Is NASA Too Big for Antarctica?

(thanks to PM for pointing me in this direction)

What is happening about Antarctica, with giant icebergs floating away while the sea-ice cover around the southernmost continent is well above long-term averages?

If you want to understand the situation…do not ask NASA. Because they’ll report everything and its opposite.

• According to “Earth Observatory”, between 1981 and 2007 one can see noticeable warming and cooling trends of up to +/- 0.1C/decade
• In an earlier version, “Earth Observatory” showed a substantially different picture, with warming and cooling trends for 1982-2004 of up to +/- 0.2C/decade. One wonders what were the error bars on this one, and what are the error bars on the recent data.
• “Earth Observatory” “had” to intervene then, in the Wilkins giant iceberg brouhaha
• Then all of a sudden, without any fanfare at all, there comes a March 25, 2008 report from Marco Tedesco at NASA, “uncovered” by Roger Pielke Sr., according to which: (a) “Surface snowmelt in Antarctica in 2008 […] was 40% below the average of the period 1987–2007.” and (b) “the extent of the area subject to melting in 2008 set a new minimum with 297,500 square kilometers, against an average value of approximately 861,812 square kilometers. “

Too bad “Earth Observatory” has not had the time as yet to talk about Mr Tedesco’s work. Here’s some interesting image they may want to consider…

Note how the number of melting days in the area of the Wilkins ice shelf has decreased by -0.5 days per decade between 1987 and 2008.

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