There is clearly no evidence at all that we are witnessing a “death spiral”.
The Sunday Times, in a ridiculously one sided and misleading article, have evidently decided that we all need reminding again that the “Arctic Ice is melting”, and apparently we and the polar bears are all going to die, possibly as early as next year.
For some reason, Jonathan Leake forgets to point out that the minimum extent this year, according toNSIDC, has finished just a few thousand sq km below last year’s number, thus confirming the recovery and stabilisation of ice since 2007. Indeed, both of the last two years have been close to the 2005 figure.
There is clearly no evidence at all that we are witnessing a “death spiral”.
ftp://sidads.colorado.edu/DATASETS/NOAA/G02135/north/daily/data/
Both DMI and NORSEX confirm a similar picture.
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/old_icecover.uk.php
http://arctic-roos.org/observations/satellite-data/sea-ice/ice-area-and-extent-in-arctic
The report, which is behind a paywall, quotes one “Cambridge Professor” as saying that the Arctic icecap could vanish as soon as next year. As his name is shown as a source, it looks like our Professor is none other than Peter Wadhams, who has a track record of making such predictions. The only real surprise is that anybody pays the slightest attention to him now.