An adventurous explorer named Pen Hadow seems to have great currency and credibility in Britain. Late last winter he and a few companions had the devil’s own time trekking by foot and by Australian crawl across a few leads as they tried to get to the North Pole, measuring the ice’s thickness all the way. Their portable radar failed, they didn’t make it all the way, it was a grueling go.

Now they’ve released their findings. They say the ice was thin, and that they project it will be gone, seasonally, in as few as 10 years. The Tracker has questions that reporters should put to them, and to others in the field, vigorously. Such as – does this one partial transit change the scientific assessment and if so, why? Did the radar’s failure and reliance on an ice ax and drill leave reliable data? And how objective is this group to deserve coverage as though this is a full-on analytical report? It could be true that the ice will be gone in Augusts to come over the great bulk of the Arctic. And it could be true that bashing baby harp seals on the head and taking their pelts as their mamas yowl is bad for that species – but no journalist worth his pay grade, miserable as that is, should go to Greenpeace for an objective assessment. Translation: Could one expect any different opinion from this team?

Plus, reporters ought to at least mention that while this last summer’s melt was well above the historic average, there have been signs that multi-year ice may be making a small comeback. Interesting is that a Cambridge University group released a report simultaneously with much the same findings – and that used the explorers’ data along with that of other surveys. It gets into most accounts – but as back up to the conclusions from the heroic trek.

Just to be clear here: None of this sniping should suggest to anybody that The Tracker harbors doubts that the Arctic is undergoing rapid, disturbing change with the finer pointed collectively at us.

Samples:

• AP: Maresa Patience : Explorers: North Pole summers ice free in 10 years ; She, as do others, also uses quotes from a University of Cambridge man who looked at the data. But it’s hard to tell if his opinions rely on this team’s explorations, or the greater body of literature.
• Telegraph – Louise Gray : Arctic will be ice-free n a decade, according to Pen Hadow ; She gives great credence to the explorers’ conclusion, but also declared that they are in rough accord with the existing consensus.
• BBC – David Shukman: Arctic to be ‘ice-free’ in summer ;
• Guardian – David Adam: Arctic summer ice could disappear within decades, survey data suggests ; Hmm. Data suggest. Story includes a dramatic long-series animation of sea ice trends that  drives home the disappearance of multi-year ice.
• SkyNews – Laura Bundock: North Pole Ice Set To Melt By Summer 2020 ;

Related News, relying more on another source:

• Times – Ben Webster : The Arctic will be ice-free in summer within 20 years, research says ; Twenty years, not ten? Explanation: Webster relies on the Cambridge U. team, not the intrepid pedestrians.
• Reuters – Peter Griffiths: Arctic Ocean to be ice-free in summer ;

- Charlie Petit

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 2:11 pm and is filed under Environment & Energy Stories, Science Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.