Greenland still an iceland

GOOD news for climate change sceptics. This week's report of the loss of 15 per cent of Greenland's permanent ice cover was incorrect. The actual figure is 0.1 per cent -- still a very large area but not as disastrous as first claimed. For once, though, it is not the climate change scientists who are to blame -- indeed they were the first to notice the incorrect figure which oddly enough, appeared in one of the most reliable reference books on this subject -- The Times Comprehensive Map of the World. Its new 13th edition clearly shows the change in the Greenland coast line which had supposedly taken place since the 10th edition and was converted without proper consultation into the 15 per cent figure.

The error might not have been noticed for some time had the publisher, HarperCollins, not put out a press release drawing attention to the dramatic change.

This alerted America's Arctic Snow and Ice Data Center, the main research body for the area, and several other researchers quickly joined its protest at the inaccuracy.

Initially HarperCollins defended their map robustly but had to admit the error as the evidence of it poured in.
There is always a risk that some climate change statistics are unreliable and should always be verified but that does not alter the fact that climate change is with us and probably won't go away.