If you keep an eye on global warming denier blogs, you expect to see some pretty stupid stuff. But every now and then they exceed expectation. Sometimes they even take it to a new level. This particular bit was featured by Anthony Watts, but it originates with Steve Goddard.



The stunning announcement is “Most Ice Gain Ever Recorded.” It refers to the fact that Arctic sea ice has increased since its September minimum by a larger amount than in any previously observed season (at least, during the satellite era). For this graph, the “gain” seems to be defined as the difference between each year’s Feb. 12 value and its preceding September minimum (based on satellite data from Cryosphere Today).

Anthony Watts calls this a “stunning rebound” and further opines “This continued growth of ice in the Arctic make the arguments for ice mass loss in Antarctica rather hard to believe.”

What’s really rather hard to believe is that these people can actually be that blinded by ideology, or gullible, or stupid, or all three. What’s really stunning is the vanishing of Arctic sea ice, during all months, all seasons of the year, at its annual minimum and its annual maximum.

This much is certain: they are not skeptics. Don’t call them that, and don’t put up with it when they call themselves that. They aren’t.

The reason the “gain” (difference from the last minimum) is so large is that the last minimum was so low. It has nothing whatsoever to do with any kind of “rebound” or “recovery” of Arctic sea ice. Indeed the most recent minimum was astoundingly low:

Although annual maxima have also been declining, they haven’t done so as fast as annual minima:

So, even though Arctic sea ice is on the decline in all seasons, the difference between the annual minimum and the annual maximum has been growing. That doesn’t change the fact that Arctic sea ice is on the decline in all seasons. Yet Steve Goddard has tried to spin this into some kind of “rebound” and Anthony Watts has pushed it to the forefront. Judging by the comments to their posts, most of their followers think this somehow counters the fact that Arctic sea ice is on the decline in all seasons

This is so deliberately misleading, it’s a bit hard to believe they would sink so low. It’s so transparently stupid, it’s a bit hard to believe they would risk revealing their willingness to buy into such drivel.

There is absolutely no hope — none whatsoever — for any kind of “dialogue” with such blind ideologues. You can’t reason with some people. Two of those are Anthony Watts and Steve Goddard.

UPDATE

I original posted a mistaken graph of annual maxima for Arctic sea ice extent. It included 2013, which hasn’t yet reached maximum. A corrected graph has been uploaded.