They myth that is man made global warming.

[elprincipe]

Final-Fan said:
^ That's interesting stuff. The Arctic ice is shrinking while the Antarctic ice is increasing (and seems to be much more volatile).

As for hurricanes, I thought the problem was that they were fewer in number, but they ones that we got were more damaging. It's better to have lots of weak ones than several monsters, right?

The ice is fascinating to watch.  It should tell you that you're not getting the full picture if you consider that, as all the media was hyping the "lowest-ever" ice extent for the Arctic in 2007 (remember, this has only been measured accurately since 1979), you saw no articles even mention that the Antarctic ice extent was the highest ever recorded that very same year.  The Arctic ice last year increased 9% and the Antarctic ice decreased slightly from its record high.  But again, we have been measuring these things for such a short period of time it's extemely difficult to draw meaningful conclusions.  Thirty years is nothing at all on a geologic time scale, not even a blink.

I'm not as familiar with hurricanes other than the raw numbers.  There has been more damage in recent years from them, but remember that more people are living on the coasts now so there is more and more to destroy.  Hurricanes are highly variable in terms of numbers and intensity, so it's also something where it's very difficult to derive a pattern.  I've heard that ocean current patterns cause a 20- or 30-year cycle for hurricanes.  Also heard that global warming would increase their intensity.  However, 3,000 buoys launched in 2003 have shown a decrease in ocean heat content, so I'm having a hard time seeing how this fits into that theory: