BBC’s response to Svalbard’s complaint – Watts Up With That?

Needless to say, I filed a complaint with the BBC about their neglect of pre-1960 temperature trends. As usual, they tried to fool me at Stage 1 with the following response. :

Thank you for contacting the BBC about the article: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63387233

We have looked at your emails, articles and other sources of information on this topic.
As I understand your complaint, it’s about claims regarding Svalbard’s warming rate and your email claim that the report ‘omits important information that the climate in Svalbard has undergone severe cooling in the 1960s and current temperatures are no higher than they were in the 1920s to 1950s’.
To justify the warming at Svalbard, the BBC article mentioned a source in the article in the excerpt below:
Experts from the Norwegian Polar Institute are among those who calculate that it is warming six times faster than the global average. The consensus is that the temperature in Svalbard has increased by 4 degrees Celsius in the past 50 years.
The Editorial Principles recognize the BBC may report the views of named and trusted individuals and organizations as long as those views are appropriately attributed. In the case of this article, the reader will understand that it represents the opinion of the Norwegian Polar Institute and will judge what is written accordingly.
The paper describes a ‘consensus’ on temperature rise, so I thought I should include at least one other survey in this email.
https://www.miljodirektoratet.no/globalassets/publikasjoner/m1242/m1242.pdf
This study was carried out on the impacts of climate change on Svalbard and Longyearbyen by the Norwegian Center for Climate Services (NCCS), a collaboration between the Norwegian Meteorological Institute, the Directorate General of Energy and Resources. Norway, Center for Norwegian Studies and Bjerknes. Climate Research Center. their research Climate in Svalbard 2100, published in 2019 contains many facts about the rate of warming in the region.
Here are two excerpts for your information.
Between 1971 and 2017, a warming of 3 – 5°C (less in the south, more in the inner fjords) was observed, with the greatest increase in winter and smallest in winter. summer. For RCP8.5, the composite mean projections from zonal and statistical models show an average annual temperature increase for Svalbard of nearly 10 °C from 1971-2000 arrive 2071-2100.
The northern Barents Sea in particular has experienced rapid climate change and has been described as an “Arctic warming hotspot”, where surface warming and winter sea ice loss occur. is the largest in the entire Arctic.”

There is also a section on sea ice that looks at thickness over time and areas where sea ice has decreased.

Here’s an excerpt from the section on sea ice:

‘Sea ice conditions vary from region to region and from year to year. To the west of Svalbard, the properties of the West Spitsbergen Current play an important role in sea ice in the western fjords. The warm Atlantic current flowing into the fjords has a dramatic effect on local ice conditions. Over the past decade, the fjords on the west coast have been virtually ice-free in winter (Muckenhuber et al., 2016). East of Svalbard, the East Spitsbergen Current transports Polar water and sea ice southward, leaving the area covered with ice for most of the year. Over the past decade, the entire Barents Sea, including the area east of Svalbard, has been ice-free for several months in summer and autumn.’

Not every BBC article can include all the information every reader wants to see in it. The job of BBC news editors is to make decisions about the content of news stories. Actually, I have not checked your information about ‘mass cooling’ in the 1960s but I did consider whether omitting this information would undermine the article, if true. Given the context and information outlined above in this email, I don’t think it will.

I have also attached an article from Euronews, recently reported from Svalbard. Of course, the output of other media organizations does not influence BBC editorial decision making, but I thought you might be interested. It includes a section on Ny-Ålesund – the northernmost human settlement on Earth, which has a year-round climate. research station and is home to 18 scientific institutions from many countries.
https://www.euronews.com/green/2022/07/26/polar-opposite-how-climate-change-is-altering-the-arctic

I hope this email along with our first response will help address your concerns about the article and thank you again for getting back in touch with the BBC.
Best regards
Quentin Smith
BBC News

The answer did not resolve my complaint.

They spent most of their answers demonstrating that the climate in Svalbard has been warmer since 1960, but this has never been controversial.

Their only defense against ignoring all relevant events is that the BBC News Editors can choose to include whatever they want!

For the comment that “but I considered whether, if so, omitting this information would reduce the value of the paper. Given the context and information outlined above in this email, I don’t think it will be.” that is simply absurd, since the article is only about “the race to save Svalbard”. Most independent observers would agree that the fact that Svalbard was still warm a few decades ago is very relevant.

Of course I responded to the BBC and moved the complaint to Stage 2.