Claim: Melting of Arctic sea ice and polar icecaps is not occurring at unnatural rates and does not constitute evidence of a human impact on the climate.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: Arctic Sea ice maintains the cool temperature of the polar regions and it has an important albedo effect on the climate.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: The effects of global warming in the Arctic include rising temperatures, loss of sea ice, and melting of the Greenland ice sheet.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: The effects of climate change on human systems, mostly due to warming and shifts in precipitation, have been detected worldwide.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: The current rate of decline of the ice caps has caused many investigations and discoveries on glacier dynamics and their influence on the world's climate.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 1
Passage: The melting of the polar ice caps, combined with thermal expansion, will lead to rises in sea levels that may impact adversely on our coastal cities.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: The effects of global warming in the Arctic, or climate change in the Arctic include rising air and water temperatures, loss of sea ice, and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly, observed since the 1970s.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Anthropogenic climate change is caused by human activity, as opposed to changes in climate that may have resulted as part of Earth's natural processes.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: In recent decades, sea ice in the Arctic Ocean has been melting faster than it re-freezes in winter.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Although previously it was thought that the polar ice caps were not contributing heavily to sea level rise (IPCC 2007), recent studies have confirmed that both Antarctica and Greenland are contributing a year each to global sea level rise.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: The amount of correlation between human arrival and megafauna extinction is still being debated: for example, in Wrangel Island in Siberia the extinction of dwarf woolly mammoths (approximately 2000 BCE) did not coincide with the arrival of humans, nor did megafaunal mass extinction on the South American continent, although it has been suggested climate changes induced by anthropogenic effects elsewhere in the world may have contributed.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: The balance of evidence suggests a discernible human influence on global climate (considerable progress since the 1990 report in distinguishing between natural and anthropogenic influences on climate, because of: including aerosols; coupled models; pattern-based studies) Climate is expected to continue to change in the future (increasing realism of simulations increases confidence; important uncertainties remain but are taken into account in the range of model projections) There are still many uncertainties (estimates of future emissions and biogeochemical cycling; models; instrument data for model testing, assessment of variability, and detection studies) The Third Assessment Report (TAR) was completed in 2001 and consists of four reports, three of them from its Working Groups: Working Group I: The Scientific Basis Working Group II: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability Working Group III: Mitigation Synthesis Report A number of the TAR's conclusions are given quantitative estimates of how probable it is that they are correct, e.g., greater than 66% probability of being correct.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: While ‘climate change’ can be due to natural forces or human activity, there is now substantial evidence to indicate that human activity – and specifically increased greenhouse gas (GHGs) emissions – is a key factor in the pace and extent of global temperature increases.

Relevance (1 = gold evidence, 0 = mined hard negative): 0
Passage: Some models of modern climate exhibit Arctic amplification without changes in snow and ice cover.