Another Epic ClimateFail

Another Epic ClimateFail

by Steven Hayward in Climate

I’ve had fun in the past pointing out the following passage from the Monthly Weather Review of November 1922:

“The Arctic seems to be warming up. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers who sail the seas about Spitzbergen and the eastern Arctic all point to a radical change in climatic conditions, and hitherto unheard-of high temperatures in that part of the earth’s surface. . . .

“Ice conditions were exceptional. In fact, so little ice has never before been noted. . . . Many old landmarks are so changed as to be unrecognizable. Where formerly great masses of ice were found, there are now often moraines, accumulations of earth and stones. At many points where glaciers formerly extended far into the sea they have entirely disappeared. The change in temperature has also brought about great change in the flora and fauna of the Arctic.”

Here’s an image of the actual story:



Today comes a similar report from the UK-based Register newspaper: “1930s photos show Greenland glaciers retreating faster than today”:

Recently unearthed photographs taken by Danish explorers in the 1930s show glaciers in Greenland retreating faster than they are today, according to researchers.

  

The photos in question were taken by the seventh Thule Expedition to Greenland led by Dr Knud Rasmussen in 1932. The explorers were equipped with a seaplane, which they used to take aerial snaps of glaciers along the Arctic island’s coasts.

After the expedition returned the photographs were used to make maps and charts of the area, then placed in archives in Denmark where they lay forgotten for decades. Then, in recent years, international researchers trying to find information on the history of the Greenland glaciers stumbled across them.

Taken together the pictures show clearly that glaciers in the region were melting even faster in the 1930s than they are today, according to Professor Jason Box, who works at the Byrd Polar Research Center at Ohio State University.

 http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/06/another-epic-climatefail.php