Remember when the polar ice caps were supposed to be melting due to global warming?  That’s why they call it “climate change” now, a meaningless construct that merely affirms what we’ve always known: the Earth’s climate constantly changes.  As for those poor creatures supposedly marooned as the ice melts away around them?  AFP reports:

Growing sea ice surrounding Antarctica could prompt scientists to consider relocating research stations on the continent, according to the operations manager of the Australian Antarctic Division.

Rob Wooding said that resupplying Australia's Mawson Station -- the longest continuously operated outpost in Antarctica -- relied on access to a bay, a task increasingly complicated by sea ice blocking the way.

"We are noticing that the sea ice situation is becoming more difficult," Wooding told a media briefing on Monday ahead of two days of meetings between top Antarctic science and logistics experts in Hobart, the capital of Tasmania.

Wooding said that at Mawson, the ice typically only breaks up for one or two months of the summer, but in the last four to six years this has not happened every year, and some years only partially.

"In the 2013-4 season we couldn't get anywhere near Mawson due to the sea ice and we had to get fuel in there by helicopter which is inadequate for the long-term sustainability of the station," he said, adding that the French and Japanese had similar problems.

But for the true believers, whose research grants depend on alarm continuing, the globe has now been apparently redefined to exclude the Antarctic:

Tony Worby, from an Australian centre studying Antarctic climate and ecosystems, said that in contrast to the Arctic where global warming is causing ice to melt and glaciers to shrink, sea ice around Antarctica was increasing.

Of course, in moments of honesty, scientists admit there are many factors they do not understand (which is why global warming alarms can’t be trusted).

Scientists have struggled to predict sea ice conditions, which are believed to be affected by the strong winds of the Southern Ocean which can push the ice out from the continent of Antarctica.

Yes, winds are a factor.  So are clouds.  So is solar activity.  So are a lot of things, known and unknown, that affect climate.  A lot more than the trace gas CO₂.

But in the meantime, so long as billions of dollars a year flow to the true believers, they are not going to give up on the propaganda.

Hat tip: Bryan Demko