They did a potted summary of this shock-horror-catastrophic-climate-change-we're-all-doomed-story on Radio 4 this morning, in which they mentioned en passant that Antarctic Ice had increased in volume over the past thirty years, which appears to be true.
The BBC watered this down in the online article as follows:
The Antarctic Peninsula - the strip of land that points towards the southern tip of South America - has warmed by about 3C over the last 50 years, the fastest rise seen anywhere in the southern hemisphere, according to the report.
But the rest of the continent has remained largely immune from the global trend of rising temperatures. Indeed, the continent's largest portion, East Antarctica, appears to have cooled, bringing a 10% increase in the sea ice extent since 1980.
Ho hum.
Tuesday, 1 December 2009
BBC Watch
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8 comments:
Which should, of course, start
"The volcanic Antarctic Peninsula, the small part of Antactica that points ..."
Ah .. dear Richard Black .. l can't say back to his old 'we're all doomed' rhetoric as he never leaves it.
l wonder if he ever reads the comments on his blog? Somehow l doubt it.
When will these dim fuckers learn? The fact (if fact it be) that the ice in E Antarctica has got thicker need not mean that it's got colder. That's a quite distinct question. Maybe it has - I don't know. But it needn't have. If you cool a slab of ice from - let us say - minus 30C to minus 40C, it gets no thicker. To get it thicker you'd need some bloody snow to fall on it, wouldn't you? Wankers!
D, that's another theory - slightly warmer damper atmosphere = more snow falling in Antarctic. Making things self-regulating.
But they didn't say it had got thicker. They said it had increased in volume. It could have got thinner, yet increased in area. Also they were talking about sea ice. Floating ice (sea ice) gets thicker as the temperature drops as more of the water underneath it freezes. This is why you get a thicker layer of ice on a pond with a colder frost.
Not that I'm defending the Beeb - another piece on Radio 4 this morning about the "stolen" e-mails. Nothing about their content, no suggestion of any malfeasance by the UEA, it was all a plot by evil sceptics (a word that now means "heretics", it seems) to affect the gathering of the elders in Copenhagen.
As for the North Pole, Terry Wogan is getting a bit uppity as he approaches retirement. On his Monday morning Radio 2 show he slipped in a comment about how even if Arctic sea ice Was melting it would not result in rising sea levels " but they are scientists aren't they, won't they know that too ? " cheeky Terry but the Beeb can't touch you now.
I agree that the current TV licencing arrangement is unjust and nothing short of theft. If you really feel strongly about this, why not sign the e-petition to scrap it completely. It can be found on 10 Downing street's official petition web site page.
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