The video below (made from US Navy data) shows that most of the Arctic is now covered with ice more than 2.5 metres thick.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_RRMxEIg-io]
Compare with the much thinner ice in 2008
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8WkSV_zzXk]
Tamino posted the monthly anomaly graph below purportedly showing that snow cover is on a linear decline.
http://tamino.wordpress.com/2011/03/05/snow/
First problem is that he is running a linear trend line across what is obviously a step function. In the late 1980s there was a step down, and since 1990 the trend is flat to up. The graph below shows monthly snow cover since 1990, which is on a slight upwards trend.
His second problem is that he is mixing apples and oranges. Winter snow cover is indicative of cold temperatures. Winter temperatures across the US, Europe and Asia have gotten colder over the last 20 years. A fact that Tamino and his ilk conveniently and consistently ignore.
Prior to the age of climate science stupidity, this would have seemed obvious to everyone.
http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/snow-and-ice/recent.php?period=c®ion=&submitted=Submit
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2011/03/should_global_warming_send_us.html
No there aren’t. That is complete nonsense. A warmer world would have less snowfall.
Why do they get heavier snow falls in the mountains? Because it is colder in the mountains.
(base period 1961-90)
Julienne asked to see a longer time period. I don’t see any evidence of acceleration in recent years. Temperatures rose just as fast from 1910 to 1940 as they did from 1970 to 2000, and they haven’t increased at all since then.
Climate change is likely to be the predominant scientific, economic, political and moral issue of the 21st century. The fate of humanity and nature may depend upon early recognition and understanding of human-made effects on Earth’s climate. (Hansen, 2009)
http://www.columbia.edu/~jeh1/mailings/2011/20110118_MilankovicPaper.pdf
There can be little doubt that reducing CO2 is the most important issue which mankind faces, though I disagree with his targets. We need to bring CO2 all the way down to the safe levels of the 1930s, when mankind lived in peace and harmony with nature and each other.
