l****z 发帖数: 29846 | 1 The British, covering the news U.S. media refuses to cover:
The speech by former US Vice-President Al Gore was apocalyptic. ‘The
North Polar ice cap is falling off a cliff,’ he said. ‘It could be
completely gone in summer in as little as seven years. Seven years from now.’
Those comments came in 2007 as Mr Gore accepted the Nobel Peace Prize
for his campaigning on climate change.
But seven years after his warning, The Mail on Sunday can reveal that,
far from vanishing, the Arctic AL_GORE_Former_U_S_Vice_Pice cap has expanded
for the second year in succession – with a surge, depending on how you
measure it, of between 43 and 63 per cent since 2012.
To put it another way, an area the size of Alaska, America’s biggest
state, was open water two years ago, but is again now covered by ice.
The most widely used measurements of Arctic ice extent are the daily
satellite readings issued by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, which
is co-funded by Nasa. These reveal that – while the long-term trend still
shows a decline – last Monday, August 25, the area of the Arctic Ocean with
at least 15 per cent ice cover was 5.62 million square kilometres.
This was the highest level recorded on that date since 2006 (see graph,
right), and represents an increase of 1.71 million square kilometres over
the past two years – an impressive 43 per cent.
Other figures from the Danish Meteorological Institute suggest that the
growth has been even more dramatic. Using a different measure, the area with
at least 30 per cent ice cover, these reveal a 63 per cent rise – from 2.7
million to 4.4 million square kilometres.
The satellite images published here are taken from a further
authoritative source, the University of Illinois’s Cryosphere project.
They show that as well as becoming more extensive, the ice has grown
more concentrated, with the purple areas – denoting regions where the ice
pack is most dense – increasing markedly.
Crucially, the ice is also thicker, and therefore more resilient to
future melting. Professor Andrew Shepherd, of Leeds University, an expert in
climate satellite monitoring, said yesterday: ‘It is clear from the
measurements we have collected that the Arctic sea ice has experienced a
significant recovery in thickness over the past year.
‘It seems that an unusually cool summer in 2013 allowed more ice to
survive through to last winter. This means that the Arctic sea ice pack is
thicker and stronger than usual, and this should be taken into account when
making predictions of its future extent.’
It should but it won't because the Church of Chicken Little remains strong
and vibrant.
There's a lesson here. There are many who ridicule Christ's faithful, who
find believers in traditional and orthodox Christianity irrational and
foolish and yet would be the first to defend and promote the faith that Al
Gore and his minions peddle to the gullible and easily led.
Faith is alive an well in this culture. It's what we choose believe that
makes the difference.
What do you believe? |
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