Earth's Polar Ice Melting Less Than Thought

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If you read this and draw your conclusion from this one article, from one study... your conclusion is invalid.
Step away from yourself. Objectively look at your approach to global warming. Are you looking for information to validate your beliefs? Be honest with yourself about this.
Drawing a conclusion, you should do a lot of reading, cover large swaths on this subject from actual researchers. If you are reading something from someone who is not a scientist, you shouldn't be trusting the content.

Ted of PA 1:23PM January 21, 2013

there's more to the melting of the polar ice caps than just how much water it adds to the oceans. Pull your blinders off and start questioning just what role those ice caps play in earth's weather systems and other phenomena. Simple minds look for simple answers.

Jim Pyrzynski of NE 9:43PM September 21, 2012

teehee

callum 11:05PM September 06, 2012

"Corrected 2/8/12: An earlier version of this article misidentified the rate at which global sea levels are rising."
It would be interesting to know if the previously misidentified rate was higher or lower than the correction and why the correction was necessary.

Scott In Oakland of CA 12:41PM August 02, 2012

Six hundredths of an inch per year is just 1.5 mm/year, or half the rate of sea level rise that Hansen has been claiming. It will add up to just 5.3 inches by 2100, or about 1/10 what Rahmstorf predicts.
That headline, "the bad news is the extra water from 2003-2010 would fill Lake Erie eight times," is highly deceptive. Why compare the amount of water added to the oceans, to the amount of water in a lake? That's an apples to oranges comparison (or, really, more like a watermelon to mustard seed comparison).
Lake Erie is a relatively shallow lake, which contains just 2% of the water in the Great Lakes. If you want to compare apples to apples, here's a less deceptive way of saying the same thing that that silly headline says:
The extra water increases the volume of the oceans by 0.0034% per century.
It's not so scary when you put it that way, is it?
The best indicator of what's happening to sea level is the measurement record of (can you guess?)... sea level. We have good coastal sea level measurements from many tide gauges going back more than 100 years; some records are twice that long. Here's NOAA's graph of the continuous 106 year sea level record from Honolulu:
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends_station.shtml?stnid=1612340
Do you see it? Anthropogenic CO2 emissions have been driving up CO2 levels substantially since about the 1940s, but the rate of sea level rise hasn't increased at all as a result. Sea level at Honolulu has been rising just 1.5 mm/yr for over a century.
The best and most comprehensive analyses of sea level measured by tide gauges around the world show slight decelerations in the rate of sea level rise over the last 80 years.
We also have 19 years of satellite altimeter measurements of sea level over the open ocean. They also show decreasing rates of sea level rise.
The measurements all agree: the last two-thirds century of human CO2 emissions have resulted in no increase at all in the rate of sea level rise. It's irrational and unscientific to expect that the next two-thirds century will be different.

Dave Burton of NC 11:50AM March 27, 2012

It sounds like more enviro-extremists need to be educated about the story "The Boy Who Cried Wolf".
They used to have everyone's attention and admiration - now, not so much.

What next? of ID 2:03PM February 11, 2012

And this bit of REAL Science is going to stop the Eco-Nazis...how?
It's not about the science, it's about preserving the cult, and the sooner realists understand those people aren't driven by the facts, the sooner the world will get over its hyperventilation.
The High Priest of the Ecoist Church gets stinking rich telling us the seas are going to rise 600', and then goes and buys a beachfront manse next to Larry David's ex in California? Puh-leeze!! All he's proven is that with enough money in the bank even Al Gore can get laid.
By the way, Europe, how's that Global Warming workin' out for YOU guys? Got enough blankets on your beds this winter?

Dusty in Chattanooga of TN 9:53AM February 11, 2012

REGARDLESS WHETHER GLOBAL WARMING HAS BEEN OVER ESTIMATED OR NOT, THIS IS THE ONLY PLANET GOD GAVE US TO LIVE ON AND PROTECT. IF THIS IS TRUE, IT'S A GOOD NEWS. ANY EFFORT TO PROTECT OUR ENVIRONMENT SHOULD NOT BE DIMINISHED AND BE CONTINUED AS BEST AS WE CAN WHILE WE CAN.

CANHILLS of CA 3:51PM February 10, 2012

Because thought melts so quickly

Steve In Tulsa of OK 6:57PM February 09, 2012

I don't know what is worse the fraudlent "scientists" who present false data to support their self-serving conclusions or disingenuous reporters like Mr. Koebler. When the "science was settled", the data was based on hard and cold facts, but now that it is proven, what all cognative rational beings already knew, that man-made GW is nothing but a politial ruse, suddenly the data is not reliable enough to even predict "too far into the future". I think the science is settled now, you, Al and his merry band of hired pseuto-scientists are frauds.

Rationalist of CA 6:16PM February 09, 2012