Global Warming and Ice Melt

[magma time light]

Could there be more to the ice melting than just the temperature of the climate? How 'bout all the chemicals that are produced in cleaning solvents? Could they be picked up and spread thru the atmosphere? I wonder how many could be linked to preventing or changing the freezing temperature for water. Anyone got a clue?

[swansont]

Are the amounts measurable in the water? Freezing point depression is a colligative property, i.e. it depends on how many atoms/ions/molecules are in solution

[magma time light]

Well I guess the solution will be here during the next ice age...guess I won't be here for that.

[md65536]

I have no clue about freezing point (except that the fresher the water the higher the freezing point, and melting of freshwater glaciers can lead to a negative feedback effect... I think... but I don't know how much). I assume that salt content is the only significant factor, and I've never heard anyone else propose otherwise before, but it's an interesting hypothesis that could be investigated.

 

Soot and pollutants can lower ice albedo and change melting. Here's one project that is researching it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_Snow_Project

http://darksnowproject.org/

Edited November 4, 2013 by md65536

[cladking]

Could there be more to the ice melting than just the temperature of the climate? How 'bout all the chemicals that are produced in cleaning solvents? Could they be picked up and spread thru the atmosphere? I wonder how many could be linked to preventing or changing the freezing temperature for water. Anyone got a clue?

 

 

No, this would be known. There just isn't enough contamination (other than natural contamination) to have any significant effect. Most of this melting ice some people are so fearful of is ancient ice anyway and wouldn't be contaminated by man.

 

It's quite possible a lot of ice is being coated with soot and other colored particulate matter which absorbs heat and speeds melting but this also would be known and the effects of dimished reflectivity of heat to space caused by this would be known.

 

The bottom line is this is all far more complicated than any human can comprehend so it's all modeled by computers and the computers have been wrong for a decade now. Computer modeling barely even works for things that are simple and most variables are known such as traffic management. To expect it to work for long range weather prediction smacks more of political correctness than science. We are performing an experiment on the planet and we won't really know the answers even when all the facts are in. Maybe we'll have a warmer planet or maybe an ice age but whatever happens we won't likely understand why.

 

My money's on ice age, frankly (if there's any effect at all).