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Media Falsely Claim Antarctica On Brink Of Climate Doom, Ignore Contrary Data

Why abrupt Antarctic 'climate shifts' aren't new or necessarily catastrophic.

A recent CBS News article, "Abrupt Antarctic climate shifts could lead to 'catastrophic consequences for generations, 'experts 
warn," claims that Antarctica is on the brink of irreversible collapse due to climate change, warning that sea levels could rise by 
meters and that "catastrophic consequences for generations" are looming. 

This is false or, at best, deeply misleading.

The actual data and history of Antarctic ice show that "abrupt changes" are neither unprecedented nor a reason to panic. Natural 
variability and cyclical shifts are being ignored in favor of sensational headlines pushing the increasingly untenable climate 
crisis narrative.

CBS was not alone in pushing the Antarctic climate crisis narrative.

On August 21,2025, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) joined the chorus of media outlets with alarming headlines warning 
of a pending ice collapse, publishing a report claiming Antarctica is undergoing "rapid, self-perpetuating changes" that are 
"potentially irreversible."

Each of the reports cited a new Nature review led by Professor Nerilie Abram as the source of the information for their alarming 
articles.

ABC's article presents Antarctica as being in a state of runaway decline, with imminent threats to emperor penguins and global sea 
levels, parroting language from the Abram paper as if it were an observed fact, rather than the speculative synthesis of research 
papers that the Nature study cites.

CBS, ABC, and other media outlets are covering this story as if a tipping point is upon us-but a closer look at the evidence 
reveals otherwise.

CBS News warns:

Abrupt and potentially irreversible changes in Antarctica driven by climate change could lift global oceans by meters and lead to 
'catastrophic consequences for generations, 'scientists warned Wednesday. ... After increasing slightly during the first 35 years 
that satellite data was available, Antarctic sea-ice cover plunged dramatically over the last decade.

Australia's ABC News, meanwhile, uncritically repeats Abram's claims and describes the Antarctic as "rapidly, self-perpetuating" on 
the cusp of collapse, while offering little discussion of data, leaning instead on worst-case modeling and literature reviews.

Antarctic data and an examination of its history show that such events have happened previously, long before anyone was worried 
about human-caused climate change, and they are not self-perpetuating but rather seem cyclical in nature.

The CBS article claims that "Antarctic sea ice cover plunged dramatically over the last decade," citing a "regime shift" since 
2014. ABC News, echoing the same theme, refers to a sudden and supposedly "irreversible" decline.

But both articles omit key facts, among them:

The "abrupt" decline follows decades of expansion. Satellite measurements of Antarctic sea ice began in late 1978. For most of the 
next 36 years, Antarctic sea ice was stable or increasing, setting multiple record highs between 2007 and 2014. In October 2014, 
the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) reported: "Antarctic sea-ice extent set a record high for the third straight year." 
This expansion occurred for more than 30 years during the period when the Earth was warming, contradicting claims that warming 
inevitably reduces Antarctic sea ice.
The recent sharp declines since 2016 are real, but as the most robust satellite records show, these represent a regime shift within 
a variable system-not evidence of permanent or "runaway" collapse as one recent paper detailed.
Evidence of Antarctica's history shows that natural variability dominates changes in Antarctica. Longer reconstructions, stretching 
back to 1905, confirm that Antarctic sea-ice has experienced periods of large growth and subsequent declines over the past century. 
A 2020 study demonstrated that natural variability, including the influence of atmospheric and oceanic circulation, has likely 
played a role in any recent changes, as it has driven such changes in the past.

As important as all this is, concern for the recent decline in sea ice is largely misplaced since, as even CBS news acknowledged in 
its story that "loating sea ice does not significantly add to sea level when it melts... "

As a result, neither the 'record-setting' expansion of sea ice spanning the late 20th and early 21st century nor the recent decline 
significantly affects sea levels.

Perhaps that's why the latest stories tried to tie the sea ice decline to rising seas indirectly, saying the sea ice retreat, "... 
does replace white surfaces that reflect almost all of the sun's energy back into space with deep blue water, which absorbs the 
same amount instead."

The problem here is, there is no evidence that the earlier multidecade expansion of sea ice or the recent decline has a causal 
connection to ice growth or expansion on mainland Antarctica, the latter of which could impact sea levels.

Indeed, the record indicates that for some of the period when sea ice was expanding, Antarctica was losing mass, and now, while it 
is in decline, Antarctica is gaining ice on net, reducing sea level rise.

Shifting focus from sea ice to Antarctica's mainland, the CBS and ABC News shift attention to recent ice losses on the West 
Antarctic ice sheet and, in particular, the declining Thwaites glacier.

When discussing ice sheets, both outlets repeat claims that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet has crossed a point of no return. What 
they fail to mention is that West Antarctica sits atop a tectonic rift system with elevated geothermal heat flux, which drives 
melting from below, regardless of atmospheric conditions.

In short, subsurface volcanic activity or heating from tectonic shifts is melting the region's ice from below, and causing 
increased flow into the sea.

Indeed, Direct borehole measurements, aeromagnetic surveys, and radar-based research confirm anomalously high heat flow in the 
region from beneath the mass.

This subglacial influence helps explain why areas like Amundsen and Thwaites behave differently from the stable East Antarctic.

Also, the northern Antarctic Peninsula, which is frequently highlighted for its instability, extends north of the Antarctic Circle 
into sub-Antarctic latitudes. Its climate and dynamics cannot be generalized to the rest of the continent, according to NASA Earth 
Observatory in 2014.

Climate Realism has previously discussed the causes and consequences of ice loss on the Antarctic peninsula and in the West 
Antarctic multiple times here and here, for example, in each case debunking a media claim that humans are behind the loss.

Antarctica's ice loss is important, CBS and ABC tell us, because the Antarctic Ice Sheet's collapse could "raise sea levels by 
meters," threatening "hundreds of millions."

But the actual rate of global sea level rise, measured by satellites and tide gauges, is about three millimeters per year, as 
detailed in Climate at a Glance: Sea Level Rise. At this rate, it would take 333 years to reach even a single meter of rise.

The idea of meters of sea level rise by 2100 is rooted in computer models, not observation. Even the Intergovernmental Panel on 
Climate Change (IPCC) concedes that melting the East Antarctic Ice Sheet would require thousands of years and temperature increases 
far beyond any plausible scenario this century:

Loss of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) is very unlikely over this century and beyond under scenarios of greenhouse gas 
emissions considered in this report. Complete loss of the EAIS would require sustained global warming significantly above the 
levels projected for this century, and would take thousands of years.

Putting the supposed amount of Antarctic glacier loss in context is important because, as a percentage of the continent's total ice 
volume, recent reported losses from the continent are minuscule, contrary to media hype.

See the figure below, as presented at Climate at a Glance: Antarctic Ice Melt.
Figure: (click to enlarge) Comparison of satellite data for Antarctic ice mass loss. Cumulative ice mass loss on the left and that 
same data compared to the total mass of ice on the right. Data source: http://imbie.org. Graphs originally by Willis Eschenbach, 
adapted and annotated by Anthony Watts.

Describing the ice changes in Antarctica as "irreversible" or "runaway" is nothing more than alarming speculation that ignores 
evidence to the contrary.

CBS, ABC, and the other mainstream media outlets touting the study's warnings about the future also ignore the fact that, contrary 
to the implication of the study, Antarctica is actually gaining ice at present and has for the past couple of years.

As discussed at Climate Change Weekly, in late April and early May, mainstream media outlets ran dozens of stories discussing the 
findings of a recent study that showed Antarctica's ice mass was growing. The outlets called the ice and snow gain "astonishing," 
"surprising," and "shock" and said it "startled the scientific community."

That's right, recent research shows that Antarctica has not warmed over the past seven decades and that the vast bulk of Antarctica 
experienced substantial ice growth in the past couple of years, reversing the decline reported in Nature that ABC, CBS, and other 
outlets are writing about.

Glacial melt, which had been contributing to sea level rise, reversed itself over a period of three years, adding mass and cutting 
Antarctica's contribution to sea level rise.

Any reporting that omits the physics, history, and current trends is incomplete and misleading. And any story that blames global 
warming for glacial melt in Antarctica and subsequent sea level rise when the continent has not experienced warming and glaciers on 
the whole are growing and reducing sea level rise is just false.

Both ABC and CBS also point to emperor penguin breeding failures as a result of climate change, implying an existential threat 
across the species.

Yet the 2025 study making these claims conducted a regional and local survey of selected colonies from 2009 to 2024, reporting a 22 
percent decline in those specific locations.

It didn't look at the health of emperor penguin colonies across the Antarctic as a whole. The authors themselves specifically 
cautioned that their results may not represent the entire Antarctic coastline-a vital caveat that ABC and CBS's stories lack.

With emperor penguins living for decades, a 15-year record is simply too short to establish population trajectories. These penguins 
have survived warm and cold phases across the Holocene. To suggest continent-wide extinction risk by 2100 is not supported by the 
available evidence.

In the end, history shows that the expansion and contraction of Antarctic sea ice are natural features of a highly variable system. 
Short-term losses are not proof of a "runaway" tipping point; rather, they are well within known ranges of natural variability.

CBS, ABC, and other media outlets are constructing a narrative of Antarctic collapse by cherry-picking short-term declines, 
ignoring decades of stability and increase, omitting key physical context, and leaning on speculative reviews. Climate Realism has 
factually debunked similar media scare stories in the past here and here.

The actual Antarctic observational record reveals a dynamic system-one that expands and contracts, shaped by natural variability, 
oceanic and atmospheric cycles, and unique geographic barriers.

The catastrophic claims ABC and CBS are parroting are not only unsupported, they fly in the face of decades of data and scientific 
understanding.

Had the mainstream media shown a little investigative curiosity, it would have questioned the recent study's findings, since the 
evidence clearly shows Antarctic "climate shifts" are not a harbinger of doom but another chapter in a long story of natural 
change.


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September:

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Europe's "Hell Summer" Never Arrived
U.S. To Hold Cold For Weeks
Norway's Hydro Shortfall Puts Britain At Risk

Snow Piles Up In The Australian Alps, Even The Capitals
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Global Wildfire Area Down 30% Since 2002

More Record Lows Sweep U.S.
Canadian Arctic Slips Straight Into Winter
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Climate Central Caught Hiding Data

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OK With Record Summer Cold
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Early U.S. Cold To Impact 200 Million
Summer Snow In The Carpathians
Australia Forecast 3 Feet
Andes Hammered: Five Feet of Snow in Five Days at Valle Nevado