The Changing Arctic – 1922
June 20, 2023
By Paul Homewood
Many will be familiar with this article, which the US Weather Bureau published in its Monthly Weather Review in November 1922:
Now the original link only brings up this response:
https://journals.ametsoc.org/toc/mwre/50/11
I am sure there is an innocent explanation for the disappearance of this highly inconvenient document!
But thanks to the internet, it has not disappeared completely!
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
The webarchive link is blocked by my adult filter!
Innocent reason, I very much doubt that! As Orwell observes in 1984.
“Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”
There is still plenty of evidence of warmth at around that time, here is some temperature data from Iceland:
You can still get that document, it has been moved and the new link is:
https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/mwre/50/11/1520-0493_1922_50_589a_tca_2_0_co_2.xml
Then click Download PDF
Thanks Dave!
I just did the same! It’s a relief to learn that there are no evil shenanigins at ametsoc-org!
What about this archive of what NASA was saying about the primary causes of the planet’s climate – seems to be disappeared now:
https://web.archive.org/web/20100416015231/https://science.nasa.gov/earth-science/big-questions/what-are-the-primary-causes-of-the-earth-system-variability/
It is this kind of shenanigans that confirm that we are on the right side of this argument. Disappearing inconvenient documents, dishonest and biased reporting, in the case of the BBC outright lies. If man made global warming was the crisis that it is hyped up to be then none of this would be necessary, the problem would be completely self evident.
This is the stuff that annoys the hell out of me. They want to cancel all inconvenient history. The end result is the Western world will become dumb as sheep dung.
I have never regretted typing out this article in my own iMac Pages application because I felt it was such a wonderful archive piece about previous and recent “climate change”. I suspected that one day it might be “disappeared” (verb!)
Dec 4, 2009 at 2:13pm
Headline from
The Washington Post
November 2nd, 1922.
Arctic Ocean Getting Warm; Seals Vanish and Icebergs Melt.
(The newspaper article was located in the Library of Congress archives by James Lockwood.)
I have taken the trouble to type out the archive report which was the basis for the above headline because it is so interesting in view of the present hysteria concerning contemporary arctic sea ice melt
November, 1922. MONTHLY WEATHER REVIEW
THE CHANGING ARCTIC
BY George Nicolas Ifft
(under date of October 10, 1922, the American Consul in Norway submitted the following report to the State Department, Washington, D.C.)
The Arctic seems to be warming up. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters, and explorers who sail the seas about Spitzbergen and the eastern Arctic, all point to a radical change in climatic conditions, and hitherto unheard of high temperatures in that part of the earth’s surface.
In August, 1922, the Norwegian Department of Commerce sent an expedition to Spitzbergen and Bear island under the leadership of Dr Adolf Hoel, lecturer on geology at the University of Christiana. Its purpose was to survey and chart the lands adjacent to the Norwegian mines on those islands, take soundings of the adjacent waters, and make other oceanographic investigations.
Dr Hoel, who has just returned, reports the location of hitherto unknown coal dposits on the eastern shors of Advent Bay – deposits of vast extent and superior quality. This is regarded as of first importance, as so far most of the coal mined by the Norwegian companies on those islands has not been of the best quality.
The oceanographic observations have, however, been even more interesting. Ice conditions were exceptional. In fact, so little ice has never before been noted. The expedition all but established a record, saling as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes in ice-free water. This is the farthest north ever reached with modern oceanographic apparatus.
The character of the waters of the great polar basin has heretofor been practically unknown. Dr Hoel reports that he made a section of the Gulf Stream at 81 degrees north latitude and took soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters. These show the Gulf Stream very warm, and it could be traced as a surface current till beyond the 81st parallel. The warmth of the waters makes it probable that the favorable ice conditions will continue for some time.
Later a section was taken of the Gulf Stream off Bear Island and off the Isfjord, as well as a section of the cold current that comes down along the west coast of Spitbergen off the south cape.
In connection with Dr Hoel’s report, it is of interest to note the unusually warm summer in Arctic Norway and the observations of Capt. Martin Ingebrigtsen, who has sailed the eastern Arctic for 54 years past. He says that he first noted warmer conditions in 1918, that since that time it has steadily gotten warmer, and that today the Arctic of that region is not recognizable as the same Arctic region of 1868 to 1917.
Many old landmarks are so changed as to be unrecognizable. Where formerly great masses of ice were found, there are now often morraines, accumulations of earth and stones. At many points where glaciers formerly extended far into the sea they have entirely disappeared.
The change in the temperature, says Capt. Ingebrigtsen, has also brought about great change in the flora and fauna of the Arctic. This summer he sought for white fish in Spitsbergen waters. Formerly great shoals of them were found here. This year he saw none, although he visited all the old fishing grounds.
There were few seal in Spitzbergen waters this year, the catch being far under the average. This, however, did not surprise the captain. He pointed out that formerly the waters about Spitzbergen held an even summer temperature of about 3 degrees Celsius; this year recorded temperatures of about 15 dgrees Celsius, and last year the ocean did not freeze over even on the north coast of Spitzbergen.
With the disappearance of white fish and seal has come other life in these waters. This year herring in great shoals were found along the west coast of Spitzbergen, all the way from the fry to the veritable great herring. Shoals of smelt were also met with.
ooooo
Isn’t the internet wonderful – giving people like me access to this fabulous historical archive? It is like going back in time. What a privilege to retype this old story here for modern readers to appreciate. I hope you do appreciate it and draw the appropriate conclusions from it.
NB This warming, which was also experienced in Greenland, lasted from 1918 to C1939.
Continued into 1940, with the passage of the German commerce raider Komet.
story tip: Horse Hill: Future of UK fossil fuels at stake on BBC
Should the same logic apply to importing oil?
John,
from what I read it is going to the supreme court; do civil cases have the same innocent until proven guilty beyond any doubt as criminal cases have.
If not then I wonder how the judges can assess all the scientific and engineering evidence, which I presume the defence will bring with expert witnesses.
Another hurdle is the climate change act, don’t politicians have a lot to answer for?
There’s a book called “Arctic Riviera” about a scientific expedition to East Greenland in the early 1950’s. It talks about unusually warm temperatures, rapidly retreating glaciers and ice shelves etc. Some of the maps made at the time show much less glacial ice than satellite pictures from the 2000’s. Some one should buy a copy as the facts can’t then be “disappeared”. Sadly there was only a very limited print run and the cheapest copy is now over £100 which is a bit beyond what I can pay for a book.