Is media coverage of Arctic and Antarctic sea ice balanced?

Question

The big news this week from the Arctic was a melt pond claimed to be at the North Pole (which it wasn't by the way): http://www.sciencerecorder.com/news/watch-melting-ice-form-lake-at-north-pole-video/

That article is typical by the MSM claiming a "lake" at the North pole is somehow unusual. The owners and operators of that webcam received a deluge of questions in response. It got to the point where they needed to put up a web page of explanation here: http://psc.apl.washington.edu/northpole/WebCams.html

They state:

"The formation of melt ponds has always been a key feature of the summer season on sea ice. Each summer, solar radiation melts the snow cover and 10-50 cm of the sea ice upper surface."

"... we estimate the far shore of the pond is 20 to 50-m from Web Camera #2. It is about 40 cm deep at the AITP buoy. "

"FAQ: Are you alarmed at the appearance of the water near the North Pole? No, melt ponds form every year,"

So we have MSM reports which get virtually every aspect wrong: 300 miles from North Pole, pond not a lake, not unusual, etc.

If we take a look at the Antarctic sea ice we sea it has been at all time record levels 9 of the past 10 days with the extent more than 300,000 sq km higher than the previous record and over 1,000,000 sq km higher than the 30 year mean. http://sunshinehours.files.wordpress.com/2013/08/antarctic_sea_ice_extent_zoomed_2013_day_212_1981-2010.png

Why would the media (mis)report on normal happenings in the Arctic yet make absolutely no mention of the records in Antarctic sea ice?

Answer 1

I think the coverage is exactly balanced.



If the Arctic is warming that is fully reported and if the Antarctic is warming they give equal coverage to that!

Answer 2

The Earth is 4.5 billion years old. Paleontology records have shown clearly that the Arctic has been 10C warmer in the past



http://climatesanity.wordpress.com/2008/10/15/dont-panic-the-arctic-has-survived-warmer-temperatures-in-the-past/



"DEVON ISLAND, Nunavut – In the summer of 1985, helicopter pilot Paul Tudge was flying over Axel Heiberg Island in the High Arctic when he spotted what he thought were tree stumps near the edge of a giant ice cap.



When Tudge reported the sighting to scientists, they were skeptical. The nearest tree was 2,500 kilometres south. Nevertheless, geologist James Basinger flew up the next year to have a closer look. It didn't take him long to realize he had found the Holy Grail of Arctic paleobotany.



Not only were tree trunks sticking out of the permafrost, some buried below were more than 2 1/2 metres wide and five metres long.



What really amazed Basinger was the realization that these trees were 45 million years old. Many of the nuts, seeds and cones were so perfectly preserved they looked as if they had just fallen to the ground."



"NO ONE KNOWS why the Arctic was so warm for so long previously."





http://byers.typepad.com/arctic/2008/12/the-new-arctic-cold-war.html

Answer 3

1 million square km higher than the 30 year mean? Where on Earth did you get that info from? The antarctic sea ice anomaly current stands at 0.7 million km^2 not over 1 million.



http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/



My wild guess is that the place where you got this info from is stretching the truth. A better question would be why would the media misreport on things that are happening in the Arctic while your source of info is misreporting what is occurring in the Antarctic.



Edit: My mistake. The graph I posted only goes up to June. Regardless, it is well known that the media overemphasizes what thier viewers want to hear. En example of this would be FOX news.

Answer 4

<> You question, having the be conscious "restore" admits it replaced into declining, something you've been denying. so that you're admitting that you provide us with pretend coaching. you do not even comprehend it! As for the restore, it does no longer mean there is extra ice than there replaced into many years in the past, yet extremely than the intense aspect this 365 days is in lsate March extremely than early March. per chance the reason of it truly is because February replaced into so extaordinarily warm this 365 days contained in the Arctic.

Answer 5

Antarctic sea ice melts every year because the seas are rough. The bigger issue with the Antarctic is the volume of ice, type of ice, and frequency of precipitation. Sea ice extent is is less of an issue because of the landmass beneath the Antarctic.

Answer 6

Okay, reading Jeff's link for June the datum and current values are ~par. Why start at a escalated vertical range then the datum line? Other then to show a negative value. Is that another example of government math.

Answer 7

No you have it wrong, you get equal cover when they are both warming, as was the case several years ago, they stopped reporting about Antarctica because it has stopped warming, they only want to report about doom and gloom.

Jeff M. it is 1.041 million

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/seaice.recent.antarctic.png

Answer 8

The press is unreliable . They have a agenda to push carbon taxes on everyone .

Answer 9

While in college a few decades ago, we conducted a survey of journalists requesting among other things.....political leanings.



At that time, the survey resulted in about 90% Left.



I doubt that this has changed much over the years.



That....my friend....should answer your question.

Answer 10

The only left wing media i found that was close is thinkprogress, not a shock there

Answer 11

Because the truth would be inconvenient. LOL

Answer 12

If you think not, then it must be