University of Kwazulu-Natal

Fact Check Antarctic Ice Data Cherry Picked To Make False Global

Bonisiwe Shabane
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fact check antarctic ice data cherry picked to make false global

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles., opens new tab "We are constantly being lied too (sic)," says a May 6, 2025 post on Threads. The post shares an image juxtaposing two charts measuring sea ice extent. One is from December 24, 1979, while the other from December 24, 2024. "Antarctic sea ice extent is 17% higher today than it was in 1979," text under the charts reads. Similar claims also appeared on other platforms, including Instagram and X.

Narratives seeking to deny the impact of climate change on the Arctic and Antarctic -- the polar regions surrounding the North and South poles -- often rely on sea ice data to make misleading... A Dec. 26, 2024, Instagram post (direct link, archive link) shows maps of purported Antarctic sea ice extent, or area, from Dec. 24, 1979, and the same day in 2024. Text above the graphic says the extent was larger in 2024 than in 1979. "Ice doesn't lie, but climate scientists do," reads text in the post, which was first shared on X.

Additional text reads, "More proof of the hoax." The X post was reposted 19,000 times. More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page Climate change − a global phenomenon − can neither be confirmed nor disproven by comparing Antarctic sea ice extent on two individual days, according to researchers. Instead, scientists have used long-term data sets from all over the world to determine Earth's climate is changing rapidly as the result of human activity. Satellite data shows that Antarctic ice sheets have grown in size, prompting claims that climate change is in reverse or even a hoax. But it's not that simple.

A recent study has found that the Antarctic ice sheet mass has slightly increased in size in recent years, prompting a wave of claims on social media (such as here and here) that global... Published in March 2025 by researchers at Tongji University in Shanghai, China, the study reported that the Antarctic ice sheet gained approximately 108 billion tons of ice annually between 2021 and 2023. This data focused on four glacier basins in the Wilkes Land-Queen Mary Land region of the eastern Antarctic ice sheet, has been misinterpreted by some climate skeptics as evidence that climate change is a... Claim: Posts on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) have gone viral, with one stating, "Moral of the story: Never believe a climate alarmist," garnering over 270,000 views. Another viewed more than 55,000 times, claimed,"Scientists have had to pause the Climate Change Hoax Scam." One post even featured a GIF that the user believed showed new land emerging off the coast of Dubai due to falling sea levels — apparently unaware of the artificial Palm Islands constructed there...

Antarctic sea ice extent is 17 per cent higher today compared to 1979. Misleading. The claim cherry-picks dates and ignores long-term trends. AAP FACTCHECK - A misleading claim about Antarctic sea ice, based on data from two specific days decades apart, is being erroneously used to suggest climate change is a hoax. Experts say short-term data is highly variable and long-term observations are needed to show trends. The claim can be traced back to an X post from December 26, 2024.

A March 10 post on the social media platform X shows two National Snow & Ice Data Center maps depicting Antarctic sea ice extent — the area of the sea covered by ice. One is dated March 9, 1997, and the other is labeled with the same date in 2024. "Antarctic sea ice extent is higher today — 3,165,625 km. sq. — than it was 27 years ago — 3,075,000 km. sq.

— #ClimateScam," the caption says. The post was reposted more than 700 times on X and also circulated on Facebook. It is no secret that Antarctic sea ice has not exhibited a statistically significant overall decline due to climate change — it's been publicly reported by major climate research agencies. But comparing sea ice area on two random days doesn't prove a long-term trend or lack thereof. Multiple lines of evidence show Earth's climate is changing and having an array of effects on temperature and polar ice. More from USA TODAY's Fact-Check Team:How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page

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