There's a new study out on the Greenland Ice Sheet that finds the ice sheet's albedo, or ability to reflect solar energy, has dropped significantly since the mid-nineties, a period that coincides with Greenland's rise in temperature. The research team, lead by Marco Tedesco, identified the three primary causes, all a result of warming-induced melting. First, newer ice crystals with a high albedo are undergoing a process of melting and re-freezing as it warms, causing them to spread out, darken, and reflect less energy. Additionally, as more snow melts overall, older (and less reflective) ice is exposed. And finally, as the surface snow melts, it leaves dark (unreflective) particles of dust and soot, which accumulate as year after years' worth of ice layers melt. This creates what's known as a positive feedback loop: as the temperature rises and causes more ice to melt, the ice sheet's albedo is reduced, which reinforces further melt.
Somehow ignoring or misunderstanding this fairly basic set of feedbacks, Watts has one of his usual posts. He calls the study's claim "ridiculous" and insults Tedesco as "either incompetent, blind, an activist or all three." Watts' main criticism is that the study does not cite evidence showing that an increase in wildfires is responsible for more black particles. Of course, the study does discuss dark particles as one of the three components reducing albedo, but Watts dismisses the study's explanation, seeming not to have even read it.
Watts also assails Tedesco for his supposed ignorance of the "Dark Snow Project," which measures the impact of dark particles on reflectivity. However, one commenter has pointed out that Tedesco is likely well aware of the project, considering he co-authored an earlier study with the Dark Snow Project's leader. The same voice of sanity debunked the rest of Watt's attack, pointing out that Tedesco's study clearly acknowledges the darkening (which just so happens to be the whole point of the study) and mentions soot as one of the three factors.
At this point, it's clear that it's not Tedesco who's "either incompetent, blind, an activist or all three," but Watts.
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