JWoods:
Here is a link which shows that church is still in session on the climate issues: It postulates that if the artic ice did melt, it might very well trigger an ice age. It does not attempt to explain WHY the ice shelf did melt 12,000 years ago to cause that ice age (if in fact it did).
"Yes, I know - climate change (note - warming is now "change") enthusiasts will take this as yet another reason for Kyoto. But please - let's just plainly admit that even the best climatologists simply do not know what is going to happen next. Lets also just plainly admit that we are simply in no position to be sending trillions of dollars to third world countries for whatever reason - as if that is going to solve some weather trend."
You bring up points, such as the one about terminology, which have already been answered but you choose to ignore. So, I remind you that "Global Warming" and "Climate Change" are both accurate phrases depending on context. They are not exactly the same thing although one, that is Global Warming, leads to another, Climate Change. Global Warming refers to temperature increase, Climate change refers to all of the effects this warming could cause such as altered rain patterns, changes in crop growing regions, etc.
You state that an ice free Arctic might trigger another Ice Age. That is old news to those who are serious about the subject. I will quote from James Oberg's book New Earths, 1981 edition, my comments are in highlighted in blue:
"When present (and only 5,000 years ago, the ocean was apparently ice free), the floating ice allows the air to cool more intensely in winter and warm more intensely in summer, since the ice serves as an insulator between the air and the water. The temperatures just above the ice in winter average about -30C, but only -2C in in water just below it.
The equator-to-pole temperature gradient is one of the most important driving forces on planetary weather patterns. The winter semipermanent polar anticyclones provide one of the anchors for the global atmospheric circulation; with a decrease of equator-to- pole temperature difference, the subtropical anticyclone belt would be displaced northwards, drastically redistributing Earth's desert and rainfall zones.
Any drastic redistribution of climatic zones will cause disruption of crops ecozones which will in turn cause starvation even in this over glorified nation.
The disappearance of this ice by deliberate or accidental human activity would have immediate local consequences as well. There would be a more moderate coastal climate around the Arctic Ocean, but precipitation would increase substantially,perhaps leading to renewed continentalglaciation. While some regions of permafrost might be opened for cattle pasturage, others could spawn new glaciers.
An ice-free Arctic with its milder climate might contribute to the melting of the Greenland ice cap, however, and that could cause trouble. The Greenland ice is in an unstable situation: the snow-fed glaciers are at high altitudes in contact with cold air; as the ice melts, the elevation of the surface decreases, bringing it into contact with denser, warmer air which accelerates the m
