More Faux Science

I hadn’t planned to post today but a scare headline on Drudge prompted me to follow up. The tactics of the “global warming” crowd just get more outrageous by the day. In an article from the Independent, a British tabloid normally known for coverage of two headed calves and Michael Jackson antics, comes the breathless news of clear water at the North Pole.

In a piece liberally laced with “ifs,” “coulds,” “mays,” and “mights,” we learn of the threatening possibility of clear, ice free water at the North Pole. It is all reminiscent of a recent post about the icebreaker “Kapitan Khlebnikov” sailing the Northwest Passage and becoming stuck in the ice for days.

The article asserts this condition is rare. It is not! On March 17, 1959, the Skate (SSN-578) a US Navy submarine surfaced at 90º North latitude and established the first event of a long series replicated by subs from the US and other countries. That occurred 49 years ago! Since it is a well known fact that ice depth at that locality is governed more by local weather than global climate change, opportunities do arise for surfacing. During that event, the Skate did have to break through 2’ of ice and did no harm to the vessel.

In an additional interesting quote we have the President of the Royal Society, London. "It will without doubt have come to your Lordship's knowledge that a considerable change of climate, inexplicable at present to us, must have taken place in the Circumpolar Regions, by which the severity of the cold that has for centuries past enclosed the seas in the high northern latitudes in an impenetrable barrier of ice has been during the last two years, greatly abated. (This) affords ample proof that new sources of warmth have been opened and give us leave to hope that the Arctic Seas may at this time be more accessible than they have been for centuries past, and that discoveries may now be made in them not only interesting to the advancement of science but also to the future intercourse of mankind and the commerce of distant nations." President of the Royal Society, London, to the Admiralty, 20th November, 1817

Please take note of the date which was 191 years ago. For the entire piece, we invite you to go there yourself. If you are old enough to remember milk delivery, you may recall that in the depths of winter we were careful to retrieve the bottles from the front porch before they swelled and burst the cap. It demonstrates the capacity of a freezing substance occupying a greater volume. When the ice melts, the water loses volume just like the milk in the bottle. This is also demonstrated by the well known fact that floating icebergs have 90% of their volume below the water’s surface. This indicates both their buoyancy and how close they are to replicating the specific gravity of unfrozen water. For a simpler example, just put an ice cube in a glass of water. You can now appreciate the fallacy of increasing oceanic levels as the result of melting ice. This is a factor in “lead” (open water) development in Arctic climes. The swelling of the ice forms pressure ridges which often result in cracks and the water seeps (flows?) over. This is normal physics and carries absolutely no indication of a man made cause.

If your livelihood depends on multi billion dollar grants (annual federal budget $4 billion) to establish a false premise to further a political agenda then faux science comes easily. This is the case with many involved in Algore-ism. It is time to remind you that NOAA has difficulty predicting either a pleasurable or stormy outcome for your upcoming picnic or golf outing. However, they do expect you to buy into their cataclysmic predictions for the earth’s future, while they themselves refuse to acknowledge events of fifty years past.

In His abiding love,

Cecil Moon