Climate change contrarians cite a recent article on the stability of the East Antarctic ice sheet which they claim casts doubt on the scope and intensity of global warming. However, they neglect to mention that the same article shows, not surprisingly, the unique stability results from the sheet's mountainous location in the coldest region on Earth. This localized resistance to melting does not alter the fact that accelerated warming is now occurring elsewhere on a global scale. (Search “Low Antarctic continental climate sensitivity due to high ice sheet orography” and “Climate change: Current warming 'unparalleled' in 2,000 years.”)

Contrarians habitually commit the logical fallacy of suppressed evidence. They cherry-pick talking points and fail to address evidence that reveals their biases. For example, they don't tell us Antarctica is losing 250 billion tons of ice annually. They don't tell us the rate of loss of ice from the West Antarctic ice sheet (at a lower elevation) has increased six-fold since 1979. (Search “What’s Driving Antarctica’s Meltdown?”) They don't tell us there is preliminary evidence that East Antarctica's ice shelves are also now melting. (Search “East Antarctic ice shelves melting at surprising pace, study suggests.”) And, they don't tell us the Antarctic Peninsula, among the fastest warming regions on Earth, hit a record high temperature last year. (Search “New record for Antarctic continent reported.”) Like conspiracy theorists, climate change contrarians systematically disregard the preponderance of evidence that invalidates their unfounded claims.

Search also, “Sea Level Rise Is Accelerating: 4 Inches Per Decade …”

JACK DeBAUN

Dover