‘Global’ Warming? Little Ice Age Cooling And Sea Ice Expansion Is Still Ongoing Across Antarctica Today

New research indicates there has been no reduction in sea ice in Antarctica’s Robertson Bay (Ross Sea) during the last century. Instead, the frigid Little Ice Age and its expanded sea ice conditions continue unabated through the 20th and 21st centuries.

Between ~8000 and 3500 years before present the Antarctic ice sheet experienced several millennia of retreat and the sea ice extent surrounding the continent decreased throughout the Middle Holocene. For the next few millennia after that, or from about 3500 to 1500 years ago, the ice sheet and sea ice extent advanced to near modern levels.

“The East and West Antarctic ice sheets underwent rapid periods of retreat in the Ross Embayment, the continent’s largest ice drainage basin, between 8 and 3.5 calkyr BP. Recent work shows that retreat was followed by a period of readvance and the ice sheets reached their modern configurations during the late Holocene.”

During the Medieval Warm Period, or from approximately 1500 to 700 years before present, variations in F. curta diatom, a proxy for sea ice extent, indicate Antarctic sea ice retreated again to its much lower (<40%) Middle Holocene levels.

“…during the period between 1.5 and 0.7 calkyr BP…lower F. curta abundance in Robertson Bay (<40%) is characteristic of a reduction in spring sea ice concentration and a longer summer open water season.”

Then, after the Medieval Warm Period ended, Antarctica’s Little Ice Age (LIA) cooling began. The ice sheet grew and sea ice advanced to the highest levels of the last 7000 years (~60%).

The relative abundance of F. curta over the last 700 years indicate these icy LIA conditions have persisted to the present day. Sea ice has been increasing (with no declining long-term trend) since the late 1970s, which is consistent with significant (>1°C) cooling trends in this region during recent decades.

“…an increase in the seasonal duration of sea ice between 0.7 calkyr BP [~700 years ago] and the present [is] consistent with ice core temperature reconstructions of cooling atmospheric temperatures.”

Image Source: Truax et al., 2024

7 responses to “‘Global’ Warming? Little Ice Age Cooling And Sea Ice Expansion Is Still Ongoing Across Antarctica Today”

  1. Hansi
  2. Hansi

    Municipality of Struth in Thuringia: The properties of the incapacitated citizens are unlikely to have much resale value. https://i.ibb.co/HpKXYkr/green-anti-nature.jpg

  3. Hansi

    https://archive.is/3dzLW

    https://www.newsweek.com/baltic-cable-sabotage-nato-1988689

    It wasn’t a “Wog ship”, but KGB-Putler
    in person, here’s the photo to prove it!
    https://i.ibb.co/n6ZxfPK/Putler-cuts-Cable.jpg

  4. Hansi

    In Reinhardswald, Grimm’s legendary fairytale forest, one of the last untouched mixed forest landscapes in Germany is currently being destroyed.

    Excavators are leveling centuries-old forest soil to make room for 18 mega wind turbines – despite ongoing legal action and unresolved permits.

    Meter-thick layers of earth are being removed while diesel clouds darken the air. Residents stand stunned at the construction fence.

    The developer is ignoring open procedures and risking irreversible damage that even a possible dismantling could not repair.

    The green energy transition is showing its brutal side here: untouched nature is being turned into an industrial area, a fairytale forest destroyed forever.

    https://i.ibb.co/fXhPPnF/destructive-green-fairytale.jpg
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhardswald

  5. Hansi
  6.  ‘Global’ Warming? Little Ice Age Cooling and Sea Ice Expansion Is Still Ongoing Across Antarctica Today - Climate- Science.press

    […] From NoTrickZone […]

  7. Science notes in passing - Climate Discussion Nexus

    […] Climate Optimum be sure to do so, and then have a look at yet another peer reviewed study (h/t NTZ) confirming that the HCO was real and, in the case of that study, affected Antarctica. Proxy […]

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