Terrifying ‘normality’
PETER Campion ( TB, August 24) how is it that you and I both visit the same research websites, but come away with different facts?
I had difficulty verifying your claims, although you were right about Tuvalu. Its land mass has slightly increased.
Sea level rise is still a serious issue though. And no, it doesn’t rise uniformly around the globe, due to a variety of reasons.
You claim that Arctic ice is trending upwards. I only found evidence of the opposite. Arctic sea ice is at its lowest point in 30 years.
Glaciers are shrinking, even if, as you say, Glacier National Park in America is doing OK. The Ok glacier in Iceland is not OK. Neither are most of the world’s glaciers. There has been some recent growth in some glaciers but the overall shrinking trend continues. Global warming doesn’t create impacts in a straight line. These are complex interactions.
It’s pointless to single out one growing glacier and say, “See!”; we need to look at trends.
As for ocean acidification, you’re just nitpicking here.
I didn’t coin the phrase and I’m not suggesting that the oceans are turning into acid.
Call it what you like, but the uptake of carbon dioxide is changing the ph level of the ocean. This is fact.
I’m amazed that you blame poor quality sensors for the record high temperatures we are seeing. And you claim that sensors in cold places are being replaced by sensors in hot places. Do you have any evidence for this bizarre claim, or is it just a hunch?
The air temperature data from the NOAA sensor at Summit Station Greenland (not very tropical) has recorded record temperatures. Maybe they placed the sensor next to a boiling kettle.
But the saddest part of your letter is where you say “extinctions are normal.”
So should we just sit back and let it happen? Should we let the Great Barrier Reef die? Should we let the Amazon rainforest burn?
If this is the new normal, then we really are in trouble.
TONY TSIMBAS,
Townsville.