Geoheresy

More Global Warming Bulldust

I made the mistake of clicking on the Firefox webbrowser "latest headlines" and my eye was caught by " Greenland melt 'speeding up"article.

(Yes dear reader, my main computer now is an Apple Mac-mini and UNIX).

Essentially the method used to determine the mass of ice on Greenland is to note changes in the earth's gravity field as measured by the GRACE satellite.

Gravity? First identified by Sir Isaac Newton and defined by him, so we are told, gravity is the force exerted on matter by the presence of other matter. The force obeys the inverse-square lur (Sorry Clouseau) and mighty be it.

Measure gravity from a satellite? Yes, quite easy providing one has accurate positional data. An extra problem is the absolute quantum of the measurements and here we are dealing with micro-fractions of a number and instrument sensitivity and accuracy crucial.

In any case the article linked above is silly, probably because the author is a BBC journalist.

Consider "But once the influence of the atmosphere and the oceans is removed, the variations mostly reflect changes in the mass of ice sheets and of water stored in the ground."

Huh?

Atmospheric mass is measurable but inexplicable. OK, assume their procedure is valid.

Oceans? No argument there.

From which they conclude that measured mass changes are due to changes in the mass of ice sheets and water in the ground.

Problem.

No one knows what the mass of water in the ground is.

So the rest of the report is bulldroppings.