Three Facts to Counter Obama’s Alaska Global Warming Hype

 

I applaud President Obama for visiting Alaska. I have family there, and it is a state often forgotten when the White House schedules presidential trips. But Obama’s reason for going — to highlight the results of man-caused climate change — is fraudulent. Humans are not causing global warming in Alaska or anywhere else on the globe.

Here follow three facts to counter the nonsense you will hear this week. And by “facts” I mean data collected by incorruptible sources, not predictions based on dodgy computer climate models or readings from land-based stations that skew recorded temperatures upward, keeping alive the ever-failing hypothesis of man-caused global warming.

Fact #1: Global temperatures have been flat for nearly 19 years.

Measured by satellite — the most-accurate way to measure global temperatures — there has been no global warming since kids who are entering college this year were born. The Class of 2015 has been told all their lives in school that human activity has been dangerously warming the planet. The facts — the data collected by the satellites NASA sent up into orbit — tell a different story:

pauseclimatedepot18years7months (1)

The stories about “the warmest year on record” you read in the media mostly concern a fraction of a degree — and even those fractions mean little because the old, unreliable, land-based temperature stations were adjusted in a way that makes today’s temperatures seem warmer than the past. Take the Medieval Warm Period — called the “climate optimum” before warming was deemed bad — which was a lot warmer than today. Greenland, for example, was for centuries able to support modest crops and livestock. (They abandoned the colonies for good reason: It once was warm but got too cold!)

Fact #2: Polar ice is not dangerously melting.

Whenever you see a news report claiming some climate landmark represents the “greatest in recorded history,” your skeptical antennae should deploy. The world only got around to sending satellites into space to observe and measure the climate in the 1970s, including satellites that took pictures of the North Pole and South Pole to measure ice extent. So when you hear that polar ice levels are “dangerously low,” remember that the only real measurements we have for contrast were taken when the Bee Gees were hot.

It does not take much GoogSubmarine Skate North Pole 1958le skill to come up with a photo from the 1950s of an American submarine surfacing at the North Pole without much pack ice around the vessel. If that happened today? Good Lord, the media would go crazy. But it (gasp!) happened again to two subs in the 1960s.

SSN Sea Dragon

The fact is, current ice extent on the North Pole is within the normal range of what satellites have accurately measured — again, only since the 1970s.

What about the South Pole? It continues to set records for ice cover and last year entrapped a global warming cruise in ice.

Fact #3: Extreme Weather is Declining.

President Obama was praying for Tropical Storm Erika, currently petering out, to be an actual hurricane by the time it struck the US. It would have given him a tiny, wind-blown branch upon which to rest his case that storms are getting stronger and more dangerous because of man-caused global warming. But even if Erika hit Florida as a Category 2 hurricane, it still wouldn’t have broken the longest-ever streak of a major hurricane (Cat 3 or higher) not landing on US soil.

That’s right. Every passing day adds to the ten-year record, set on September 12, 2015. We are experiencing the longest stretch of time in recorded history in which no major hurricane has struck the United States. Records on this have been kept, unmolested by data fudging, for more than 100 years.

As for cold weather, the “big snow” then “very cold” cycles for the past two winters in the Lower 48 were entirely normal. Human emissions of CO2 had nothing to do with it.

If you’re interested in what’s really happening to our climate — and want more than three facts to counter Obama — visit the archive of Heartland’s 10 International Conferences on Climate Change. You can also read more about the non-alarmist, non-politicized data at Climate Change Reconsidered.

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  1. Don Tillman Member
    Don Tillman
    @DonTillman

    Hold on, what about rising sea levels?

    Let’s look up the sea level records at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for Juneau, Alaska.  Here:

    juneau

    • #1
  2. David Sussman Member
    David Sussman
    @DaveSussman

    I read somewhere that Erika didn’t become a hurricane because of climate change.

    Whatever happens, they set the rules and MC the debate.

    Good post.

    • #2
  3. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    As a fan of arctic exploration narratives from way back, I’m not sure how open water where the submarines popped up is relevant to your assertion.

    Here are data on minimum summer extent during the period of satellite observation.  (Sorry, no satellite data for the medieval warming period.)  And here is an article explaining why the minimum ice extent is the most interesting measure.

    • #3
  4. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    The Reticulator:As a fan of arctic exploration narratives from way back, I’m not sure how open water where the submarines popped up is relevant to your assertion.

    Here are data on minimum summer extent during the period of satellite observation. (Sorry, no satellite data for the medieval warming period.) And here is an article explaining why the minimum ice extent is the most interesting measure.

    By coincidence, 1979, the beginning of these comparative data, is the tail end of a significant global cooling that took place for about 30 years (this is from memory, so might not be exact). It was in 1977 that scientists were worrying that a new ice age was starting. So it’s likely that we are in a cycle of sea ice growing (more now than the minimum of 2012) and shrinking, and the fact that 2012 showed less ice than 1979 proves nothing about longer term trends.

    Get back to me in 30 years and we’ll talk.

    • #4
  5. Manny Coolidge
    Manny
    @Manny

    Here’s another fact.  Temperature difference is based on the subtraction from the current with the passed.  We’re talking about fractions of a degree difference.  Even if we could measure the current composite world temperature (and that’s based on some model which you could probably shoot full of holes) to a decimal place or two, there is no way to verify the accuracy of the past temperature to a decimal place or two.  We’re playing with fluctuations to decimal places of which we can’t verify accurately.

    • #5
  6. Steve in Richmond Member
    Steve in Richmond
    @SteveinRichmond

    We are adding to a 10 year record set on September 12, 2015?   I think thats a fact I may avoid for a couple of weeks.

    • #6
  7. MLH Inactive
    MLH
    @MLH

    Re: your #2: from my google news page this morning

    New York Times

    See realtime coverage

    Obama to Call for More Icebreakers in Arctic as US Seeks Foothold

    New York Times  – ‎1 hour ago‎

    ANCHORAGE – President Obama on Tuesday will propose speeding the acquisition and building of new Coast Guard icebreakers that can operate year-round in the nation’s polar regions, part of an effort to close the gap between the United States and other …

    • #7
  8. Marion Evans Inactive
    Marion Evans
    @MarionEvans

    I knew the “global warming” crowd was full of … when they switched to calling it “climate change”.

    • #8
  9. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Jim,

    When you are a pure propagandist you are naturally attracted to the biggest lies. Obama just can’t help himself.

    Thanks so very much for this post Jim. I’m sure I’ve read most it somewhere or at sometime, but that’s part of the propagandist’s strategy. Just keep on lying and sooner or later they’ll get tired and stop publishing the truth. Stick it in his eye.

    Nice job.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #9
  10. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    The warmists depend on short memories and tend to use historical records going back to the late 70s or early 80s when we were coming out of a cold cycle. It’s important that they not look back even further, because then the cycles of warming and cooling become obvious.

    But photos from Greenland in the 20s and 30s show glacier melt similar or greater than that of recent years. Glaciers which then grew again during the 50s and 60s.

    Seasonal maps of arctic sea ice extent stretching back to the late 1800s show a clear cycle of expanding, contracting, expanding, contracting throughout the last century.

    I mean, the “Polar Bears are Drowning!” lie has been thoroughly debunked, yet I just encountered a True Believer yesterday who repeated it anyway.

    People have short memories, have relatively short lives, and every “extreme” weather event looks like the worst ever when memories are recent. The warmists depend on this, depend on using fear, and it’s all about obtaining money for themselves and their connected cronies.

    “Global warming” is the biggest scam ever unleashed on the world, and I really want to see people punished severely for it. Mostly Obama, because he takes it one step farther and at a time that ISIS is rampaging across the globe, Iran is building a bomb, Russia is feeling its oats, China is hacking into our computers and the economy continues to suck, he insists the most pressing national security problem is global warming.

    • #10
  11. Johnny Dubya Inactive
    Johnny Dubya
    @JohnnyDubya

    To be fair, the falling sea levels at Juneau are due to regional uplift.  Counterintuitively, the warming that causes glacial retreat also results in relative sea level decline due to coastal rebound.

    It must always be kept in mind that sea level relative to a coastal margin may change because the sea and/or the land has risen or fallen.

    While Juneau’s sea level has fallen, Bermuda’s has remained largely unchanged, and New London, Connecticut’s has risen.  I mention the last city because it happens to be near the location of my beach house.  According to NOAA, since 1940, the sea level there has risen about 6 inches.  The horror!  In fact, the low-lying street in front of my house did occasionally flood.  Would you like to know what local authorities did in response?  (Hint: They did not call for reductions in greenhouse gases.)

    They raised the street a couple of feet!  Brilliant, right?  One might almost say that such an approach might be emulated in other places that have seen or will see a sea level rise.  It’s called “adaptation”.

    Doesn’t a local, targeted approach make sense, especially given that trends may reverse themselves?  (It’s what trends often do.)

    By the way, my house was built around 1925 and survived the unprecedented superstorm Sandy in 2012, as well as other unprecedented storms in 2011, 1985, 1972, 1960, 1955, 1954, 1944, and 1938.

    • #11
  12. Don Tillman Member
    Don Tillman
    @DonTillman

    Johnny Dubya: To be fair, the falling sea levels at Juneau are due to regional uplift.  Counterintuitively, the warming that causes glacial retreat also results in relative sea level decline due to coastal rebound. It must always be kept in mind that sea level relative to a coastal margin may change because the sea and/or the land has risen or fallen. While Juneau’s sea level has fallen, Bermuda’s has remained largely unchanged, and New London, Connecticut’s has risen.

    The NOAA worldwide data is available here.

    noaa

    According to this it seems that the sea levels are rising very slightly around most of the world, but also falling dramatically, many times faster, in the northern areas around Alaska, eastern Canada, and the Scandinavian countries.  So maybe the sea water is just moving overall.

    In the map, large upward spikes that stand out suggest that the land is sinking at that point.  (New Orleans.)

    • #12
  13. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    Don Tillman: According to this it seems that the sea levels are rising very slightly around most of the world, but also falling dramatically, many times faster, in the northern areas around Alaska, eastern Canada, and the Scandinavian countries.  So maybe the sea water is just moving overall.

    Maybe so. The data are not conducive to certain conclusions. But what is also important to note is that the overall rate of (average) sea level increase is about one tenth of an inch per year, and that is supposed to get us all in a dither.

    • #13
  14. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    DrewInWisconsin: But photos from Greenland in the 20s and 30s show glacier melt similar or greater than that of recent years. Glaciers which then grew again during the 50s and 60s.

    Videos of ice packs calving are dramatic evidence of warming. But videos of the ice growing back are a little less dramatic, don’t you think? Hard to get someone to sit through the whole video.

    • #14
  15. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    polar-bear-tongue

    • #15
  16. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    I always like to make the Penn State football stadium comparison. First we take the makeup of the atmosphere and multiple by a thousand. So now instead of 100% we have 100,000% or about the seating capacity of Beaver stadium. Every seat in the stadium would be filled with Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon except for the seats of the PennState Marching Band which would represent carbon dioxide which is absolutely vital for the survival of life on earth. For the purists we have to throw in a couple of seats for the trace gases.

    So what we have is a bunch of nuts arguing about how many tuba players should be in the band and are willing to destroy our economy to get rid of a few. FYI, there 315 in the band at PSU.

    Edit for the above. I made a math error. There are not as many seats as the band. There would onyy be around 38 seats taken in the stadium. A few more than both starting teams and the cheerleaders. Thanks Man with the Axe.

    • #16
  17. Don Tillman Member
    Don Tillman
    @DonTillman

    Man With the Axe:

    Don Tillman: According to this it seems that the sea levels are rising very slightly around most of the world, but also falling dramatically, many times faster, in the northern areas around Alaska, eastern Canada, and the Scandinavian countries. So maybe the sea water is just moving overall.

    Maybe so. The data are not conducive to certain conclusions.

    And there are just so many sea level sensors that can be set up and monitored.

    I can’t even imagine how it would be possible to set up sea level sensors, y’know, in the middle of the vast expanse of the oceans, where most of the sea level actually is.

    • #17
  18. James Gawron Inactive
    James Gawron
    @JamesGawron

    Misthiocracy:polar-bear-tongue

    Mis,

    And what’s really unfortunate is that Al Gore still remains.

    Regards,

    Jim

    • #18
  19. Don Tillman Member
    Don Tillman
    @DonTillman

    Misthiocracy:polar-bear-tongue

    That said… tallying the total population of polar bears is not an easy or precise operation.

    But photos of them sure are cute.

    • #19
  20. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    PHCheese:I always like to make the Penn State football stadium comparison. First we take the makeup of the atmosphere and multiple by a thousand. So now instead of 100% we have 100,000% or about the seating capacity of Beaver stadium. Every seat in the stadium would be filled with Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon except for the seats of the PennState Marching Band which would represent carbon dioxide which is absolutely vital for the survival of life on earth. For the purists we have to throw in a couple of seats for the trace gases. So what we have is a bunch of nuts arguing about how many tuba players should be in the band and are willing to destroy our economy to get rid of a few. FYI, there 315 in the band at PSU.

    I like your example.  One quibble is that I think to make it more accurate you would need 10 stadiums, or alternatively, only 40 seats in the 100,000 seat stadium, as the CO2 level is about 400 parts per million. So, instead of the marching band, the CO2 is represented by the 40 Temple University fans there to cheer their team on to victory.

    • #20
  21. Mark Coolidge
    Mark
    @GumbyMark

    And here’s some actual Alaska temperature trend data from a post I did last month.  It will probably differ from what the President claims.

    • #21
  22. Ruthenian Inactive
    Ruthenian
    @Ruthenian

    Man With the Axe

    PHCheese:I always like to make the Penn State football stadium comparison. First we take the makeup of the atmosphere and multiple by a thousand. So now instead of 100% we have 100,000% or about the seating capacity of Beaver stadium. Every seat in the stadium would be filled with Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon except for the seats of the PennState Marching Band which would represent carbon dioxide which is absolutely vital for the survival of life on earth. For the purists we have to throw in a couple of seats for the trace gases. So what we have is a bunch of nuts arguing about how many tuba players should be in the band and are willing to destroy our economy to get rid of a few. FYI, there 315 in the band at PSU.

    I like your example.  One quibble is that I think to make it more accurate you would need 10 stadiums, or alternatively, only 4 seats in the 100,000 seat stadium, as the CO2 level is about 4 parts per million. So, instead of the marching band, the CO2 is represented by the 4 Temple University fans there to cheer their team on to victory.

    Actually, it is about 400 PPM (parts per million). That makes 40 seats in the stadium. Great visual, though!

    • #22
  23. EHerring Coolidge
    EHerring
    @EHerring

    When the National Review cruise ship entered Glacier Bay, we were joined by (federal) park rangers who gave a running commentary on what we were seeing.  There was a certain dissonance to it… glowing commentary about how much the wildlife population has increased as the glaciers have receded and the valley has greened up (educated people know the glaciers have been receding for thousands of years) … followed by a lecture on the dangers of man-made climate change and the need to take action so our children will still be able to visit glaciers.  2000 cruisers a day are treated to this act of propaganda, and surely many fall for it.  I would like to know the source of that little bit of propaganda (enthusiastic worker?, Obama administration?, hmmmm)

    • #23
  24. Ruthenian Inactive
    Ruthenian
    @Ruthenian

    EHerring

    When the National Review cruise ship entered Glacier Bay, we were joined by (federal) park rangers who gave a running commentary on what we were seeing.  There was a certain dissonance to it…

    Have you visited College Fjord during the cruise? There you have two glaciers that confuse most observers: Harvard Glacier is advancing, whereas Yale Glacier is retreating… Hmm…

    • #24
  25. DrewInWisconsin Member
    DrewInWisconsin
    @DrewInWisconsin

    EHerring:When the National Review cruise ship entered Glacier Bay, we were joined by (federal) park rangers who gave a running commentary on what we were seeing. There was a certain dissonance to it… glowing commentary about how much the wildlife population has increased as the glaciers have receded and the valley has greened up (educated people know the glaciers have been receding for thousands of years) … followed by a lecture on the dangers of man-made climate change and the need to take action so our children will still be able to visit glaciers. 2000 cruisers a day are treated to this act of propaganda, and surely many fall for it.

    For me, the worst part about taking my kids to museums and nature centers is the overwhelming amount of left-wing propaganda they get burdened with. It does give me a chance to offer a corrective, though.

    • #25
  26. PHCheese Inactive
    PHCheese
    @PHCheese

    Axe, you are so right. I forgot the 0 before the 38. Heck that wipes out all the tubas in the band.

    • #26
  27. EHerring Coolidge
    EHerring
    @EHerring

    Ruthenian:

    EHerring

    When the National Review cruise ship entered Glacier Bay, we were joined by (federal) park rangers who gave a running commentary on what we were seeing. There was a certain dissonance to it…

    Have you visited College Fjord during the cruise? There you have two glaciers that confuse most observers: Harvard Glacier is advancing, whereas Yale Glacier is retreating… Hmm…

    A little more cooling and those mega ships would not be entering Glacier Bay at all.

    • #27
  28. Jim Lakely Inactive
    Jim Lakely
    @JimLakely

    PHCheese:I always like to make the Penn State football stadium comparison. First we take the makeup of the atmosphere and multiple by a thousand. So now instead of 100% we have 100,000% or about the seating capacity of Beaver stadium. Every seat in the stadium would be filled with Nitrogen, Oxygen and Argon except for the seats of the PennState Marching Band which would represent carbon dioxide which is absolutely vital for the survival of life on earth. For the purists we have to throw in a couple of seats for the trace gases. So what we have is a bunch of nuts arguing about how many tuba players should be in the band and are willing to destroy our economy to get rid of a few. FYI, there 315 in the band at PSU.

    Someone should share that analogy with PSU’s Michael Mann.

    • #28
  29. Man With the Axe Inactive
    Man With the Axe
    @ManWiththeAxe

    Nothing more embarrassing than making an arithmetic error when correcting someone else’s. Now corrected in my original post.

    • #29
  30. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Don Tillman:

    Man With the Axe:

    Don Tillman: According to this it seems that the sea levels are rising very slightly around most of the world, but also falling dramatically, many times faster, in the northern areas around Alaska, eastern Canada, and the Scandinavian countries. So maybe the sea water is just moving overall.

    Maybe so. The data are not conducive to certain conclusions.

    And there are just so many sea level sensors that can be set up and monitored.

    I can’t even imagine how it would be possible to set up sea level sensors, y’know, in the middle of the vast expanse of the oceans, where most of the sea level actually is.

    How come we call it sea level if it isn’t any more level than that?

    • #30
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