Naked Science Forum
Life Sciences => The Environment => Topic started by: barbiplease on 20/04/2010 22:06:35
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I ran across a discussion on climate change between an uninformed host on Integral Life.com and a climate change denier, Michael Zimmerman, who used the following image, appended as merely, "iceberg," as the cover of his two denier videos promoting climate change denial http://integrallife.com/Zimmerman-World-Leadership-Crisis-Climate-Change (http://integrallife.com/Zimmerman-World-Leadership-Crisis-Climate-Change):
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs3.amazonaws.com%2Fintegral-life-home%2Ficeberg.jpg&hash=cc6af265df633d7cc80ea0b43fa8894f)
The iceberg images or "covers" featured prominently on the front of both videos gave me the distinct impression that a subtle (or possibly not-so-subtle) form of deception is going on in that what appears to the untrained (naked) eye as an iceberg that is quite beautiful, majestic, stunning, durable, thick, and year-round Arctic ice but ultimately indestructible (judging solely by its majestic or pristine appearance) is possibly just that: year-round Arctic ice. In which case, this is a form of subtle deception by Michael Zimmerman in that he is depicting the melting of Arctic sea ice in the form of thick year-round ice in an effort to deny the melting of Arctic sea ice while ignoring the real problem which is that that which what was previously majestic and year-round thick Arctic sea ice as shown above is now melting rapidly and turning into thin seasonal ice that is no longer capable of remaining frozen year-round; and didn't look like "that" as I recall (my spatial perception and visual processing ability is on the bottom one percentile; so please do not quote me on "that"). However, I could be mistaken and the above may well be an example of "thin, seasonal ice" in which case it is not exactly an outright form of scientific fraud (as above) but only deceptive in that it is attempting to lull the viewing public into thinking that the melting sea ice in the Arctic are "not so bad, after all" by their emotive responses to the imagery. Are there any science experts or takers to assist me on this question?
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I just noticed that the image above was appended as "iceberg"; not as "sea ice." In which case, this "sea" ice is actually an iceberg (http://www.eoearth.org/article/sea_ice#What_is_the_difference_between_sea_ice_and_icebergs.2C_glaciers.2C_and_lake_ice.3F (http://www.eoearth.org/article/sea_ice#What_is_the_difference_between_sea_ice_and_icebergs.2C_glaciers.2C_and_lake_ice.3F)) which forms from fresh melt water from glaciers (land ice) running down and melting into the ocean as opposed to sea ice, which forms from the salty ocean water itself; hence the image above could be in reference to either Arctic or to Antarctic ice.
The significance of that basic difference would seem to be that whereas melting sea ice does not result in sea-level rise as do melting icebergs or melting glaciers, the melting of sea ice is still a grave concern for scientists since a percentage of the sea ice must remain as ice year-round so as to provide sufficient year-round albedo protection for the Earth's climate system.
That being said, however, I still find the image above deceptive if not out right a misrepresentation of science and a form of scientific fraud given that we are not only dealing with the loss of sea ice and loss of albedo protection but also simultaneously with the melting of glaciers and land ice resulting in sea-level rise. I would still appreciate a comment to get the perspectives of others t o see if my impression that Zimmerman is engaging in deception if not in scientific fraud are well-founded or justified, based strictly on the image above (based on the actual discussion but not on the iceberg, I can vouch that my suspicions are very well-founded).
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Only looking at the image above, it's well-known to be a photo-shopped picture and not an actual iceberg:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/iceberg.asp
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The picture above isnt sea ice. Its an iceberg.
Icebergs calve directly from glacial tongues and then float out to sea.
Sea ice is literally frozen sea water, and looks more like this:
(https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.science.ualberta.ca%2Fimages%2Fseaice.jpg&hash=b29f6025345bf8500d3b91a382583b94)
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Only looking at the image above, it's well-known to be a photo-shopped picture and not an actual iceberg:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/iceberg.asp
'tis not! I have one exactly the same in my fish tank.
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Only looking at the image above, it's well-known to be a photo-shopped picture and not an actual iceberg:
http://www.snopes.com/photos/natural/iceberg.asp
'tis not! I have one exactly the same in my fish tank.
Maybe your fish tank is a photo-shop job?
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Phil Jones of East Anglia Climate Unite claims the climate has not warmed in at least 15 years. Accordingly, I respectfully recommend you drop the term denier. It has, you know, a sort of Aristotelian thing left over from Galileo. His professorial coleaques believed he was an Aristotelian Denier.
An empithet he seems to have embraced, at which point his professorial accademic colleagues seem to have prevailed on Pope Urban 'whats his number' to deal with this denier directly. Apparently, Galileo's eclesiastical supporters prevailed against the accademics. One Cardinal having famously pronounced "The Bible tells us how to go to heaven. Not how the heavens go."
So, where is algore when you really need him?
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Litespeed,
I think you may have posted on the wrong thread here.