I've just finished going through my geoblogs, and no one seems to have picked this up, so here you go. National Geographic has posted an awesome video composed of 436 individual photos taken between May and September, 2007, of the Columbia Glacier near Valdez Ak. They are pushing this, predictably, as evidence of global warming. While I find the video a wonderous thing to watch (I've viewed it now 5 or 6 times), I do not think that showing a glacier receding during the summer is very useful evidence of climate change. It's good evidence of summer. The article implies that this is a multi-year project, which is good... as long as they focus on the same glacier(s) over a period of years to decadal time scales. Which the article does not clarify.
I feel that tossing out such shoddy "evidence" merely encourages the climate deniers, and does not help the case at all. While I applaud the video, I dislike the spin.
Hat Tip to Swans on Tea.
You should watch the NOVA episode "Extreme Ice" from which this clip comes. I know I'll be teaching with it later this semester.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Ron! I had come across several mentions of Extreme Ice, but I never think to turn on the TV anymore, so I had no idea when it would be broadcast. Glad to have the web link to watch at my leisure!
ReplyDeleteStill, that's pretty impressive.
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