[American Thinker] "Scientists stunned to discover plants beneath mile-deep Greenland ice" trumpeted the Science Daily website headline. Underneath, in bold, readers were informed that, "Long-lost ice core provides direct evidence that giant ice sheet melted off within the last million years." Which, the site then claimed, is smoking-gun evidence that the arctic ice sheets are "highly vulnerable to a warming climate."
Text of the article further enlightened those of us with inquiring minds, reading:
"Scientists found frozen plant fossils, preserved under a mile of ice on Greenland. The discovery helps confirm a new and troubling understanding that the Greenland Ice Sheet has melted entirely during recent warm periods in Earth's history -- like the one we are now creating with human-caused climate change. The new study provides strong evidence that Greenland is more sensitive to climate change than previously understood -- and at risk of irreversibly melting." (Emphases mine.)
All of us would-be scientists know ice melts when it gets warmer, but the Science Daily website drew exactly the wrong conclusions from the "stunning" discovery. How can the fact that the ice sheet once melted away entirely, subsequently regenerated, and is still around today...be proof that it is at risk of irreversibly melting??! |