As I have reported many times in this space, Arctic ice is the planetary air conditioner, at least on this planet.
However, recent research based on the South Pole has been attracting the attention of scientists, including me. I still believe ice floating on the Arctic Ocean is the most important factor over which we have no control that affects habitat for life on Earth, including human life. However, the collapsing Antarctic ice fields are a cause for considerable concern. Given the rapidity with which Earth is warming, and the many factors contributing to this unprecedented event, we need ice and snow everywhere we can get it if life is to persist on this planet.
Corporate media articles published in the Southern Hemisphere’s 2024 spring and summer focused on the disappearing ice in Antarctica. On 22 November 2024, The Inertia published Antarctica Is the Canary in the Global Coal Mine, and Scientists are Terrified. I have mentioned the unscientific behavior of scientists responding to evidence with emotions, including fear. There’s no need to focus yet again on this unscientific behavior. The second story was posted on 5 December 2024 by ABC News in Australia and titled Satellite images reveal the total collapse of the Conger-Glenzer ice shelf in East Antarctica. These two articles indicate the gravity of the situation in Antarctica. They were preceded by a story published on 21 November 2024 by ABC News in Australia that focused on sea level rise resulting from the collapse of ice shelves in Antarctica. Titled Antarctic researchers warn of possible ‘catastrophic’ sea level rise within our lifetime in a group statement, this story reported on a recent gathering of scientists in Hobart, Australia. Called “the first such event in more than a decade,” the story indicated that “more than 450 researchers gathered … for the inaugural Australian Antarctic Research Conference.”
This latter story begins with a subsection titled “In short.” It includes two points: (1) Over the past week, more than 450 researchers gathered in Hobart for the inaugural Australian Antarctic Research Conference—the first such event in more than a decade; and (2) Early career researchers have issued a statement, warning urgent action is needed to prevent catastrophic sea level rise around the world. The next short subsection is titled “What’s next?” It provides the customary response from the “more than 450 researchers gathered” from around the world: “Scientists say it’s vital that societies reduce greenhouse gas emissions to limit the speed and severity of climate change.” I probably need not point out that none of the three articles mention the aerosol masking effect or the ongoing, unprecedented rate of environmental change.
When glaciers melt, the massive weight on the Earth’s crust reduces, and the crust bounces back in a process called isostatic rebound. This process can reactivate faults and lift pressure on magma chambers that feed volcanoes, thereby increasing seismic activity. As such, it indicates the relationship between melting ice and seismic activity, including volcanism.
The 5 December 2024 article in Australia’s ABC News includes mention of a peer-reviewed paper in the renowned Nature series. Published 3 December 2024 in Nature Geoscience, this paper is titled Multi-decadal collapse of East Antarctica’s Conger-Glenzer Ice Shelf. Written by 11 scholars, the Abstract tells the story: “Antarctica is currently losing net mass to the ocean primarily from West Antarctica and the Antarctic Peninsula, which together hold ~5.5 m of sea level rise potential. Yet, the East Antarctic Ice Sheet stores almost ten times more ice, and its evolution contributes significant uncertainty to sea level rise projections, mainly due to insufficient process-scale observations. Here we report the collapse of the Conger–Glenzer Ice Shelf in East Antarctica that culminated with its March 2022 disintegration. We use a combination of observations to document its evolution over four stages spanning 25 years, starting 1997–2000 when small calving events isolated it from the Shackleton Ice Shelf. In 2011, it retreated from a central pinning point, followed by relative calving quiescence for a decade; the remaining ~1,200 km2 of the ice shelf disintegrated over a few days in mid-March 2022. These observations of the Conger–Glenzer Ice Shelf collapse shed light on the processes involved, in particular, the impacts of ocean and atmospheric warming and extreme weather events. Ice shelf collapses, rare in the satellite record so far, have substantial implications for the stability of the Antarctic ice sheet and its contribution to future sea level rise.”
The take-home message from these three corporate media stories and the article in Nature Geoscience is one of considerable concern. Earth is warming faster than at any time in planetary history, as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change more than six years ago. In addition, the ongoing loss of ice and snow is both a post hoc report that we have lost collective control over the worsening situation and a harbinger of continued warming in our future.
Perhaps I’m incorrect about the bad news I constantly report. Perhaps the designed-to-fail IPCC has failed in the wrong direction, and they are not to be trusted with reports about abrupt, irreversible climate change. In any event, a line from Bruce Willis comes to mind as he played John McClane in the 1990 film Die Hard 2: Die Harder: “I hate it when I’m right.”
I not only hate it when I’m correct, I also hate it when the IPCC and the peer-reviewed evidence they report are correct. I have been incorrect with my previous reporting based in peer-reviewed articles. If we are fortunate—and here, I’m referring to all life on Earth—I will continue to be incorrect. As with John McClane in Die Harder, “I hate it when I’m right.”
Author
"Dr. Guy McPherson is an internationally recognized speaker, award-winning scientist, and the world’s leading authority on abrupt climate change leading to near-term human extinction. He is professor emeritus at the University of Arizona, where he taught and conducted research for twenty years. His published works include 14 books and hundreds of scholarly articles. Dr. McPherson has been featured on TV and radio and in several documentary films. He is a blogger, cultural critic, and co-host of his own radio show “Nature Bats Last.” Dr. McPherson speaks to general audiences across the globe, and to scientists, students, educators, and not-for-profit and business leaders who seek their best available options when confronting Earth’s cataclysmic changes." source
Latest Peer-Reviewed Journal Article: McPherson, Guy R., Beril Sirmack, and Ricardo Vinuesa. March 2022. Environmental thresholds for mass-extinction events. Results in Engineering (2022), doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rineng.2022.100342.
