Do Captain
Scott’s words chime with you? They certainly do with me. I can’t read
anything about the Antarctic without being reminded of his ill-fated expedition
to the South Pole. Beryl Bainbridge wrote a fine novel about it called The Birthday Boys.
Worth reading if you come across a copy.
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| From Wikipedia |
For this and other reasons, Antarctic sea ice extent is one
of the parameters I keep an eye on in my fruitless desire to anticipate the
global climate’s next move.
So this
chart of Antarctic sea ice extent concerns me a little, but it’s an
emotional concern all concerns must be. As you see, Antarctic sea ice has been
spending quite a bit of time well above the 1981-2010 average.
Is it a herald of anything? Well for me there is something
awesome and scary about the Antarctic, much of it deriving from Scott’s words
and what we know of that tiny tent where he finally succumbed only eleven miles
short of One Ton Depot and safety. Defeated by hunger, exhaustion and the implacable
cold of the Antarctic.
My head says it doesn’t mean much in terms of climate change
and it probably doesn’t, but my heart says keep
an eye on it all the same.
2 comments:
"Is it a herald of anything?"
Well, with a bit of luck the ice might engulf Australia and then we can beat them at ice-hockey!
David - they could become even better though.
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