Polar Meltdown

The current Greenland warming, while not yet quite matching the temperatures of 70 years ago …..

– Walt Meier NSIDC

“Examination of several proxy records (e.g., sediment cores) of sea ice indicate ice-free or near ice-free summer conditions for at least some time during the period of 15,000 to 5,000 years ago”

– Walt Meier NSIDC

CLEVELAND, Feb. 16 (A.A.P.) Dr. William S. Carlson, an Arctic expert, said to-night that the Polar icecaps were melting at an astonishing and unexplained rate and were threatening to swamp seaports   by raising the ocean levels.

Leading Arctic expert from 1953

The glaciers of Norway and Alaska are only half the size they were 50 years age. The temperature around Spitsbergen has so modified that the sailing time has lengthened from three to eight months of the year,”

Leading Arctic expert from 1952

LONDON (A.P.).-The earth is getting warmer. The oceans are getting deeper. The glaciers are getting smaller. Even the fish are changing their way of life.

All this and more is going on because of a vast, unaccountable, century-by-century change, in climate. In his study at Bedford College in London, Britain’s distinguished geographer, Professor Gordon Manley, is worrying about it.

Leading geographer from 1950

Dr. Ahlman urged the establishment of an international agency to study conditions on a global basis. Temperatures had risen 10 degrees since 1900. The navigable season along Western Spitzbergen now last- ed eight months instead of three.

Leading Arctic expert from 1947

it was concluded that near Polar temperatures are on an average six degrees higher than those registered by Nansen 40 years ago. Ice measurements were on an average only 6½ feet against from 9¼ to 13 feet.

Russian report from 1940

The Norwegian, Captain Wiktor Arnesen, who has just returned from the Arctic, clains to have discovered an island 12 miles in circumference near the Franz Joseph Island, in latitude 80.40. He says that the island previously was hidden by an iceberg between 70 and 80 feet high, which has melted, showing the exceptional nature of the recent thawing in the Arctic.

The Courier-Mail  Monday 6 May 1940

By far the largest number of local glaciers in north-east Greenland had receded very greatly during recent decades, and it would not be exaggerating to say that these glaciers were nearing a catastrophe.

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In Alaska glaciers had been retreating from 100 to 200 years, the average rate of recession being about 50 feet a year. The Antarctic ice- sheet also showed signs of recent retreat.

“In fact,” said Professor Speight, “no case is recorded of a region of the world in which there are present signs of an advance.

The Sydney Morning Herald  Friday 13 January 1939

Glacier Bay was first surveyed in detail in 1794 by a team from the H.M.S. Discovery, captained by George Vancouver. At the time the survey produced showed a mere indentation in the shoreline. That massive glacier was more than 4,000 feet thick in places, up to 20 miles wide, and extended more than 100 miles to the St. Elias mountain range.

By 1879, however, naturalist John Muir discovered that the ice had retreated more than 30 miles forming an actual bay. By 1916, the Grand Pacific Glacier – the main glacier credited with carving the bay – had melted back 60 miles to the head of what is now Tarr Inlet.

http://www.glacierbay.org/geography.html

Norwegian report from 1923

http://docs.lib.noaa.gov/

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1958

The Changing Face of the Arctic – Article – NYTimes.com

1957

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CLIMATE WARMING IN THE ANTARCTIC – 5-Degree Rise Over the Last Half Century Is Recorded at Little America ICE IS FOUND THICKER Director of U. S. Program Says Sheet Drops 10,000 Feet in Many Areas – View Article – NYTimes.com

http://news.google.com/newspapers

1954

There is no doubt that the ice of the far north is melting faster than it is replaced by new snowfalls (actually most of the Arctic gets only about 8 inches of precipitation a year). Glaciers all around the northern world are receding at a clearly measurable pace, and have been for several generations.

About — Polar Ice – How fast does it melt? An expedition seeks the answer. – Article – NYTimes.com

1952

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Papers Past — Auckland Star — 14 December 1940 — WARMER ARCTIC

 

Papers Past — Evening Post — 2 February 1937 — ANTARCTICA

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TimesMachine: AN ICE AGE PASSES. – NYTimes.com

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29 Sep 1931 – LOST HORSE OF THE GLACIER.

A NEW CHAPTER WRITTEN BY THE GLACIER – The Retreat of the Ice Rivers in the Alps 

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16 Apr 1923 – THE NORTH POLE CAUSES OF CHANGE OF CLIMATE.

http://query.nytimes.com/

The Braidwood Dispatch and Mining Journal  – Wednesday 28 September 1910

28 Sep 1910 – RECEDING GLACIERS.

http://trove.nla.gov.au/

Clarence and Richmond Examiner (Grafton, NSW) Tuesday 31 July 1906

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/61454507

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 29 Dec 1900 – The Swiss Glaciers Decreasing.

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05 Sep 1929 – GLACIERS OF SWITZERLAND SUBJECT TO TIMETABLE

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/72280521

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http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/12664317?

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The West Australian 4 December 1946

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http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/53140101?

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/4774414

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http://books.google.com/

The Arctic whaling journals of William Scoresby the younger