Our hysterical anti-science friends claim that Arctic warming and melting caused the decline in multi-year Arctic ice, which was occurring prior to 2008.
This is complete nonsense. Most of the old ice was lost during the winters from 1988 to 1996, and was driven by strong winds pushing the ice out into the North Atlantic.
2007_seaiceminimum/images/20070822_oldice.gif
The reduction in Arctic ice corresponded to an unusually active period of El Ninos, which occurred after the PDO shift in 1977.
NSIDC ignores satellite data from before 1979, which allows them to pretend that Arctic ice is decreasing linearly due to man-made CO2.
It looks like someone is trying to have a baby, but it is not going out the proper way.
Steve,
Maybe you’re already aware of this, but what do you think of the details Bill Illis discusses in this comment at WUWT regarding ice thickness:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/06/03/the-guardians-ridiculous-claim-of-75-arctic-ice-loss-in-30-years/#comment-1000611
I know we’ve already discussed the CryoSAT2 results in the past, but what about the measurements made this March?
-Scott