‘Arctic sea ice continues its downward spiral’… Warmunists keep using that word. I do not think it means what they think it means.

Guest drive-by by David Middleton

NEWS 27 SEPTEMBER 2018

Arctic sea ice continues its downward spiral

At 4.6 million square kilometres in coverage, this year’s sea ice minimum is the sixth lowest on record.

Arctic sea-ice cover following this summer’s melt was the sixth lowest on record, the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colorado, announced on 27 September.

[…]

Nature

There are 40 September ice extent minima “on record”… How is the 6th lowest out of 40 the continuation of a “spiral” or anything else?

Spiral

Which definition of “spiral” fits this graph?

The “the sixth lowest on record” is the continuation of 12 years of no significant change in the September extent…

References

Fetterer, F., K. Knowles, W. Meier, M. Savoie, and A. K. Windnagel. 2017, updated daily. Sea Ice Index, Version 3. [Indicate subset used]. Boulder, Colorado USA. NSIDC: National Snow and Ice Data Center. doi: https://doi.org/10.7265/N5K072F8. [Accessed September 26, 2018].

Middleton, D.H. 2018. Another Dis-alarming Analysis of Arctic Sea Ice. Watts Up With That?