As a follow up to my prior comment, “gleeaikin” was in agreement with you..........
First, it is normal etiquette to include anyone who you mention in your post in the “To line”.
Second, not that it matters but you apparently did not read the discussion very carefully. gleeaikin is an extremely courteous person, but I received nothing in reply that indicated that we were in “agreement” about this matter.
My position is that neither satellite data or data from ground based weather recording stations currently are currently giving a highly accurate picture of current conditions at either pole. There are no solid indications that we are outside of typical natural variability but from historical accounts from mariners that sea ice extent in the arctic ocean was less in the 1930s. When one looks at unadjusted data from ground based weather recording stations in the United States... it appears that the 1930s were warmer than what we are experiencing currently.
gleeaikin said in post 49 of http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3557028/posts , “The greater concern that is being commented on is that in the far north, the summer temperature is about 10 degrees hotter. This is supposed to be melting the permafrost which releases a lot of CO2. Also it appears that for at least some arctic river systems, there is a lot of frozen methane deposits that are now being released and methane gas is said to be more dangerous than CO2 gas.”
Then she said in post 51, “I just got back to town after a business trip, and Googled “How fast is Arctic permafrost melting?” Below is the link that came up which had many articles listed below.
I was not so concerned about the polar ice because it is the thickness that is most significant. Even a thin layer of ice is useful to reflect back the solar radiation and protect from Earth overheating. However, even if coverage increases, unless the ice continues to thicken it does not change the issue by much.”
Sorry for not italicizing my quotes and the typos.