over done by our enemies the reason why the BS Is out in the open is for control of us all. by the way the penguin guys look happy many fish in the sea and by the way Icebergs have been with earth for one billion years.
Presumably those toffs in the coats and tails are the [snip] who have already colonized their [snip]land new home.
Seems like that giant iceberg is quite lacking in the necessary understructure, as it seems to be floating a bit on the high side; despit all the freeloaders catching a ride on top.
RE: Phil. and Gunther. I was unaware of these comments until today as I was traveling all weekend and did little moderating.
Looks like the US Navy National Ice Center may have in been the first to spot the calving via satellite. They spotted it on August 5th and have an annotated ENVISAT image they posted. See below:
Figure 1: Shows an ENVISAT image (©European Space Agency) of Petermann Ice Island (2010) dated August 5, 2010.
http://www.natice.noaa.gov/Petermann.html
The comment was that WUWT was I believe the first to publish the press release From University of Delaware, citing the 4x Manhattan size, which is the one that made it into all the MSM outlets with that comparison. Eurekalert had the press release and I published it within the hour, citing UD’s source page:
http://www.udel.edu/udaily/2011/aug/greenland080610.html
which had a 1:40PM Aug 6 timestamp. Eurekalert, which the MSM subscribes to, had it shortly after UD published it:
http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2010-08/uod-ggc080610.php
I never made any claim of being the first to spot the actual calving event. Neither did Goddard.
That honor apparently goes to the U.S. Navy Ice center on August 5th, though they don’t have a hourly timestamp so it is hard to be certain. Either way, whether it was this fellow Lockerby, UD, or the U.S.Navy, WUWT has made no claims of spotting the calving event first, only of being the first to publish the UD press release on August 6th.
“”” George E. Smith says:
August 16, 2010 at 6:06 pm
Presumably those toffs in the coats and tails are the [snip] who have already colonized their [snip]land new home. “””
Hey Chasmod, of course you knew it was tongue in cheek. But if Anthony’s rule is that that word is on the Nyet list then I will refrain even in jest.
My aplogy for transgressing.
George
“whether it was this fellow Lockerby, UD, or the U.S.Navy, WUWT has made no claims of spotting the calving event first, only of being the first to publish the UD press release on August 6th.”
Irrelevant. Does not address the issue of who was first to publish the news.
“I never made any claim of being the first to spot the actual calving event. Neither did Goddard.”
Straw man argument! Ignoratio elenchi.
Gunther gave proof: Steve Goddard was not first to publish the news – 6th August.
Patrick Lockerby was actually first to publish the news – 5th August.
You have mail:
http://www.science20.com/chatter_box/letter_anthony_watts
When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging!