IPCC cites boot cleaning guide for Antarctica tour operators
Evidence of climate change
No that headline is not a joke. The IPCC cited a guide for Antarctica tour operators on decontaminating boots and clothing. Here it is.
The reference is in the Fourth Assessment Report, Working Group II, section 15.7.2 Economic activity and sustainability in the Antarctic. The claim is:
"The multiple stresses of climate change and increasing human activity on the Antarctic Peninsula represent a clear vulnerability (see Section 15.6.3), and have necessitated the implementation of stringent clothing decontamination guidelines for tourist landings on the Antarctic Peninsula (IAATO, 2005)."
This is referenced as:
IAATO, 2005: Update on boot and clothing decontamination guidelines and the introduction and detection of diseases in Antarctic wildlife: IAATO’s perspective. Paper submitted by the International Association of Antarctica Tour Operators (IAATO) to the Antarctic Treaty Consultative Meeting (ATCM) XXVIII. IAATO, 10 pp. http://www.iaato.org/info.html.
So the IPCC cites a boot and clothing cleaning guide as evidence that the "multiple stresses of climate change...have necessitated the implementation of stringent clothing decontamination guidelines". That might be laughable in and of itself, but the problem is the article doesn't even mention climate change. Once. Nothing at all about global warming, or temperature increase. Nothing!
I can't think of a citation any more pathetic. Read the report, and tell me if you can find anything. This is definitely going on the list of the IPCC's questionable citations.
February 1st, 2010 - 18:02
This is incredible! Thanks alot. I will pass on the info (link). Cheers.
February 1st, 2010 - 22:56
Yeah as it turns out IAATO is doing this because the Antarctic Peninsula is experiencing the most striking warming of any place on the planet. Having led expeditions there for two decades, we see that what used to be perpetually snow and ice covered is now seasonally open water / open land. Therefore, the concern is that newly exposed soil has the potential to harbor introduced species. I wouldn’t take IAATO’s actions themselves as evidence of climate change, but any fool who looks at the Antarctic Peninsula over time can readily see that it is *a lot* warmer now than in previous decades.
February 1st, 2010 - 23:17
Ted Ted Ted,
When were you there last?
The climate warms and cools.
We are in a cooling period at the moment and there has been no statistical increase in tempuratures for 15 years.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/revealed-antarctic-ice-growing/story-e6frg6no-1225700046908
http://www.news.com.au/antarctic-ice-is-growing-not-melting-away/story-0-1225700043191
February 2nd, 2010 - 00:12
Ted, are you one of those fools?
February 2nd, 2010 - 01:43
Ted, have you seen the data on the overall sea ice in Antarctica, and the clear positive trend, despite the localized warming on the Antarctic peninsula?
Graph here: http://nsidc.org/data/seaice_index/
Go to the little graph on the right hand side and select “Antarctic, monthly”
The overall temperature trend for Antarctica for the last few decades has been negative.
Despite your personal experiences, perhaps you should actually read some of the data.
February 2nd, 2010 - 03:06
I suppose there is no more to say after Steves contribution.
February 2nd, 2010 - 03:27
There’d been some discussion of fudging of Antarctic data on, I think, Jeff Id’s blog some weeks back.
Summary was that trends at the peninsula were up, but the rest of the continent were trending down.
Bear in mind, too, that where you have humans you generally have heat-generating activities. There were some great pics of this, the scale of the airport operations and etc. somewhere that have grown up over the past decade, but I can’t find them right now.
February 2nd, 2010 - 05:43
I’m not clear on how you determine that this is a bad citation. What is your evidence that the boot cleaning is not done for environmental protection?
You’re not an advocate of Leave No Trace Camping, either, are you?
February 2nd, 2010 - 07:28
When you thought it couldn’t get lower…
Grant, Steve: AFAIK Ted is right. He’s talking about the peninsula (heating), not the whole Antarctic (cooling).
February 2nd, 2010 - 10:19
Ha haha hahaha hahaha aha guffaaaww guffffaaaww chortle, gasp, lying breathless on the floor now, cant breathe, still helplessly convulsing…
hahahahahha!
Oh really, this is just soooooooooooo funny! Oh my god, can the IPC ever get over this?
And tell me, now that all these dodgy references are coming out, did no one ever check them before?
Not a sceptic, an alarmist, no one?
Ha ha ha, and this is supposed to be peer reviewed!
Ha hahahah hhhahahaa
And they let this get through!!!!!!!!
Hahahaha
hahahha
oh god, back to floor, gasping, must hit send before I asphixate…
February 2nd, 2010 - 11:27
Question: Is this website is about (1) seeking truth through improving the accuracy of climate science via the IPCC, or (2) without attention to any facts, and having already decided that climate change somehow isn’t happening, is this website about ignoring facts and ignoring the bulk of the quality work in the IPCC? Seems like to be the latter.
Grant: Am I one of those fools?… I do see that there is a big decline in land ice and sea ice in the Peninsular region. That is plain and borne out by statistics. Better a fool than blind.
Re: antarctic climate change. This extremely complex story is well summarized here:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091130192921.htm (with further depth of detail from there)
A few quotes:
10% increase in sea ice around the Antarctic ~ Since 1980 there has been a 10% increase in Antarctic sea ice extent, particularly in the Ross Sea region, as a result of the stronger winds around the continent (due to the ozone hole). In contrast, regional sea ice has decreased west of the Antarctic Peninsula due to changes in local atmospheric circulation and this has also been linked with the very rapid warming seen over land on the west coast of the Peninsula.
West Antarctic ice loss could contribute to 1.4 m sea level rise ~ Loss of ice from the West Antarctic ice sheet is likely to contribute some tens of centimetres to global sea level by 2100. This will contribute to a projected total sea level rise of up to 1.4 metres (and possibly higher) by 2100.
Hole in ozone layer has shielded most of Antarctica from global warming ~ The ozone hole has delayed the impact of greenhouse gas increases on the climate of the
continent. Consequently south polar winds (the polar vortex), have intensified and affected Antarctic weather patterns. Westerly winds over the Southern Ocean that surrounds Antarctica have increased by around 15%. The stronger winds have effectively isolated Antarctica from the warming elsewhere on the planet. As a result during the past 30 years there has been little change in surface temperature over much of the vast Antarctic continent, although West Antarctica has warmed slightly. An important exception is the eastern coast of the Antarctic Peninsula, which has seen rapid summer warming. This warming is caused by stronger westerly winds bringing warm, wet air into the region from the ocean.
These are the briefest of details in a complex story, but a comprehensive understanding leads us to see that human-induced climate change is the strong reality on the Antarctic, and the planet as a whole.
Cheers,
Ted
February 2nd, 2010 - 15:05
Answer: http://climatequotes.com/2010/01/06/hello-world/
That is why I started the site. If you don’t like the site, that’s fine.
“is this website about ignoring facts and ignoring the bulk of the quality work in the IPCC?”
‘Quality’ must mean something different to you. Citing the WWF and Greenpeace, a magazine, a student thesis (which admits it is all a guess), and a guide to boot de-contamination for tour guides doesn’t seem like quality. Maybe you mean the peer-reviewed paper that showed Himalayan glaciers were going to melt in 25 years leaving hundreds of millions without water? I can’t simply overlook such errors as you can, and trust me, there are many more of those errors that will soon be exposed. How many more will it take for you to admit the IPCC and ‘quality’ don’t belong in the same sentence?
February 3rd, 2010 - 11:02
Quality shouldn’t mean misrepresenting the facts, and especially the words of others.
IPCC noted tourism impacts in Antarctica, and pointed to the boot decontamination issue with footnotes and peer-reviewed testimony.
You represented it instead as a mis-citation to a different issue.
So, yeah, I guess the site is about ignoring the bulk of the quality work in the IPCC, and in this case intentionally distorting it.
In the name of fairness and good policy, why would you do such a thing?
February 3rd, 2010 - 11:03
So, Ted, have you got some real experience in Antarctica?
February 3rd, 2010 - 11:04
Saying the glaciers could be gone in 35 years is more accurate than denying that they are melting and denying that there are water problems as a result.
February 25th, 2010 - 23:59
This IPCC is organized pretty much along the Soviet style propaganda. That it can get away with it is due to the fact that governments have degraded the educational/indoctrinational system to such extent that most people are too stupid to make their own evaluation of the — still available — published facts. The next step will, of curse be suppression or inaccessibility of published statistical facts.
Vlado Bevc
akobevc@sbcglobal.net