Here is an overview of Antarctic ice with references to studies. There are references to scientific papers on the subject there. Measurements indicate Antarctica is losing 100-300 Gt/year from the ice sheets and the rate is accelerating.
I like that site and I appreciate the link you've provided; Robert Way covers the arguments for and against in depth with lots of references and current dialogue.
The interesting thing, though, is that the state of current knowledge, especially regarding Antarctica and continental ice-sheet measurement is anything but straight-forward and anything but settled. The means for measuring yearly ice-melt versus ice-gain on the South pole is really rather sketchy and open to biased interpretation.
I was also fascinated to learn that in his rebut of the "It's the Sun" argument, it is noted that the Sun is indeed doing some strange things. This is consistent with the idea that the solar system itself is undergoing a change due to outside forces and that the Earth and other planets are similarly affected. The theory being that the dark star, or so-called, "Nemesis" is grounding the whole system, pulling energy out and resulting in numerous effects system-wide.
I think you're making a lot of assumptions about how easy it would be to bring together all of the data necessary to do what you want and as I said above what the NSIDC produces is probably a better representation of the situation anyway.
I think you're partly correct. I think my assumptions about NASA's databases are entirely reasonable given what we know about computer systems and the kinds of systems reported to be in use there, etc. But I must admit, I didn't realize that Antarctica was completely ice-covered with no edges of the actual land itself showing from beneath the ice sheets. I can understand why photographs of top-views wouldn't be terribly useful since there is nothing to measure in terms of retreat/expansion.
It's a shame that the other means of measurement and the results are so weak. It would be interesting to know what is actually happening. Reading some of the essays and discussions indicates a varying lack of objectivity and a fairly wide expanse of uncertainty (in spite of what Mister Way claims).
If someone comes out with a revolutionary new theory that explains the current climate better current theory then I'll accept that (after some research) but until such a time I accept the current science.
I agree. The revolutionary new theory isn't 100% there, but rather is a collection of ideas which make me scratch my head. James McCanney, (interviewed in the two links in my original post) offers some of those ideas. Though, he's also a bit of a crazy-man suggesting some other things which I find hard to swallow, but then many of history's most famous and productive scientists have shown similar qualities.
Other aspects are hard-to-ignore points of interest which suggest larger forces at work than simple climate change models. One of those points of interest I noted earlier is the story about Greenland seeing first Sunrise two days too early. The accepted theory being that the horizon line melted due to global warming, but this is patently ridiculous for several reasons, not the least of which being that sunrise isn't measured over ice sheet and which leaves us with the question of, "What the heck is going on?"
In any case, I think it might be prudent to wrap this up here.(?) If you agree, then I want to thank you for being intelligent and for offering a good resistance to my thinking, proving once again that Slashdot can be a fine knowledge crucible. I don't have all the answers, but I feel more informed and stronger in mind today than before we started to dialogue.
Cheers!
-FL