Global warming, climate change, all these things are just a dream come true for politicians. I deal with evidence and not with frightening computer models because the seeker after truth does not put his faith in any consensus. The road to the truth is long and hard, but this is the road we must follow. People who describe the unprecedented comfort and ease of modern life as a climate disaster, in my opinion have no idea what a real problem is.
When natural disaster strikes, climate charlatans pounce.
Climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann (of Climategate fame) wrote in the UK Guardian that Nepal’s flood reveals “the apocalyptic future that lies in store if we fail to take dramatic climate action.”
The executive director of the UN Green Climate Fund, Mafalda Duarte, shamelessly turned the tragedy into a call for cash, saying, “We see when there is will, that finance is mobilized to respond to emergencies. For some reason, we don’t see the same type of response to climate.”
Climate scientist Dr. Michael Mann (of Climategate fame) wrote in the UK Guardian that Nepal’s flood reveals “the apocalyptic future that lies in store if we fail to take dramatic climate action.”
The executive director of the UN Green Climate Fund, Mafalda Duarte, shamelessly turned the tragedy into a call for cash, saying, “We see when there is will, that finance is mobilized to respond to emergencies. For some reason, we don’t see the same type of response to climate.”
Nepal’s Foreign Minister Shisir Khanal wants China, India, the U.S., and other industrialized nations to compensate Nepal financially, framing it as a matter of “moral liability.” He said Nepal “will turn this into an issue of justice in the international arena.” He added, “This is not about asking for aid; it is about the obligation of large nations.”
Nepal’s flash flood was not caused by your SUV or refrigerator.
CFACT’s Marc Morano and Chris Martz brought the receipts.
Marc posted at CFACT’s Climate Depot: “Climate narrative obliterated: Satellite images reveal massive bedrock collapse beneath glacier in Nepal — Turns out the avalanche was caused by the collapse of bedrock… not the glacier collapsing itself.”
CFACT meteorologist Chris Martz posted a video to X in which he describes a wall of water as high as the Statue of Liberty but notes that the tragedy was both natural and historically normal. Plate tectonics cause a great deal of seismic activity in the area, and dramatic avalanches occur frequently. This avalanche was accentuated by the weight of massive amounts of recent snow.
What happened in Nepal and Tibet was a genuine tragedy. The human toll is heartbreaking.
No amount of climate socialism, taxes, or mandating inefficient energy could have prevented this loss.
Exploiting human tragedies such as those that occurred in Nepal and Tibet in a bid to obtain wealth and power is utterly shameless.
The political talking point ignores tens of millions of years of plate tectonics and its consequences and completely dismisses well-established mountain-weather dynamics.
Reports of the devastation in Nepal following a massive landslide now indicate that the death toll from Wednesday’s devastating flash floods in Nepal and China has risen to 800, with around 3,000 people still missing.
The political talking point ignores tens of millions of years of plate tectonics and its consequences and completely dismisses well-established mountain-weather dynamics.
Reports of the devastation in Nepal following a massive landslide now indicate that the death toll from Wednesday’s devastating flash floods in Nepal and China has risen to 800, with around 3,000 people still missing.
Nepal’s disaster agency said Sunday the death toll had climbed to 788 with 2,502 missing, while Chinese authorities reported 16 deaths and 546 missing on the Chinese side of the border.
Poor weather and challenging terrain have hampered aerial rescue operations.
In Nuwakot, one of the Nepali districts devastated by the floods, helicopters resumed operations before noon Saturday after poor weather temporarily obstructed their activities. Some helicopters were loaded with boxes and bags of aid, including clothes, instant noodles, crackers and rice. Others returned from the flood-hit areas carrying survivors.
…More than 3,700 people have been rescued in Nepal so far, according to authorities there. Hundreds of the missing are foreigners who were in the area to work, trek or make a pilgrimage to a sacred peak on the Tibet side of the border.
Nepal’s deadly Himalayan flash flood this week has predictably produced a familiar ritual: before rescue crews had finished counting bodies, climate cultists and their political acolytes were already racing to slot the disaster into their favorite narrative. Outlets from the New York Times to CNN to Forbes rushed out pieces insisting that “climate change” primed the catastrophe.
Suddenly everyone became an expert on the Himalayan climate.
Climate change is leading to conditions that can destabilize high-mountain rock and ice, which may cause disasters such as the flood along the border between Nepal and Tibet, scientists say, though it might not be the sole trigger https://t.co/qS76HHtT5cpic.twitter.com/QlNuFJ9uWx
Three clear-eyed voices on X pushed back: Dr. Matthew Wielicki (Director – United States Global Change Research Program), meteorologist Chris Martz, and Jim Steele (ecologist and author of Landscapes & Cycles). They deserve amplification, not the usual media silence.
So, let’s take a deep dive into Himalayan geology and geography with them.
The flooding in Nepal and Tibet is devastating.
Hundreds of people have died in these catastrophic floods and over 2,000 are still missing.
No, President Trump. Climate change is not a hoax. It is causing devastating crises all over the planet.
The disaster began when an enormous chunk of a glacier on Langtang Lirung, high in the Himalayas, sheared off and slammed into the valley below with such force that it registered as a magnitude 5.2 seismic event, according to the US Geological Survey. The ice and rock mass blocked the Lhende Khola river, and when the makeshift dam gave way, it unleashed a wall of water, mud, and boulders the size of cars that buried villages downstream. Even the outlets pushing the climate narrative admit the actual trigger is still “under investigation” and that no formal attribution study has been done.
This newly surfaced video shows the landslide that occurred just a few hours after the main glacier collapse.
The event formed a barrier lake that dammed the Lhende Khola River along the Nepal–Tibet border. pic.twitter.com/U99m3uURaq
That inconvenient detail didn’t stop the parade of quotes about “what climate change looks like.” One geologist told CNN, “Whether this particular event can be tied to climate change or not, this is what we expect.” This is not science, but a talking point dressed up as science.
The mountains have been doing this for millions of years.
Meteorologist Chris Martz cut through the noise by noting that landslides and avalanches in Nepal have occurred for tens of millions of years, long before humans existed, let alone burned fossil fuels. As he noted, the V-shaped valleys carved through the region were carved by exactly these landslide-flood events at pre-industrial carbon dioxide levels, a geologic fact that climate cultists conveniently skip.
Long story short, this is BS.
Landslides / avalanches in Nepal have happened for tens of millions of years. In fact, floods associated with landslides are how the V-shaped valleys in the region were carved out millions of years ago at pre-industrial atmospheric carbon dioxide… https://t.co/oud6rlrZqHpic.twitter.com/sRGsVHISIB
Geologist Dr. Matthew Wielicki, who has done fieldwork sitting above the Himalaya’s “enormous, deeply incised” river systems in Tibet, made the same point: This landscape is robustly geologically active on its own, independent of anything happening in the atmosphere.
I’ve spent many weeks doing fieldwork in Tibet, sitting above these enormous, deeply incised Himalayan river systems and seeing firsthand just how geologically active this landscape is.
So spare me the climate-change grift every time a natural disaster strikes.
— Dr. Matthew M. Wielicki (@MatthewWielicki) August 27, 2026
Both men are pointing to something the peer-reviewed record supports. The Himalaya is a young, still-rising mountain range, formed by the Indian plate colliding with Eurasia roughly 40 to 65 million years ago, and it remains one of the most tectonically active zones on Earth.
Research into the region’s landslide history documents “giant rock slope failures” tied to the North Himalayan Fault system going back tens of thousands of years, driven by the constant interplay between tectonic and glacial activity… not modern emissions.
In fact, Wielicki wrote a paper noting that southern Tibet rapidly eroded and exposed rock from about 17–16 million to 12–11 million years ago, probably because tectonic uplift and steep rivers drove intense erosion. Around 10 million years ago, enhanced uplift in the Himalayas (likely driven by crustal thickening and fault-related rock stacking) shifted drainage divides southward and diverted rivers away from southern Tibet. This tectonic restructuring strengthened the Himalayan rain barrier, dried southern Tibet, reduced river power, and largely shut down erosion there even as the mountain belt continued to develop.
In other words, this event is an example of Earth-caused climate change.
Rain, snow, and mountains that manufacture their own weather.
Another detail missing from the climate-panic coverage is that the Himalaya doesn’t just sit there passively, waiting to be affected by global climate. The mountains are so large that they actively create their own extreme weather.
Keep in mind that the Great Himalaya’s average high crest is about 3.8 miles high, with the iconic Mount Everest reaching roughly 5.5 miles.
The sheer height of these peaks forces monsoon moisture upward, and the precipitation released drives erosion and landslides for eons. Add seasonal snowmelt and near-vertical topography, and you have a landscape engineered by nature to periodically fail catastrophically, regardless of the level of carbon dioxide and with or without an added tenth of a degree of global average temperature.
Geothermal heat melts ice from below.
Where there is a collision of 2 tectonic plates, there is a great deal of geothermal heat that arises FROM THE SURFACE, not THE ATMOSPHERE. SUVs are not responsible for this heat. Furthermore, glacial forces themselves can elevate temperature.
However, on Langtang Lirung, at the 5200 meter elevation where the rock-ice block first separated to start the 2026 avalanche, the average summer temperature is still below freezing at -6°C to -8°C (21°F to 17°F). During the warmest summer period, mid-day averages reach 2°C to 6°C (36°F to 43°F) but night temperatures stay near -2°C to -5°C (28°F to 23°F). Furthermore, science suggests air temperatures are not affecting the surface ice.
The top few meters of a glacier, rapidly respond to air temperature, sunshine, and seasons. Nonetheless winter cold and summer warmth only penetrate about 10–20 m from the glaciers’ surface. Thus, changes in atmospheric temperature are unlikely to provide “lubricating” melt water in 200-meter thick glaciers. Below the shallow “seasonal layer,” temperature is steady and often close to the local mean annual air temperature, which again averages summer temperature below freezing at -6°C to -8°C (21°F to 17°F).
Still studies show the glacier-ground interface is almost always warmer than the ice above it for 3 main reasons: 1) Because ice is such a good insulator, the geothermal heat rising from Earth’s interior accumulates at the glacier’s bottom. 2) frictional heat from ice sliding over rock adds to the temperature. 3) Under thick ice, the melting point is lower due to pressure effects. So even if the surface is –30 °C or colder, the bed of a 2–3 km ice sheet can sit at or very near 0 °C. Global warming is not a factor.
How Grifters Twist Nepal’s Natural Glacier Avalanche to Blame Fossil Fuels.
Avalanches and earthquakes are relatively common in the Himalaya and recently drove Langtang Lirung’s glacier collapses. For example, on the south-facing side of Langtang Lirung, a 7.8 earthquake caused… pic.twitter.com/qrFLpV2WMR
The International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), the regional scientific body actually based in Kathmandu, remarked that it’s simply “too early to determine what role climate change played in this specific event”. That’s the honest scientific position.
Everything past that point is ghoulish narrative laundering that uses dead villagers as a backdrop for a political talking point and ignores tens of millions of years of plate tectonics and its consequences, and completely dismisses well-established mountain-weather dynamics.
Salt may have amplified Earth’s descent into a “Snowball Earth” state around 700 million years ago through salt- albedo feedback, according to research published in Climate of the Past.
Cryogenian climate models investigate the extreme “Snowball Earth” glaciations of the Cryogenian Period (roughly 720–635 million years ago), particularly the long Sturtian (~717–660 Ma) and Marinoan (~645–635 Ma) events. These models explore how Earth could enter a near-global ice-covered state, the climate dynamics once frozen, and how it could escape that state.
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Salt may have amplified Earth’s descent into a “Snowball Earth” state around 700 million years ago through a salt- albedo feedback, according to research published in Climate of the Past.
During the Cryogenian Period (roughly 720- 635 million years ago), Earth experienced extreme glaciations in which ice advanced from the poles to the tropics, covering oceans and continents. Geological evidence includes glacial deposits at low latitudes.
The classic ice- albedo feedback is central to explanations: snow and ice reflect most incoming sunlight (high albedo), reducing absorption of solar energy, which cools the planet further and allows more ice to form.
Researchers from UiT, The Arctic University of Norway (Aksel Samuelsberg, Per Kristen Jakobsen, and Martin Rypdal) proposed an additional mechanism.
As sea ice forms, most salt is expelled, but some remains trapped in brine pockets. Under very cold, dry conditions (relevant to a Snowball Earth), salts crystallize, e.g., mirabilite near –8°C and hydrohalite (a hydrated sodium chloride) around –23°C or lower.
As bare sea ice sublimates (turns directly from solid to vapor, common in dry tropical regions with limited snowfall), these salts are left behind as a lag deposit of bright white crystals.
These salt crystals have extremely high albedo, models used values around 93% reflectance for a hydrohalite- rich surface, compared with about 55% for bare sea ice and 80% for snow/ice.
This creates a positive feedback: more reflection → less warming → further cooling and more ice/salt.
In a simple climate (energy- balance) model that incorporated this salt- albedo feedback, the process intensified cooling once activated during the early stages of global glaciation. It acted like an accelerator, helping push the planet into a deeper frozen state than ice- albedo alone, and made the frozen state more resistant to melting (requiring substantially more greenhouse warming to exit).
The study notes limitations: it is an initial investigation using a simplified model.
It is uncertain whether large, persistent salt deposits would have formed and lasted; more complex models including clouds, winds, ice dynamics, dust, and other processes are needed.
Over long timescales, ice flow from higher latitudes could also dilute tropical salt. The salt feedback complements rather than replaces the ice- albedo effect and may help explain aspects of how Earth entered (and stayed in) these extreme states.
Snowball Earth events are thought to have occurred more than once in the Neoproterozoic and may have influenced early life evolution. This work highlights how surface physical processes can strongly affect planetary climate under conditions very different from today’s.
Cryogenian climate models investigate the extreme “Snowball Earth” glaciations of the Cryogenian Period (roughly 720- 635 million years ago), particularly the long Sturtian (~717- 660 Ma) and Marinoan (~645- 635 Ma) events. These models explore how Earth could enter a near- global ice-covered state, the climate dynamics once frozen, and how it could escape that state.
The central mechanism is the ice- albedo feedback. Snow and ice have high reflectivity (albedo), so expanding ice reflects more sunlight, cools the surface further, and promotes more ice growth.
This creates bistability (hysteresis) in climate models:
A warm, partially ice- covered or ice-free state can tip into a fully glaciated “Snowball” state under reduced solar luminosity (Neoproterozoic Sun was ~6% weaker), low CO₂, continental configurations favoring high albedo, or other triggers.
Once in the Snowball state, escape typically requires very high atmospheric CO₂ (from volcanic outgassing, as silicate weathering is suppressed under ice) to overcome the high planetary albedo.
Simple one- dimensional energy- balance models (EBMs, e.g., Budyko- Sellers type) capture this hysteresis clearly, showing stable warm, intermediate, and fully glaciated branches, with an unstable regime between them. More complex models produce qualitatively similar behavior.
“Hard Snowball” (near- total ice cover) versus “slushball” or “Waterbelt” (narrow equatorial open- water band) remains debated. Geological evidence (equatorial glacial deposits, cap carbonates) supports extensive ice, but models and some proxy data allow limited open water or thin ice in places.
Types of Models Used
Energy- balance models (EBMs): Idealized, low-dimensional (often 1D meridional). They efficiently explore bifurcation points, albedo parameterizations, and feedback. Recent work incorporates a salt- albedo feedback: in net-ablation (sublimation- dominated) tropical zones, cold bare sea ice can leave highly reflective salt crystal lag deposits (e.g., hydrohalite, albedo ~0.93). This intensifies cooling once initiated and makes the frozen state more resistant to melting.
General circulation models (GCMs) / Atmosphere-Ocean GCMs (AOGCMs): 3D models (e.g., CAM, ECHAM, FOAM, GENESIS, LMDz, MIROC, MPI-ESM) simulate atmospheric circulation, clouds, hydrology, ocean dynamics, and sometimes coupled ice sheets. They resolve Hadley cells, polar vortices, and regional effects under prescribed or evolving ice cover.
Intermediate- complexity models (e.g., CLIMBER) and specialized setups: Used for sensitivity studies on paleogeography, orbital parameters, and volcanism.
Coupled climate- ice- sheet and biogeochemical models: Explore long- term ice dynamics, sea- glacier flow, and carbon- cycle interactions (e.g., CO₂ buildup for deglaciation).
Boundary conditions typically include reduced solar constant (~94% of modern), Cryogenian continental configurations (often tropical land bias after Rodinia breakup), variable CO₂, and sometimes large igneous province sulfur aerosols or orbital variations.
Main Findings from Modeling
Initiation:
Ice- albedo feedback can drive rapid global glaciation (years to decades in some simulations) once a critical ice- line latitude is crossed.
Sensitivity studies show CO₂ thresholds for inception vary widely (roughly 10- 250 ppm or more) depending on continental layout, orbital geometry, and volcanic aerosols. Tropical continents raise planetary albedo and can favor colder climates. Asteroid or large volcanic sulfur injections can tip already- cool states into Snowball conditions.
Snowball climate dynamics:
Atmosphere becomes very dry and cold. Tropical circulation can reverse due to low thermal inertia of an ice- covered surface, creating an equatorial desert with net sublimation and accumulation of snow/frost at higher latitudes.
Intermodel comparisons of fully ice- covered states show substantial differences in surface temperatures and ice thickness (one outlier model, FOAM, is notably colder partly due to limited clouds).
Clouds generally provide a net warming effect and can lower the CO₂ needed for deglaciation; high-resolution simulations reveal complex, meandering cloud structures.
Limited open water (~15% or less) can allow climate oscillations (seasonal, interannual) similar to modern ones, consistent with some sedimentary records.
Ocean circulation changes include strong salinity stratification during sea- ice expansion.
Termination:
Requires high CO₂ (hundreds of times pre- industrial in some older GCM results; lower in models with stronger cloud or dust effects). Dust accumulation, snow aging, or mid- latitude processes can aid melting in some simulations.
Deglaciation is often abrupt once melting begins, followed by extreme greenhouse conditions and deposition of distinctive “cap carbonates.”
Additional feedbacks and processes:
Salt precipitation from sea ice (as noted above) can amplify early- stage cooling.
Sea- glacier flow, cryoconite holes, meltwater ponds, and subglacial oceans are explored for their roles in ice dynamics and potential refugia for life.
Paleogeography, reduced degassing rates, and weathering of volcanic provinces have been linked to initiation in combined tectonic– climate models.
Challenges and Uncertainties
Models disagree on exact CO₂ thresholds, the persistence of open water, cloud radiative effects, and the relative importance of various feedbacks.
Surface albedo schemes (snow vs. bare ice vs. salt vs. dust) strongly influence results.
Many simulations idealize geography or omit full ice dynamics, clouds, or dust. Geological constraints (duration of glaciations, proxy temperatures, paleogeography) continue to refine model setups.
Overall, models of increasing complexity confirm that ice -albedo feedback makes global glaciation a robust possibility under Neoproterozoic conditions, while highlighting the sensitivity of the climate system to surface processes, clouds, and boundary conditions.
Ongoing work integrates better paleogeography, biogeochemistry, and high- resolution physics to better match the geological record of these extreme events.
Salt- albedo feedback is positive climate feedback in which the precipitation of salts from sea ice increases surface reflectivity (albedo), leading to greater reflection of sunlight, further cooling, and more ice/salt formation. It is particularly relevant to extreme cold climates such as Neoproterozoic Snowball Earth events (~720- 635 million years ago).
When seawater freezes, most salt is rejected into the surrounding water or concentrated in brine pockets within the ice (brine rejection).
Under sufficiently low temperatures, salts crystallize out of these brine inclusions:
Different salts precipitate at different temperatures. Mirabilite (Na₂SO₄·10H₂O) can form around –8°C. Hydrohalite (NaCl·2H₂O), the most abundant, begins precipitating significantly below about –23°C. The full seawater eutectic (complete solidification of remaining brine) occurs near –36°C to –37°C.
Precipitation shows hysteresis: crystals form at lower temperatures than those at which they dissolve upon warming.
In a net- ablation (sublimation- dominated) environment, expected in the dry tropics of a Snowball Earth, ice sublimates (solid → vapor), leaving behind a lag deposit of bright salt crystals on the surface. These crystals are highly scattering and reflective, especially in the near infrared where pure ice absorbs more strongly.
Laboratory measurements show broadband albedos for hydrohalite-rich crusts reaching ~0.93, compared with ~0.5- 0.55 for bare cold sea ice, ~0.8 for snow, and lower values for melting or ponded ice.
This creates a positive feedback loop:
Cooling allows salt precipitation and/or crust formation.
Higher albedo reflects more solar radiation.
Less energy is absorbed → further cooling → more precipitation/ice.
There are related sub- processes: a milder “precipitation feedback” (salts inside ice raise albedo slightly) and stronger “crust- dissolution feedback” (warming dissolves the lag deposit, sharply lowering albedo and accelerating melt).
Observational and Experimental Evidence:
Field measurements (e.g., McMurdo Sound, Antarctica): Bare cold sea ice albedo increases gradually as temperatures drop below the hydrohalite precipitation threshold, consistent with salt crystallization.
Laboratory experiments: Controlled growth of NaCl ice, sublimation to form hydrohalite lag deposits, and spectral albedo measurements confirm very high reflectivity (~0.93 all- wave). Warming causes rapid dissolution, ponding, and albedo collapse (sometimes below 0.4). Optical modeling derives inherent optical properties of hydrohalite and provides parameterizations for climate models.
On the modern Earth the effect is negligible because temperatures cold enough for significant precipitation occur mainly in polar winter under snow cover with limited sunlight. It becomes climatically important only under prolonged, low- latitude, cold, dry conditions with exposed sea ice.
Most Snowball Earth simulations have used simplified albedo schemes (snow- covered, bare cold ice, melting ice, ponds). The salt- albedo effect was hypothesized earlier (around 2009- 2016) but only recently incorporated into climate models.
In a 2026 study, researchers added a salt-albedo parameterization to a one- dimensional energy-balance model (EBM). Key features included:
Temperature- dependent switch to high salt albedo (0.93) below a eutectic threshold in the net-ablation zone.
Resulting bifurcation diagrams showed two coexisting stable Snowball states: one with salt deposits (significantly colder) and one without.
Once activated, the feedback intensified early- stage cooling (acting as an “accelerator”) and raised the radiative forcing (e.g., CO₂) needed for deglaciation, making the frozen state more resistant to melting.
Albedo values used in related modeling include ~0.55 for bare sea ice, ~0.80 for snow/ice, and ~0.93 for hydrohalite- rich surfaces.
The feedback has also been explored for exoplanets (e.g., M- dwarf habitable- zone worlds), where hydrohalite’s high near- infrared reflectivity interacts strongly with the host star’s spectrum and can cool planets further.
In Snowball Earth contexts, the feedback helps explain how an already cooling planet could plunge deeper into a hard- frozen state, especially in tropical ablation zones where snow cover was limited. It adds nuance to the classic ice- albedo feedback and hysteresis loop.
In Snowball Earth contexts, the feedback helps explain how an already cooling planet could plunge deeper into a hard- frozen state, especially in tropical ablation zones where snow cover was limited. It adds nuance to the classic ice- albedo feedback and hysteresis loop.
Limitations and uncertainties include:
Duration and persistence of salt crusts (ice flow from higher latitudes could supply fresher ice; winds, dust, or clouds could modify the effect).
Exact temperatures and rates under realistic multi-salt seawater chemistry and dynamics.
Need for fuller 3D GCMs that include clouds, winds, ice dynamics, and dust to quantify the net strength.
Potential competing effects during deglaciation (dissolution of salt could lower albedo and aid melting once temperatures rise).
Overall, salt-albedo feedback illustrates how micro-scale surface processes (brine chemistry and crystal optics) can influence planetary- scale climate under extreme conditions. It remains an active area of research, with the recent EBM results providing a foundation for more sophisticated modeling.
Amplified cooling of Snowball Earth from a salt– albedo feedback
On a Snowball Earth, atmospheric circulation creates a net ablation (sublimation- dominated) zone at lower latitudes. Bare sea ice is exposed for long periods under extreme cold. At sufficiently low temperatures, salts precipitate from brine pockets in the ice. As the ice sublimates, these salts form a lag deposit of highly reflective crystals (primarily hydrohalite, NaCl·2H₂O).
This raises surface albedo and creates positive salt- albedo feedback that intensifies cooling. The effect had not previously been included in Snowball Earth climate models.
The authors implemented a simplified salt-albedo parameterization in a classic one- dimensional (meridional) diffusive energy- balance model (EBM).
The model equation balances heat capacity, meridional diffusion of heat, absorbed solar radiation (modified by albedo), and outgoing longwave radiation (Planck response, parameterized as
A + BT).
Key albedo features:
Standard ice- albedo feedback (higher albedo below an ice- line temperature threshold).
Lower bare- sea-i ce albedo in the net ablation zone (Jormungand/Waterbelt- style setup).
Salt albedo () Activated below a eutectic temperature (C) in the ablation zone, representing hydrohalite lag deposits.
Equilibrium solutions were found analytically via boundary integrals (locating both an ice line and a “salt line”). Bifurcation diagrams were constructed using outgoing longwave parameter (A) as the control (proxy for greenhouse forcing such as CO₂). Stability was assessed with the slope- stability theorem and finite-difference simulations.
Main Results
The salt- albedo feedback produces two coexisting stable fully glaciated (Snowball) states: one with salt deposits on equatorial bare ice (significantly colder) and one without.
Once the feedback activates, it amplifies cooling during the early phase of global glaciation, acting like an accelerator that pushes the climate deeper into a frozen state than ice- albedo feedback alone would achieve.
The salt- covered state is more resistant to deglaciation: substantially stronger warming (higher greenhouse forcing) is required to exit it compared with the salt- free Snowball state.
For the model parameters examined, the salt-deposit state is the one preferentially reached when cooling from a warm climate, consistent with the classic Snowball Earth hysteresis (warm state → Snowball → eventual escape under high CO₂).
The authors note that multiple unstable states with partial salt deposits also appear but are not the focus.
Salt precipitation may have played a role in shaping the early climate of Snowball Earth by rapidly intensifying cooling via the high albedo of salt crystals.
The work is described as an initial investigation.
Limitations include the simplicity of the EBM (no clouds, winds, full ice dynamics, dust, or multi- component ocean chemistry) and uncertainty about how long salt deposits would persist (ice flow from higher latitudes could dilute them).
More sophisticated 3D models are needed to quantify the effect under realistic conditions.
This study builds directly on earlier laboratory and field work (Light, Carns, and colleagues, ~2009- 2016) that measured the high albedo of hydrohalite crusts and hypothesized the feedback, providing the first climate- model demonstration of its potential climatic impact.
DOI: final version: Clim. Past, 22, 1499–1506, 2026
Authors: Aksel Samuelsberg, Per Kristen Jakobsen, and Martin Rypdal (UiT—The Arctic University of Norway)
Abstract.
It is believed that the atmospheric circulation on Snowball Earth produced a net ablation zone exposing bare sea ice. Under sufficiently low temperatures, salt begins to precipitate out of sea ice, forming a lag deposit of crystals with high albedo as the ice sublimates. This could have resulted in a salt- albedo feedback that has not previously been included in modeling studies of Snowball Earth. We implement salt-albedo feedback in a simple climate model and show that, once initiated, this mechanism could have intensified global cooling in the initial phase of Snowball Earth. Our results suggest that salt precipitation may have played a role in shaping the early climate of Snowball Earth.
Fortune magazine published an article claiming that declining sardine fisheries and increased prices are due to climate change and the war in Iran. This is false. While warmer waters can drive sardine schools into cooler areas, this has always been the case and sardine stocks naturally fluctuate from year to year.
Fortune magazine published an article claiming that declining sardine fisheries and increased prices are due to climate change and the war in Iran. This is false. While warmer waters can drive sardine schools into cooler areas, this has always been the case and sardine stocks naturally fluctuate from year to year. Recent ocean warming is also a multifaceted phenomena, and not just due to climate change. Also, overfishing, especially from countries that do not care about regulations and preservation of the fish stocks like China, is putting much greater pressure on fish stocks.
An ocean fisheries researcher Fortune interviewed, Rashid Sumaila from the University of British Columbia, said that sardines “are very sensitive to climate change” and “follow the temperature.”
Blaming this on climate change is silly because of the way the media has primed the public to associate climate change with supposed human-caused long term global warming. “Climate change” does not impact ocean temperatures the same everywhere and hasn’t caused consistent yearly above-average sea temperatures either.
As explained in Climate at a Glance: Ocean Temperatures: It is true that global ocean temperature has, on average, increased since the early part of the 20th century, by just about 1.3°F, but multi-year patterns like ENSO drive ocean temperatures higher and lower depending on the phase, and even longer patterns like the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) can shift temperatures over several decades. These are not human-caused, but rather natural patterns. Other shorter-term natural factors that are contributing to higher ocean temperatures and possibly impacting sardine stocks and movements are recent large El Nino cycles. In addition, evidence strongly suggests that regulations limiting emissions from ships has also played a role in recent ocean warming by letting more sunlight through to warm sea water – a human impact but not one tied to the long-term increase in human greenhouse gas emissions.
That sardines move with changing water temperatures doesn’t mean the fish are dying out, but rather moving away from the fishing zones of some countries. This is normal for sardines. Like birds, they migrate seasonally to stay in the temperature range they prefer, going north for the summer and moving south again when temperatures cool.
The article acknowledges that the fish are moving, not dying out, when they explain higher prices for sardines are exacerbated by higher fuel costs due to the war with Iran, and since fisherman “now have to travel farther to find [sardines], exactly as fuel becomes more expensive and the yield becomes less guaranteed.”
Fortune also correctly points out that “Government fuel subsidies make the underlying problem worse,” because “if you pay for fuel, that just makes people fish more than they would.”
Despite Portugal, Spain, and Morocco placing catch limits on sardines in order to protect fish stocks, illegal fishermen do not care.
A study from 2015 found that “overfishing exacerbates natural boom-and-bust cycles of the fish,” making it impossible for them to recover as quickly as they otherwise would. The State of the World Fisheries and Aquaculture report from the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization says that sardines, “which represented about 33 percent of the total landings, was classified as overfished in 2023.” It also explained that catches of Pacific sardines “are strongly influenced by interannual environmental variability, particularly El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events.”
Fortune’s article only briefly mentions illegal international overfishing, in the process failing to name the country most responsible: China.
China’s distant-water fishing fleet is the largest in the world, with more than 3,000 fishing vessels that fish aggressively just outside the territorial waters of other countries. The Chinese government subsidizes these fishing fleets. The Chinese Communist Party’s response to countries complaining about declining fish stocks and China’s role in it is to blame climate change.
A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article reports that near Ghana, “Chinese ships have exhausted small, sardine-like fish vital to coastal communities, according to local officials and conservationists.” In the same article, the Chinese Foreign Ministry deflects blame for its overharvest of squid by saying “the Chinese fleet isn’t responsible for the decrease in squid catches, pointing out that Peru’s own government has attributed the decline to changing ocean temperatures.”
Articles like this one in Fortune give China more cover for their activities.
The market for canned sardines is growing, especially as health fads focusing on high protein and healthy fats have become more popular. Their populations are dictated by natural boom-and-bust cycles, as nearly all small fish species demonstrate. Also, like other oceangoing migrating fish stocks, they are subject to and often harmed by overfishing especially during those bust cycles. Water temperature impacts where the fish are, and unfortunately when shallow coastal waters warm, sardines may be driven into the international waters that are famously overfished by the Chinese deep ocean commercial fishing fleet.
There is no justification for Fortune to attribute the up and down cycles and recent declines in sardine stocks to climate change, downplaying natural cycles, and more importantly, giving China’s illicit and uncontrolled fishing activity a pass in the process.
Nuclear power will be the future. There is no doubt about it. Nuclear is the cleanest, greenest, cheapest, safest, energy source ever. There is no doubt about that, no matter what anyone says. Also, just look at the energy density of sugar, coal, petrol, and uranium. Sugar contains about 20 megajoules per kilogram, coal 25, petrol 50, but uranium is 76,000,000. What this tells you is that you can carry your lifetime supply of electricity in a shopping packet, if you’re carrying uranium.
Let us face it, coal is going to be a primary energy source of the world for years to come. Stopping coal use is like shooting yourself in both feet with a machine gun. As time passes, rather rapidly, there’s no doubt that coal will give way to nuclear, for purely economic reasons. Certainly nothing to do with the myth of anthropogenic CO2 causing increased global warming. Meanwhile the Chinese are building new coal plants faster than the Western world is decommissioning theirs. The Chinese know what they are doing, and they are chasing their goal… of economic dominance.
Don’t burn banknotes
As coal gives way to nuclear power in the production of electricity, we should not stop using coal, but we should no longer burn it. Coal is composed of very valuable chemicals, so why burn them? Burning coal is something like burning banknotes instead of wood, to keep warm.
In South Africa we have the SASOL Company, which converts coal to petrol and diesel. About 1/3 of South Africa’s petrol and diesel comes from coal. The coal chemicals are also used to produce ladies’ cosmetics, aspirin, high-quality waxes, and more.
The ultimate answer is to use small nuclear reactors to drive the coal conversion plants.
The world’s consumption of electricity doubled over the past 25 years, and is set to double again in the next 25. In fact, it will double faster because more people are getting connected to electricity, and more and more electrical devices are coming into existence. So, forget about green extremist goals of reducing world energy consumption.
The most sensible route for doubling electricity consumption, on a world scale, is via nuclear. Electricity consumption is directly proportional to GDP, which in turn directly affects the take-home pay of citizens. Citizen wealth changes the nature of society.
Another Revolution is coming
Cast your mind back to the Industrial Revolution, of around 1760 to 1840. Abundant coal was linked to the development of steam engines, and iron production. Energy and engines led to deeper mining, mass textile production, and a host of other advances. So, the Industrial Revolution burst onto the scene and changed the world. A large adoption of nuclear power, together with AI, electronics, and massive scientific development will also change the world.
But let us return to nuclear, and the relentless anti-nuclear campaigns waged by the slogan-chanting greenies. One of their themes is; ‘what about the nuclear waste?’
Nuclear waste is no problem. Really. If you want a good night’s sleep, you can take a sleeping pill. If you take the entire bottle of pills, you will sleep really well, and never wake up. But people don’t usually do stupid things like that. Yes, without doubt a lot of nuclear radiation will kill you, if you are stupid. But small amounts of nuclear radiation are perfectly safe. Large amounts of nuclear radiation are also safe, when handled by professionals in a professional manner.
Why do the public somehow think that the Army can handle artillery ammunition in a safe, professional way, but somehow professional nuclear engineers can’t handle radioactive materials?
Does the Glacier worry you?
The radiation of concern is called Gamma radiation. It ‘shines’ like a light. Gamma rays are exactly the same as light, radio waves, X-Rays, or microwaves in the kitchen microwave oven. But the Gammas carry more energy than X-Rays, and so they can cause harm. The kitchen microwaves are safely contained inside the ‘box’ which is the microwave oven. When a radioactive object is put into a lead box the Gammas are safely contained in the box, and you can safely sit next to it and eat your lunch.
For long-term storage you put the box underground, and leave it there. Note that by international convention, no nuclear waste is ever dumped or thrown away. It is stored, like the gold bars at Fort Knox. The principle is that you can move the radioactive material at any time in the future. So, worrying about a glacier advancing in 100,000 years’ time is silly. When you see the glacier coming you have decades to move all your boxes.
A highly useful property of all radioactive materials is that they constantly advertise their presence. It is like a cricket in his hole in the lawn. His chirping tells you where he is. With a Geiger counter, even a radioactive pinhead is easy to find in your lawn. It calls you. But a lump of Arsenic is extremely difficult to find, because it hides. There is arsenic in advanced solar panels, but nobody panics about that.
Insignificant volumes
One huge advantage of nuclear is that there is so little nuclear fuel, so the resulting spent fuel is extremely small, unlike coal ash. The spent fuel is called High Level Waste (HLW). It is the really dangerous material, if you walk up to it. Then there is Intermediate Level Waste (ILW), which is things like pumps, pipes, and so on, which had radioactive material flowing through them. Finally, there is Low Level Waste (LLW) which is paper towels, lab coats, and items which were used in a radiation designated area, and could conceivably have some radioactive dust on them. All of these categories are packaged into drums and safely stored underground.
Nuclear waste is better handled than any other waste in the world. This is a positive spin-off legacy from all the exaggerated scare stories which have been generated by the anti-nuke lobby.
Nuclear people worldwide are very proud of what they do, and how they do it, and they do it well.
The big scare which has always been splashed in news media is if something explodes, then some of the radioactive material can be reduced to dust and scattered into the atmosphere. It then acts like any other dust, and blows with the wind, and then settles out. But remember the crickets in the lawn. If it were not radioactive you would not know where the dust was. You would not even know it was there. But even the dust ‘chirps’ its presence, and so the ‘chirp’ can be used to scare the public. Note that during the infamous Fukushima incident, not one single person was killed or injured by nuclear radiation. Yet the popular news was full of scary stories of radiation spreading everywhere.
The nuclear waste repositories of the world are all perfectly able to safely store any radioactive material for centuries, just like Fort Knox stores its gold.
Dr Kelvin Kemm is a South African nuclear physicist who has been a CFACT Senior Advisor for over two decades. He is Chairman of Stratek Holdings, a nuclear project management company, and is past Chairman of the South African Nuclear Energy Corporation (Necsa). He has given both Congressional and Senate briefings in Washington DC. He has been guest speaker at over 20 US
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