Antarctic Ice Mass — Trade Assets – Watts Up With That?

Transient Be aware by way of Kip Hansen — 6 October 2021

I’m engaged in a neighborhood schooling program that features a nice selection of local weather activists and local weather zealots in addition to individuals who’re simply curious and fascinated with bettering their neighborhood’s reaction to climate and local weather. Within the procedure, I took place to say in an internet coaching consultation that Antarctic Ice Mass has been expanding, no longer reducing over the previous couple of many years, correcting some extent made by way of the teacher.

The route trainer, a local weather activist and educator, took exception to this correction. I used to be, alternatively, assured in my place, despite the fact that I had no longer reviewed the problem for years — thus, used to be a bit of not sure of precisely what resources I used to be relying on. However, It’s not that i am the self-doubting type, so didn’t backpedal. I used to be requested to offer resources for my remark.

As with any issues local weather — details rely on one’s epistemological worths.

That is what I used to be in a position to report back to the instructors:

Have I discussed that just about the whole lot about Science subjects is sophisticated and ceaselessly advanced as smartly?

Antarctic Ice Mass is an instance.

Once I mentioned Antarctic Ice Mass has been expanding because the flip of the century, I used to be quoting a contemporary NASA reported in this NASA site web page: https://www.nasa.gov/function/goddard/nasa-study-mass-gains-of-antarctic-ice-sheet-greater-than-losses

The be taught used to be revealed in 2015. Actual science is all the time of the previous, and research like those can take years to do proper, thus they appear “outdated” however are in truth ceaselessly the most recent research to be had.

The be taught [ hyperlink to unique Zwally be taught ], used to be reported byNASA right here and quotes the be taught lead creator, Jay Zwally, as announcing:

“The excellent news is that Antarctica isn’t these days contributing to sea degree upward push, however is taking zero.23 millimeters in step with yr away,” Zwally mentioned. “However this may be dangerous information. If the zero.27 millimeters in step with yr of sea degree upward push attributed to Antarctica within the IPCC document isn’t truly coming from Antarctica, there will have to be every other contribution to sea degree upward push that isn’t accounted for.”

The NASA article in regards to the be taught [repeating the link] says: “NASA Learn about: Mass Positive aspects of Antarctic Ice Sheet More than Losses”

“Consistent with the brand new evaluation of satellite tv for pc information, the Antarctic ice sheet confirmed a internet acquire of 112 billion lots of ice a yr from 1992 to 2001. That internet acquire slowed   to [a gain of] 82 billion lots of ice in step with yr between 2003 and 2008.”

Now, right here’s the rub, as they are saying.  When one appears at NASA’s Necessary Indicators internet web page we’re handled to this slightly miserable graph of Antarctic Ice Mass losses:

The 2015 Zwally be taught — “the brand new evaluation of satellite tv for pc information, the Antarctic ice sheet” — displays exactly the other, GAINS  within the re-analysis by way of Zwally and his group as an alternative of the DECLINES proven within the Necessary Indicators graphic above.

Finding out a lot of these fundamental information conflicts takes actually weeks of journalistic analysis effort.  I’ve no longer  tackled this factor as of but — however were conscious about the conflicting data — all from NASA — for a number of years.

It isn’t truly  conceivable that each units of data are true and right kind.

I undoubtedly don’t know.  However as a result of NASA publishes opposite information, educators will have to no longer be making definitive statements about Antarctic Ice Mass, however slightly will have to obviously say “Some NASA research display Antarctica dropping Ice Mass and a few NASA research display it gaining Ice Mass.”

I whipped up this trade graph to turn each units of knowledge at the identical graph — GRACE from NASA Necessary Indicators and the positive aspects discovered by way of Zwally et al. (2015):

The graph above makes use of GRACE’s 2002 0 as a commonplace level — with Zwally’s 1992-2002 information to its left and 2002-2015 to the appropriate.

I’m conscious that Zwally (2015) used to be sharply contested by way of the standard ice mass consensus group — however by no means required correction. Zwally is these days indexed as being with the Cryospheric Sciences Laboratory, NASA Goddard House Flight Heart, Greenbelt, MD and the Earth Machine Science Interdisciplinary Heart, College of Maryland, Faculty Park, MD.

Zwally and his group have come again in 2021 with this peer-reviewed be taught:

Mass stability of the Antarctic ice sheet 1992–2016: reconciling effects from GRACE
gravimetry with ICESat, ERS1/2 and Envisat altimetry H. Jay Zwally et al. 29 March 2021 Cambridge College Press

Their newest evaluation seems like this:

One sees the seasonal variation obviously at this scale. Even though this newest evaluation displays a tiny -12 Gt annual loss, I doubt that it’s important given what will have to be a relatively massive +/- 1 SD (had it been proven). Even though the -12 Gt in step with yr used to be bodily and lasted all nine years from 2012, the cumulative overall 9 yr loss could be best 108 GT, a a long way cry from the NASA Necessary Indicators GRACE symbol’s minus 151 Gt in step with yr presented to most of the people as an indication of disastrous local weather alternate.

I might recognize any and all Ice Mass aficionados weighing in at the supply of the disconnect between those two NASA licensed Ice Mass calculations.

UPDATE: Reader John MacDonald identified that “One information merchandise lacking is the entire ice mass of Antarctic.” The most productive bet overall ice mass in Gt from the Wiki is 26.five million Gt.

# # # # #