Polar Ice Is Melting … Or Is It?

Ice is seen floating in the Arctic Ocean in this undated photo. There is a hot debate among climate skeptics and scientists on how much the world's ice is melting or accumulating. (Courtesy of NOAA News)

Everyone has heard about it: Global warming is causing polar ice to melt.

But is it actually melting? This much-publicized phenomenon, like many others related to global warming, has been attacked by so-called climate skeptics, and getting to the bottom of what is actually going on with the icecaps is not a straightforward matter.

Steve Goreham, executive director of the Climate Science Coalition of America, recently wrote an article in response to a Sept. 20 PBS NewsHour segment about the shrinking Arctic icecap.

The author of the book The Mad, Mad, Mad World of Climatism: Mankind and Climate Change Mania, Goreham accused PBS of ignoring the “elephant in the room.”

He said Arctic ice is indeed melting, but it only makes up about 2 percent of the world’s ice, while 90 percent is found in the Antarctic icecap, which is actually growing, according to data from the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

So does this mean all is well with polar ice?