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There's been a massive recovery in Antarctica sea ice this year. But you won't hear about it in our Net Zero-obsessed mainstream media, says Chris 
Morrison.

Massive Recovery in Antarctica Sea Ice Unreported by Net Zero-Obsessed Mainstream Media
BY CHRIS MORRISON 10 JANUARY 2025 9:00 AM

Remember all that alarmist guff about Antarctica sea ice recording lower levels in winter a couple of years ago? Georgina Rannard of the BBC wrote a 
story headed 'Antarctic sea ice at "mind-blowing" low alarms experts', while Clive Cookson at the Financial Times gave us his suggestion that the 
area "faces a catastrophic cascade of extreme environmental events... that will affect the climate around the world". The scare story caravan has 
moved on to pastures new these days, not unrelated to the fact that at the end of 2024 the extent of sea ice in Antarctica was roughly the same as 
the 1981 to 2010 average. According to the U.S.-based National Snow and Ice Data Centre (NSIDC), 'this provides a sharp illustration of the high 
variability of Antarctica sea ice extent". It does indeed, and it also provides us with a classic case study of how a short-term natural variation, 
well understood by many scientists, is weaponised by activists in science, politics and journalism to induce mass climate psychosis with the aim of 
promoting the political Net Zero lunacy.


The less hysterical NSIDC would appear to be the same NSIDC that published a paper updated as recently as last July asking, "has Antarctic sea ice 
hit a breaking point?". As the Daily Sceptic has reported in the past, Antarctica has been a bit of a disappointment to the climate cry-baby crowd 
since it has shown little warming for at least 70 years. "Now scientists are eager to know if climate change has finally caught up with Antarctica 
sea ice," notes the NSIDC paper. Helpful as ever in the mission of preaching climate Armageddon, Rannard of the BBC provides us with an "experts 
say" quote: "Without its ice cooling the planet, Antarctica could transform from Earth's refrigerator to a radiator."

Interestingly, the second author on the Rannard story was 'data' specialist Becky Dale who subsequently enrolled for the six-month sabbatical run by 
the Green Blob-funded Oxford Climate Journalism Network. This is a crash course in climate catastrophisation reporting. Previous participants have 
been asked to write about how fruits such as mangos are less tasty than in the past due to climate change. A recent speaker has called for "fines and 
imprisonment" for those expressing scepticism about "well supported" science.

The 'mind-blowing' quote that made headlines around the world has been attributed to Dr. Walter Meier of the NSIDC. Dr Meier, reported Rannard and 
Dale, "is not optimistic that the sea ice will recover to a significant degree". At the height of the scare, Meier claimed the 2023 winter dip was 
far outside anything we've seen. Again as we have reported in the Daily Sceptic, Dr. Meier seems a tad forgetful of the past work he has done on the 
obvious cyclical nature of Antarctica sea ice. Ten years earlier, Meier was part of a science team that unlocked the secrets of early Nimbus 
satellite photographs. These revealed significant Antarctica sea ice variability in the 1960s including a high in 1964, not seen again until 2014, 
and a low in 1966, similar to the recent dip. At the time, Meier commented that extreme ice highs and lows "are not that unusual".

During November and December 2024, mid to late spring in the Southern Hemisphere, the daily Antarctica sea ice loss was 140,000 square kilometres 
compared to 165,000 sq kms for the 1981-2010 average. By the end of December the sea ice extent was roughly around the average recorded in the 30 
years to 2010. Now it seems the NSIDC is a re-convert to stressing long-term trends, noting that the 2016-2024 timeline "is too short to definitely 
determine that a regime shift has occurred".

Perhaps the NSIDC ought to mark the card of the British Antarctica Survey (BAS) team, who as late as May last year issued a press release claiming 
that the 2023 lows would be a one in 2,000 year event without climate change. Needless to say, this scaremongering twaddle was the product of a 
computer model. The model told the BAS that such "evidence" adds to existing observational evidence 'that the last few years' low sea ice could 
signal a lasting regime shift in the Southern Ocean". More BS than BAS, the uncharitable might conclude.

Needless to say, the recent cyclical recovery in Antarctica sea ice has been ignored by mainstream media. It's been a bad period for alarmists, 
coming so soon after years of record growth of coral on the Great Barrier Reef put an end to yet another profitable supply of constant alarums. 
Thankfully the BBC finds ever more obscure ways to keep the fast-fading Net Zero fantasy alive. Perhaps not as headline-grabbing as ice and coral, 
but it appears that a bumble bee has been sighted recently in Scotland. It was claimed that critters were "nest building" and this was due to climate 
change. Britannica does not find such a sighting very surprising, noting that in winter when the temperature outside rises above 10°C, bees will 
leave the hive momentarily to relieve themselves of waste. Possibly with a cheery wave and a "back in three, going for a wee".

All of the confusion - designed to constantly promote Net Zero - arises because narrative-driven commentators assign most weather and climate changes 
to humans adding trace amounts of a trace gas into the atmosphere. It leaves little room for explaining the role of natural variation in the changing 
climate. Antarctica has not warmed for at least 70 years and a recent paper found that the summer temperature had shown a dramatic 1°C fall from 
1977-1999, followed by a pause since the turn of the century. Another paper found that Antarctica sea ice extent had slowly increased since the start 
of continuous satellite recordings in 1979.

This case study of the recent hyped sea ice alarm in Antarctica shows how the scientific process is torn up and ridiculous claims, often produced by 
computer models, are made on the flimsiest of short-term evidence and observation. Lectures on disregarding short-term variations only resume when 
normal, and often cyclical, trends reappear and follow inconvenient directions.

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December:

Ireland's Extreme Cold Warnings Extended

Heavy Snow Buries Japan

Northern Hemisphere Snow Trackers

UK Braces For -20c (-4f)

Ideology Above Energy Security

Finland To -38.9c (-38f)

Madhya Pradesh Freezes

Southern US States Expecting Heaviest Snow In Years

Kashmir's Cold Kills

Record Freeze Grips Pakistan

Depleting European Gas Reserves

Michael Mann Ordered To Pay $530,820.21 In Long-Running Lawsuit

UK Shivers At -13.3c (8f)

Cold Winter Exacerbates Romania Gas Crisis

Arctic Blast Continues Across The U.S.

Rare Snow Sweeps Sahara Desert

Europe Plunges Below -30C (-22F), Sees Heavy Snow

U.S. Endures Record Cold

Rare Tashkurgan Snow

Global Temperature Nudges Lower

Thailand Freezes

Record Snow In Japan

Parts Of Morocco See Snow For First Time In 50 Years

Cattle Futures Hit Record High Amid Looming Arctic Blast

Three-Day Snow Warning For UK

Extreme Snowfall Paralyzes Northern Norway

Siberia Nears -60c (-76f)

Record Snows For Uttarakhand

"Dangerous Cold"

Snow Reaches Athens

Delhi Plunges

U.S. To Freeze

Arctic Ice Up 26%

Dal Lake Freezes Over

Extreme Snow Roundup

Antarctic Sea Ice Recovering Quite Nicely, Thank You

Murcia's Record Lows

Red Alert In Bidar Amid India's Cold Wave

Italian Alps Hit -31.1c (-24f)

U.S. Cold-Deaths Double Since 1999-The Establishment Blames Global Warming

Japan's Record-Breaking Snowfall

BBC Still Pushing Polar Bear Propaganda

White Christmas For Europe

Bengaluru's Record Cold

Xinjiang Plummets To Record -42.5c

Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Higher Now Than In 1979

Bhopal Breaks 58-Year Record

Vostok At -40c (Again)

The Truth About Iceberg A-68

Extreme Cold And Heavy Snow Slam Finland

Europe Wind Power A "Shit Situation," Says Minister

Winter Weather Grips U.S.

India Reels

Vostok Below -40c

Snow Hits Malaga, Spain

Cold Wave Sweeps Pakistan

Canadian Prairies Near -40c

Texans Warned Of "Extreme Cold"

Antarctic Sea Ice Nearing 1979-1990 Average

"Excellent" Early-Season Snow Across The Alps

Delhi's Record Cold

Chilly Waters Stun Record Number Of Turtles

Record Cold Grips Indore

Asia Chills

Record Snowfall In Midwest

Another Round Of Arctic Air To Hit Much Of North America

Mumbai's Lowest Temp In A Decade

Northern Hemisphere Cold

Russia In The Freezer

India Chills

Northern India's Big Freeze Intensifies

Cold Wave Enters Vietnam

Freezing Lows And Heavy Snows Hit U.S., More To Come

Kashmir Freezes At -18c (-0.4f)

Below Average Antarctic Plateau

Another Round Of Lake-Effect Snow

Cold Waves Lifting Natural Gas Prices

Snow Returns To Scotland And Wider Europe

Global Temperature Tumbles

Antarctic Sea Ice Recovery

Severe Cold Hits Pakistan

Florida Set For Record Cold

Snowy November At Red Mountain

U.S. Battered By Cold And Record Snow

Parts Of Ontario Under A Meter Of Snow

Early-December To Deliver Another Burial To Europe