The EPA Chief Said This, Not Me -- July 20, 2015; One One-Hundredth Of A Degree! You Have Got To Be Kidding --- And Yes, Arctic Ice Increased In 2013

When it rains, it pours. First, we have the reminder that NOAA fudged the temperature data all these years. Then we hear from the EPA itself that all the Obama global warming regulations will, at best, reduce global temperature by one-one hundredth of a degree.

Now we find out that the extent of Arctic ice actually increased in 2013 rather than decreased as we were previously led to believe. Everyone agrees. Arctic ice decreased in 2013 because we now have the Washington Post spin that we can't rely on data from one year to even let us question anthropogenic global warming. Here's the story:

One of the most obvious effects of global climate change is that it’s causing ice to melt all over the world, especially at the planet’s frozen poles. Ice losses have been observed for years now in glaciers and ice sheets, as well as in Arctic sea ice — the ice that floats on top of the ocean. In a confusing twist, though, new research published Monday is showing that there was a large increase in Arctic sea ice in 2013, rather than a decrease.

The study, published Monday in the journal Nature Geoscience, examines observations of sea ice volume between 2010 and 2014, derived from measurements taken by the European Space Agency’s CryoSat-2 satellite. These observations indicate that there was an unexpected increase in Arctic sea ice between 2012 and 2013, when sea ice volume increased by a whopping 41 percent — a result that “was really quite surprising,” says Rachel Tilling, a doctoral student at the University College London and lead author of the study.

The sudden increase meant that, overall, there was 33 percent more ice in 2013 and 25 percent more in 2014 compared to the average amount of sea ice that was present between 2010 and 2012. The researchers attribute the surprising increase to unusually cool conditions in 2013, which caused there to be 5 percent fewer “melting days” — warm days in the summer during which sea ice is actually melting — that year. (There are a certain number of days each summer, when temperatures are highest, that cause sea ice to melt — at least some of the ice then refreezes in the winter when temperatures start to cool back down again.)

Here's the spin:

The key thing to remember here is that conditions in 2013 were very unusual compared to the overall trend the Arctic has seen the last few decades. In fact, the authors point out that the cool conditions and fewer melting days observed in 2013 were more typical of conditions observed during the late 1990s. This means what happened in 2013 was an anomaly — an effect that is significantly different than the conditions that are usually observed. When looking at graphs that show changes in Arctic sea ice over the course of the last few decades, there’s still a definite downward trend.

Yes, very unusual: 21 years of no evidence of a warming trend.
 

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One One-Hundredth Of A Degree Because ... Hey, It Makes Us Feel Better

Scam:

EPA Chief Admits Obama Regs Have No Measurable Climate Impact: ‘One one-hundredth of a degree?’ EPA Chief McCarthy defends regs as ‘enormously beneficial’--

CHAIRMAN LAMAR SMITH: “On the Clean Power Plan, former Obama Administration Assistant Secretary Charles McConnell said at best it will reduce global temperature by only one one-hundredth of a degree Celsius. At the same time it’s going to increase the cost of electricity. That’s going to hurt the lowest income Americans the most. How do you justify such an expensive, burdensome, onerous rule that’s really not going to do much good and isn’t this all pain and no gain.

ADMINISTRATOR GINA MCCARTHY: “No sir, I don’t agree with you. If you look at the RIA we did, the Regulatory Impact Analysis you would see it’s enormously beneficial.

CHAIRMAN SMITH: “Do you consider one one-hundredth of a degree to be enormously beneficial?”

ADMINISTRATOR MCCARTHY: “The value of this rule is not measured in that way. It is measured in showing strong domestic action which can actually trigger global action to address what’s a necessary action to protect…” [Translation: It makes us feel good.]

CHAIRMAN SMITH: “Do you disagree with my one one-hundredth of a degree figure? Do you disagree with the one one-hundredth of a degree?”

ADMINISTRATOR MCCARTHY: “I’m not disagreeing that this action in and of itself will not make all the difference we need to address climate action, but what I’m saying is that if we don’t take action domestically we will never get started and we’ll never…”

CHAIRMAN SMITH: “But if you are looking at the results, the results can’t justify the cost and the burden that you’re imposing on the American people in my judgement.”

And yet Congress won't act.

By the way, remember those popsicle sticks I planted in the beach back in 2007 with millimeter markings to measure the rise in sea level. When I was in southern California this past month I went out to check on the sticks. Based on those readings, I can say that there has been no evidence of any sea level rise on Cabrillo Beach, San Pedro, south Los Angeles. For now, the huge dikes that are being proposed to protect the bullet train from the flooding ocean waters are not yet needed.