• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

RealClimate

Climate science from climate scientists...

  • Start here
  • Model-Observation Comparisons
  • Miscellaneous Climate Graphics
  • Surface temperature graphics
You are here: Home / Archives for predictions

predictions

“But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”

21 Sep 2025 by Gavin 325 Comments

Almost two decades ago, some scientists predicted that Arctic summer sea ice would ‘soon’ disappear. These predictions were mentioned by Al Gore and got a lot of press. However, they did not gain wide acceptance in the scientific community, and were swiftly disproven. Unsurprisingly, this still comes up a lot. Time for a deeper dive into what happened and why…

[Read more…] about “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”

Filed Under: Arctic and Antarctic, Climate modelling, Climate Science, Featured Story, Instrumental Record, Scientific practice Tagged With: Arctic, predictions, sea ice

Primary Sidebar

Search

Search for:

Email Notification

get new posts sent to you automatically (free)
Loading

Recent Posts

  • High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)
  • Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Time and Tide Gauges wait for no Voortman
  • Lil’ NAS Express
  • DOE CWG Report “Moot”?

Our Books

Book covers
This list of books since 2005 (in reverse chronological order) that we have been involved in, accompanied by the publisher’s official description, and some comments of independent reviewers of the work.
All Books >>

Recent Comments

  • Tomáš Kalisz on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Tomáš Kalisz on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Geoff Miell on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Tomáš Kalisz on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Atomsk's Sanakan on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • David on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Nigelj on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Nigelj on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Nigelj on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • JCM on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Mal Adapted on High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)
  • Mal Adapted on High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)
  • Ray Ladbury on High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)
  • Ray Ladbury on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • zebra on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Pete bridge on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Pete Best on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Paul Pukite (@whut) on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Billy J. Ripple on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Geoff Miell on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Geoff Miell on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Nigelj on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Piotr on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Nigelj on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Thomas W Fuller on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Steven Emmerson on High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)
  • Piotr on High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)
  • Paul Pukite (@whut) on Unforced variations: Oct 2025
  • Mal Adapted on “But you said the ice was going to disappear in 10 years!”
  • Susan Anderson on High-resolution ‘fingerprint’ images reveal a weakening Atlantic Ocean circulation (AMOC)

Footer

ABOUT

  • About
  • Translations
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Page
  • Login

DATA AND GRAPHICS

  • Data Sources
  • Model-Observation Comparisons
  • Surface temperature graphics
  • Miscellaneous Climate Graphics

INDEX

  • Acronym index
  • Index
  • Archives
  • Contributors

Realclimate Stats

1,384 posts

11 pages

247,915 comments

Copyright © 2025 · RealClimate is a commentary site on climate science by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists.