AlleyCat
2024-05-21 22:24:37 UTC
New Study Destroys 'Doomsday Glacier' Narrative... Today's Ice 8 Times Than Last 8000 Years
Scientists have determined there is no measured data to "indicate thicker than present ice after 4ka" at a
West Antarctic study site near the Thwaites "Doomsday" Glacier. Any ice melt observed today is thus
"reversible"... and natural.
The Thwaites, Pine Island, and Pope Glaciers in the Amundsen Sea region of West Antarctica are all situated
on a hotbed of active geothermal heat flux, which has led to anomalously high regional melt rates. Indeed,
"there is a conspicuously large amount of heat from Earth's interior beneath the ice" in the very locations
where the ice melt is most pronounced.
While the Earth's crust has an average thickness of about 40 km, in the Thwaites-Pine Island-Pope Glacier
region the anomalously thinner crust (10 to 18 km) more readily exposes the base of the ice to 580°C tectonic
trenches. The "elevated geothermal heat flow band is interpreted as caused by an anomalously thin crust
underlain by a hot mantle," which is exerting a "profound influence on the flow dynamics of the Western
Antarctic Ice Sheet" (Dziadek et al., 2021).
Despite the established natural causes of ice melt this region (see also Schroeder et al., 2014, Loose et
al., 2018), it has nonetheless become commonplace for those who believe human behaviors are the climate's
"control knob" to claim the melting of the Thwaites Glacier - dubbed the "Doomsday Glacier" by alarmists - is
caused by humans driving gasoline-powered trucks or using natural gas for energy.
But a new study categorically undermines claims that the ice melt occurring in the Thwaites-Pine Island-Pope
Glacier region is unusual, unprecedented, or unnatural.
The thickness of the ice sheet at this Amundsen Sea region site averages about 40 m today.
Scientists (Balco et al., 2023) have used cosmogenic-nuclide concentrations and bedrock cores to determine
the ice sheet is presently around 8 times thicker than it was for most of the last 8,000 years of the
Holocene, when the ice thickness ranged between 2 m and 7 m.
"...the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) at a site between Thwaites and Pope glaciers was at least 35m thinner
than present in the past several thousand years"
Image Source: Balco et al., 2023
Even more interesting, the scientists found there are "no exposure-age data in the Amundsen Sea region
indicating thicker than present ice after 4?ka," suggesting that the present thickness is close to the most
pronounced it has been over the last 4,000 years.
Any ice melt from this region, then, is not only natural, but the opposite of "unprecedented." The scientists
thus characterize modern changes to the West Antarctic ice sheet as "reversible" instead.
=====
May:
Frozen Turkey
Rare May Snow Hits South Korea
Cold Front To Drop Snow On Aussie Alps
Chile's Capital In The Midst Of "Longest Cold Spell Ever Recorded"
South America Braces For Antarctic Outbreak
Australia's Coldest April Since 2015
Heavy Mid-May Snow Hits Turkey
Slovakia's Record May Cold
First 10-Days Of May In European-Russia The Coldest In History
Unprecedented May Snow Hits Moscow
Record May Cold Sweeps European-Russia
Russian Grain Growing Regions To Declare An Emergency
Record May Cold In Japan
"Patagonia Is Absolutely Buried"
Rare Snow Blankets Chile's Capital
Snowbird, Utah Surpasses 600 Inches
Alaska's Near-Record Snow Season Also Means "Big Fire Danger"
Australia Shivers
Spring Snow Continues To Build On Europe's Mountains As Winter's Cold Lingers
Mongolia's Snowiest Winter Since 1975
Much Of Russia Returned To Winter
Heavy Snow Hits Argentina A Month Early
Spain Chills
"Best May Powder Days In Memory" At Palisades
Cold Antarctic Coast
Heavy May Snow Hits the Sierra Nevada
Concordia Below -70C (-94F) for 10-Days
Cooling In The Tropical Pacific
Vostok's Coldest April Since 1999
Global Temperature Expected To Fall In May
Tonga Eruption Responsible For Toasty 2023 (nyah nyah!)
Missing Spring In Jackson, WY
Cool Summer Forecast For Much Of The Northern Hemisphere
Record May Cold Sweeps India
Rare April Cold Hits Antarctica (-112F)
Heavy Spring Snow Traps 1,000 Vehicles In Northern India
Wild Swings In New Jersey
The Wind Didn't Blow As Hard In 2023
Scientists have determined there is no measured data to "indicate thicker than present ice after 4ka" at a
West Antarctic study site near the Thwaites "Doomsday" Glacier. Any ice melt observed today is thus
"reversible"... and natural.
The Thwaites, Pine Island, and Pope Glaciers in the Amundsen Sea region of West Antarctica are all situated
on a hotbed of active geothermal heat flux, which has led to anomalously high regional melt rates. Indeed,
"there is a conspicuously large amount of heat from Earth's interior beneath the ice" in the very locations
where the ice melt is most pronounced.
While the Earth's crust has an average thickness of about 40 km, in the Thwaites-Pine Island-Pope Glacier
region the anomalously thinner crust (10 to 18 km) more readily exposes the base of the ice to 580°C tectonic
trenches. The "elevated geothermal heat flow band is interpreted as caused by an anomalously thin crust
underlain by a hot mantle," which is exerting a "profound influence on the flow dynamics of the Western
Antarctic Ice Sheet" (Dziadek et al., 2021).
Despite the established natural causes of ice melt this region (see also Schroeder et al., 2014, Loose et
al., 2018), it has nonetheless become commonplace for those who believe human behaviors are the climate's
"control knob" to claim the melting of the Thwaites Glacier - dubbed the "Doomsday Glacier" by alarmists - is
caused by humans driving gasoline-powered trucks or using natural gas for energy.
But a new study categorically undermines claims that the ice melt occurring in the Thwaites-Pine Island-Pope
Glacier region is unusual, unprecedented, or unnatural.
The thickness of the ice sheet at this Amundsen Sea region site averages about 40 m today.
Scientists (Balco et al., 2023) have used cosmogenic-nuclide concentrations and bedrock cores to determine
the ice sheet is presently around 8 times thicker than it was for most of the last 8,000 years of the
Holocene, when the ice thickness ranged between 2 m and 7 m.
"...the West Antarctic Ice Sheet (WAIS) at a site between Thwaites and Pope glaciers was at least 35m thinner
than present in the past several thousand years"
Image Source: Balco et al., 2023
Even more interesting, the scientists found there are "no exposure-age data in the Amundsen Sea region
indicating thicker than present ice after 4?ka," suggesting that the present thickness is close to the most
pronounced it has been over the last 4,000 years.
Any ice melt from this region, then, is not only natural, but the opposite of "unprecedented." The scientists
thus characterize modern changes to the West Antarctic ice sheet as "reversible" instead.
=====
May:
Frozen Turkey
Rare May Snow Hits South Korea
Cold Front To Drop Snow On Aussie Alps
Chile's Capital In The Midst Of "Longest Cold Spell Ever Recorded"
South America Braces For Antarctic Outbreak
Australia's Coldest April Since 2015
Heavy Mid-May Snow Hits Turkey
Slovakia's Record May Cold
First 10-Days Of May In European-Russia The Coldest In History
Unprecedented May Snow Hits Moscow
Record May Cold Sweeps European-Russia
Russian Grain Growing Regions To Declare An Emergency
Record May Cold In Japan
"Patagonia Is Absolutely Buried"
Rare Snow Blankets Chile's Capital
Snowbird, Utah Surpasses 600 Inches
Alaska's Near-Record Snow Season Also Means "Big Fire Danger"
Australia Shivers
Spring Snow Continues To Build On Europe's Mountains As Winter's Cold Lingers
Mongolia's Snowiest Winter Since 1975
Much Of Russia Returned To Winter
Heavy Snow Hits Argentina A Month Early
Spain Chills
"Best May Powder Days In Memory" At Palisades
Cold Antarctic Coast
Heavy May Snow Hits the Sierra Nevada
Concordia Below -70C (-94F) for 10-Days
Cooling In The Tropical Pacific
Vostok's Coldest April Since 1999
Global Temperature Expected To Fall In May
Tonga Eruption Responsible For Toasty 2023 (nyah nyah!)
Missing Spring In Jackson, WY
Cool Summer Forecast For Much Of The Northern Hemisphere
Record May Cold Sweeps India
Rare April Cold Hits Antarctica (-112F)
Heavy Spring Snow Traps 1,000 Vehicles In Northern India
Wild Swings In New Jersey
The Wind Didn't Blow As Hard In 2023