7.5 Billion year event is unfolding in the Antarctic

Hardly watch ABC news these days but this headline caught my eye on their homepage...

"A once in every 7.5 billion year event is unfolding in the Antarctic"

ABC lead it's readers to believe an event is unfolding that is older than age the age of the solar system.   

Antarctic sea ice: ABC get it wrong again

ABC gets the facts wrong on Antarctic sea ice in this report...

Arctic sea ice is smallest size on record over northern winter
At the other end of the planet, the NSIDC said earlier this month that sea ice around Antarctica was the fourth-smallest for summer. Climate scientists say the apparently contradictory trend may be tied to changing winds and currents.

What NSIDC actually said:

By sharp contrast, sea ice in Antarctica was at satellite-era record high daily levels for much of 2014. On September 22, 2014, Antarctic ice extent reached 20.11 million square kilometers (7.76 million square miles). This was the first year in the modern satellite record that Antarctic ice extent climbed above 20 million square kilometers (7.72 million square miles).

we pay for rubbish like this!

Crack Embiggened

Last year ABC covered the discovery by NASA of a crack in the Pine Island Glacier in Antarctica with a number of stories; for example "Large Crack appears in Antarctic glacier". NASA provide the image above with a caption that reads as follows:
Pine Island Glacier -Crack in the shelf
A close-up image of the crack spreading across the ice shelf of Pine Island Glacier shows the details of the boulder-like blocks of ice that fell into the rift when it split. For most of the 18-mile stretch of the crack that NASA’s DC-8 flew over on Oct. 26, 2011, it stretched about 240 feet wide, as roughly seen here. The deepest points ranged from about 165 to 190 feet, roughly equal to the top of the ice shelf down to sea level. Scientists expect the crack to propagate and the ice shelf to calve an iceberg of more than 300 square miles in the coming months. This image was captured by the Digital Mapping System (DMS) aboard the DC-8. Credit: NASA/DMS.


Note the highlighted text. 240ft is about 73m.

Perusing the SMH website this evening we came across a report that is essentially a re-hash of last year's news. But what caught our eye was the same NASA photo, but this time the width of the crack is somewhat different. The image below is a screen capture of the SMH home page for March 1 at about 10.30pm. Exactly the same photo, but this time SMH make the same crack 250m across. Talk about a fractured fairy tale. These guys never cease to split my sides.

We thought the title Crack Embiggened a little fairer, hence the change.
 

Missing News: Nothing "unprecedented" in melting ice

ABC are fond of using photos of melting ice packs to accompany reports of alarming man made global warming, perhaps to emphasise how "unprecedented" this appears to be. However a recent article titled "Reduced ice extent on the western Antarctic Peninsula at 700-970 cal. yr B.P." published in the prestigious journal "Geology" reports that melting ice in the Antarctic, particularly in the West Antarctica peninsula, is not unprecedented at all, but is quite a common natural occurrence happening regardless of human influence.
The abstract reads:
Rapid warming and consequent ice-shelf collapse have focused attention on the glacial record of the Antarctic Peninsula. Here, we present the first record of terrestrial organic material exposed by recently retreating ice that bears on past glacier extent and climate in this sensitive region. Radiocarbon dates show that ice on Anvers Island was at or behind its present position at 700–970 cal. yr B.P., coincident with ice reduction elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, the data indicate that present reduced ice extent on the western Antarctic Peninsula is not unprecedented and is similar to that experienced during at least three periods in the last 5600 yr.

Perhaps the ABC will firstly report on this important new study, and secondly, perhaps it will now find more appropriate imagery to accompany articles on Dangerous Man Made Global Warming, we suggest the figure above is much more appropriate (from We're not scared anymore Mr Gore: SPecial edition - another victim of Totschweigtaktik).


UPDATE: ABC replied to our request for an more appropriate photo to accompany ABC's report Climategate scientists cleared by British inquiry linked to above.
Received 29 July 2010

Thank you for your email of 12 July concerning the image accompanying the ABC News Online article "Climategate scientists cleared by British inquiry" published on 8 July.

 

Your concerns have been investigated by Audience and Consumer Affairs, a unit which is separate to and independent of program making areas within the ABC. In light of your concerns, we have assessed the image associated with the article against the ABC's editorial requirements for accuracy in news and current affairs content, as outlined in section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC's Editorial Policies:http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/edpols.htm.

 

On review, Audience and Consumer Affairs do not agree the image was inappropriate. The image depicted ice shelves in Antarctica; one of the issues that have been raised as part of the ongoing debates around climate change. While noting your concerns, we believe the image was appropriate to accompany a story that reported on the outcome of an inquiry into the quality of research on climate change, prompted by the leaked emails from the University of East Anglia's Climatic Research Unit.

 

Accordingly, while noting your concerns, Audience and Consumer Affairs are satisfied the image accompanying the article was in keeping with section 5.2.2(c) of the ABC's Editorial Policies. Nonetheless, please be assured that your comments have been conveyed to ABC News management.

 

Thank you again for taking the time to write, and for your interest in the ABC. For your reference, a copy of the ABC Code of Practice is available at: http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_codeofpractice-revised_2008.pdf.

 

Yours sincerely

Audience & Consumer Affairs

Oz Yellow cake in Antarctic!

Update reply recievced 6 June 2010: see below
Score +1


ABC HEADLINE: "Australian uranium dust found in Antarctic ice" Online 3 May 2010
ABC REPORTED: ABC covered claims by a Chilean researcher that uranium dust was found in ice core from the Antarctic Peninsula. The report states: "An ice core from the Antarctic bears traces of uranium that may have been carried by the wind from Australian mines in 1995, a glacier expert has told a Chilean newspaper.
The minuscule amounts of the radioactive element "correspond to a year (1995) when Australia increased its uranium production," Ricardo Jana, who participates in an international research effort in the frozen continent, told El Mercurio daily."
THE COMPLAINT: The headline overstates the certainty of the proposition made by the researcher. It also fails to take into account alternate sources of the uranium such as Uranium mines in South America including new Uranium discoveries in Chile (HERE) and Argentina (HERE) . As such the report lacks balance and contains factual errors. The result is shallow sensationalism.
OUTCOME:
Received 6 June 2010
Thank you for your email regarding ABC News Online.

Yours concerns of inaccuracy and a lack of balance have been referred to Audience and Consumer Affairs for review.  The unit is separate to and independent from ABC program areas.

On review, ABC News accepts that the headline to the report in question overstated the certainty that uranium dust found in Antarctica came from Australia. The headline has been changed to ‘Uranium in Antarctic ice may be from Australia’,  and an editor’s note has been appended to the story:   http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/03/2888354.htm  The headline did not meet the ABC’s standards for accuracy in news and current affairs content.

However, we are satisfied that the story was in keeping with the ABC’s standards for balance.  It was a brief news story reporting the findings of  scientists from the Chilean Antarctic Institute that uranium found in Antarctic dust may be from Australia; as such it reported the views from Dr Ricardo Jana.    We do not believe that further perspectives were required to be included in order to meet the requirements of the ABC’s Editorial Policies; Dr Jana was the principal relevant viewpoint on the subject to hand.    

For your reference, the ABC’s Code of Practice is available at:  http://www.abc.net.au/corp/pubs/documents/200806_codeofpractice-revised_2008.pdf

Yours sincerely
Audience & Consumer Affairs

COMMENT: Another example of poor journalism.