When Peter Mansbridge interviewed Bob McDonald, host of the science program Quirks and Quarks, on the CBC National News this summer, McDonald confirmed that the Antarctic snow pack above the oceanic ice sheets is actually growing.
However, the Arctic Ocean ice pack has been shrinking. When the global temperature decreases (with less solar heating), the jet stream and associated low-pressure systems, cloud cover, etc. stay farther south. Thus, the Arctic Ocean receives more 24-hour sunshine in the summer, which heats the ice pack so it melts faster. This is especially notable in the Western Arctic.
The lowest Arctic winter ice coverage ever recorded, since satellite records were started over 30 years ago, was observed in 2007 at the beginning of the current sunspot minimum. A previous low winter ice surface occurred at the beginning of the last sunspot minimum. Throughout the extended current sunspot low, the summer Arctic ice coverage has been considerably below average, as well, as illustrated above.
The receding glaciers in the Rockies are most likely caused by the last 25-year period of warming associated with generally increasing sunspot activity. It should also be noted that El Nino and La Nina weather effects have caused western North America, the Mackenzie Delta, and the Western Arctic regions to experience more warm periods than the rest of our continent, which also contributes to lower Arctic ice coverage. The glaciers will most likely increase in size again in the next global cooling period as sunspot cycles should be less intense—and the earth somewhat cooler—if the sun follows its usual pattern.
As for the unquestioning belief in continuous global warming due to ever increasing levels of CO2, even Environment Canada’s long-term weather forecasting has been overly influenced by it. David Phillips, Environment Canada’s senior climatologist, predicted a hot, dry summer in Eastern Canada for 2008 and a similar hotter and drier summer in 2009.
