Why the climate is changing (short version) - BF

(https://www.nature.com/articles/nature16183), intensified in the years 1998 to 2012 (see Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation).

In 2017 and 2018, Greenland gained ice mass (http://polarportal.dk/en/news/2018-season-report/), and in the summer of 2021, ice melt was even lower than in 2018.

A NASA study from 2015 shows that Antarctica is gaining ice mass, even though the glaciers are calving - which they have always done. Radar altimeters aboard the European ERS satellite and the laser altimeter aboard ICES at (https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/nasa-study-mass-gains-ofantarctic-ice-sheet-greater-than-losses) were evaluated.

In the area of the German Neumayer Station on the edge of Antarctica, the snow and ice cover is growing by up to 2 m per year (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neumayer-Station_III). The reason for the ice growth: At the end of the last ice age, the air became warmer and therefore brought more moisture over the Antarctic continent and the amount of snowfall doubled. Antarctic ice gain over the last 25 years has averaged as much as Greenland's long-term mean ice loss: 100 GT per year.

The sea level rise due to the "melting of the polar caps" is therefore in total: 0 mm per year.

20. Forest fires are decreasing globally Each year has its forest fire "hotspots" and other regions are spared. The EU's Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reported on Dec. 14: "2020 was a year of extremes when it comes to forest fires. The Arctic and the U.S. saw record levels of activity during the summer, while Canada and tropical Africa saw record lows. These lows have contributed to 2020 so far being one of the least active years since records began in 2003. " The report is supported by the adjacent graph, which shows annual emissions of carbon from forest fires from 2003 to 2020. Emissions, and thus the extent of the fires, are declining.

Regarding the California fires, the CAMS report says they were more severe than other years since 2003, but for the U.S. as a whole, the total was quite average. "Average" doesn't interest any media group or any publicityhungry climate alarmist, so the usual suspects focused on California. The most hysterical, i.e. stupid, headline was invented by the German newspapter "taz" for the forest fires in Australia: The "Chernobyl of the Climate Crisis".

The year 2021 again has focal points for forest fires. Often enough, they are caused by arson. In Greece, at least 19 suspects of ar son were arrested on the weekend of August 7 and 8 alone. And once there's a fire, it's more intense than it used to be, because for a few decades now the fallen, dry undergrowth in Western countries has been worth nothing, so it just stays put.

It looks like this picture in many forests of my Upper Bavarian homeland: Fallen branches and withered undergrowth accumulated over many years. In the past, people collected the wood for the wood stoves. I'm already waiting for lightning to strike soon and ignite a forest fire of 16