Antarctic ‘Doomsday Glacier’ Is Really Doomsday for Climate Alarmism

A fake climate scare making headlines comes from researchers who say West Antarctica’s Thwaites glacier may soon collapse, raising sea levels by 6 feet or more over the next century. Alarmists are dubbing this the “Doomsday Glacier.” This is ironically true, as the fake climate scare of the Doomsday Glacier is really a doomsday for climate alarmism.

The Financial Times (FT) in an article titled, “Climate change: what Antarctica’s ‘doomsday glacier’ means for the planet,” writes, “if Thwaites goes, the knock-on effect across the western half of Antarctica would lead to between 2m and 3m of sea level rise… a rise that would be catastrophic for most coastal cities.”

The FT article implies climate change is behind the Thwaites glacier’s rate of asserted melting and instability, ignoring evidence to the contrary. I debunked that claim in a July 3 Climate Realism post in which I pointed out global satellite data showed no warming or cooling trend at the South Pole since measurements began in 1979. In addition, since 1998, ground based temperature measurements across Antarctica show the continent has cooled for 20 of the last 30 years. So how can global warming cause alleged instability of the Thwaites glacier? It simply cannot.

Throughout geologic history, West Antarctica is also referred to as Lesser Antarctica, being the smaller half of the continent. The ice there has been unstable, with many regions, including regions in an around the Thwaites glacier, underpinned by subsurface volcanic activity. Moreover, “During past interglacials, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has been completely removed,” states AntarcticGlaciers.org.

Even with any decline of the Thwaites glacier and other areas of West Antarctica, it is not even clear if Antarctica is adding to recent modest sea level rise. In 2015, NASA reported Antarctica as a whole was adding tens of thousands of tons of snow and ice each year in its interior. NASA wrote, “the Antarctic ice sheet showed a net gain of 112 billion tons of ice a year from 1992 to 2001. That net gain slowed to 82 billion tons of ice per year between 2003 and 2008.” As such, at least through 2008, Antarctica ice change was, on net, reducing the rate of global sea level rise.

Alarmists, ironically, point to other studies that they claim place the NASA findings in doubt. Regardless, Antarctica’s average temperatures range from -60 degrees C (-76 F) during winter to -20 C (-4 F) in summer. Accordingly, no meltdown of the Antarctic continent is in the offing.

The so-called Doomsday Glacier is really Doomsday Nothing – other than a Doomsday Illustration of the flawed Climate Delusion.