Wouldn't the ice melting make the Oceans cooler? and If so, wouldn't that help combat global warming?
The global sea level has risen on average more than 8" since 1870. It is not clear how much that is due to melting ice or other factors such as the thermal expansion of the oceans. That said it is clear that the sea level is rising.
(a) That may be very well be the case but we are dealing with probabilities and not certainties. The probabilities right now don't look good. (b) I used to think that we could through better technology and science think that we could deal with this issue but I no longer do. Not just because of the Third World developing, with access to better technologies the Third World could actually develop more sustainably than the First World did, but to the shortsightedness of the First World. Our politics and economy just aren't capable of dealing with a long term problem where the results aren't immediately obvious. Its the same problem we have with addressing any intergenerational problem like the national debt. I am still pushing conservation and new technologies but I think it's going to take a disaster to get major change and at that point the only solution will be some sort of Geo-engineering solution that will likely cause other problems.
It would create some localized cooling but not enough overall otherwise the ice cap would just refreeze.
This is very clever by the Republicans to put down global warming like a joke. Most coastal cities in the U.S. are Liberal. Its their plan for American Domination!
There's no way we can reduce CO2 emission in any significant way with the entire world now catching up to us and fighting to have their slice of American life. Once India, China, and Brazil industrialize and each emit as much CO2 or more than the U.S., the source of cheap labor will then be Africa and we get more CO2 being dumped into the air. There is no short term solution. And the tipping point has passed. It's so warm in the northern hemisphere that you now have methane that was trapped for eons being released. Without the polar ices caps as large as they were to prevent the ground from observing the head and just reflect bad to space. Sea levels are going to rise substantially. It's not prevental - that time has passed. We have to think about how we are going to live in world with 20 foot higher seas. Adopt to the changing situation until fusion power comes along to really reduce our carbon footprint.
DAAAYYYYYMMMMMM that ice melted fast... <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/95SYdjRVCR0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Wow, tf was that?? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/2eWS09rkZZ4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I think it's the opposite, since seawater absorbs a great deal more heat from sunlight compared to ice, which reflects sunlight back into space. Also, any cooling effect of melting ice would just be a one-time thing.
Actually, the ice melting should happen at a constant temperature, but it doesn't. Remember the ice absorbs the water's energy, so at an increasing annual melting rate there must be an increasing amount of supplied energy, or just maybe just less ice volume. That's what she said.
The additional heat comes from the sun or rather, that less of the sun's energy is reflected back into space. Global warming/greenhouse effect does three things to the ice. By the atmosphere reflecting back light back to the surface, the ice is getting more radiation and thus will melt more. Because of this effect globally, air and sea temperatures rise and thus a warmer sea and air aids melting of the ice. Finally, since the ice melts faster it opens up more sea faster - which in turn is darker than the ice and absorbs more sunlight and thus you get a positive feedback loop and the melting starts to accelerate. What is the significance of less summer ice in the arctic? For starters you are changing the salinity of the oceans - that may result in changes in the ocean currents and thus dramatically effect weather. But more obvious and one that is already being seen in that the Jet Stream is weaker. The Jet Stream is what makes weather systems move and move fast. A weaker Jet Stream means thing s move slower and thus you get more extreme weather (flooding, droughts, etc) This is pretty major. Climate change isn't some far off future thing anymore, it's happening before our very eyes.
i think i have heard about this for so long that its just almost accepted. but it really is scary. where is the thread that was on here again about this all fake. maybe wait about 30 years to bump it...
Saddly I agree. In the last few years it just seems like there is more and more paralysis regarding getting anything done. Further if anything the US populace is becoming more ignorant on the issue.
Global warming, and our ability to stop it by raising taxes, is considered a joke at this point. I can't believe Obama wasted many months trying to ram this through Congress when America desperately needed jobs to be created. What a missed opportunity. Man's contribution to global warming is tiny, and America's contribution to that is a small fraction. Taxing Americans does almost nothing to reduce CO2 emissions, and all the while, China and India's growing economies are 75% and 66% dependent on coal fired power generation. Coal is powering these developing economies (and many others) and is rapidly growing internationally as the fuel of choice. Obama can wage war on coal and try to raise everyone's taxes, but it's literally a drop in the bucket in the grand scheme of things. Everyone supports fighting global warming... until they are asked to pay for it, in which case its support is negligible. Keep plugging in your iphone, laptop, refrigerator (or in my case two refrigerators and a wine refrigerator), keep blasting your AC in the summer, keep running the pump on your swimming pool (you probably don't have one - ha!), keep living the life of luxury! Coal and affordable electricity make it all happen.
