Wednesday, December 12, 2012

No One Said the Science Was Easy

And maybe that's why many of us just aren't tracking - aren't paying attention - aren't keeping up.

Science Daily is reporting today that a study in "Nature" suggests that Antarctica's contribution to global sea-level rise is probably greater than hitherto estimated, because ice gain due to increased snowfall is countered by an acceleration of ice-flow to the ocean.

Yep - you need to be a scientician to figure this stuff out.  You do not need to be a scientician to get the larger message - which is that climate change is human-made, is at least as bad as you have been hearing and is likely worse, and that we are on a VERY tight timeline to turn things around, if indeed we still can.

There are immensely complex feedback loops and interconnected systems at play.  Just because sometimes my little brain freezes up when I read the literature does not make findings like those reported by this recent study not true.  Alas, it probably does mean that the popular media are NOT reporting on some of the bigger discoveries and papers in the peer-reviewed scientific literature.


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