Can't we freez back the glaciers with liquid nitrogen?

Answer 1

The problem is creating the liquid nitrogen. No system is perfect and the process of refrigeration creates heat. All refrigeration does is take the heat from one area and move it to another. Creating super frigid liquids like liquid nitrogen also requires a pump. The gas is forced into a container and then the pressure is reduced, then the gas is chilled. Since it lost some heat with the expansion it can be chilled to a lower temperature. However, the motor's heat creates more heat.

Creating enough liquid nitrogen to make a difference in the melting of a glacier would require a lot of it, and making that much would only create more heat.

So you could chill a glacier with liquid nitrogen to try and preserve it, but in the long run you would be putting more heat into the global system. This heat would go into the environment creating a higher increase in temperature globally thus melting more glaciers. You could sacrifice the glaciers in one area to save those in another area, and at the end of the day you would have done more harm than good.

Another method that can be used to save glaciers is to cover them with a reflective cloth. It would keep the heat off the glacier, but it would just reflect the heat back into the atmosphere.

If global warming could be solved in such a fashion then it would be easy. However the problem is closer to trying to cool something that is buried under several layers of blankets. Any heat controlling system has to operate under that blanket so it would just heat things up even more.

Our planet is covered in a blanket of carbon dioxide. Normally this CO2 is a good thing it keeps the heat, from the sun, trapped on our planet so it doesn’t freeze at night. The problem is that our increasing use of fossil fuel is only adding more CO2, which is like adding on more blankets. The Earth’s ecosystem is in a delicate balance and man is starting to upset it. How much man is responsible for this is in debate, but now most scientists agree that man is influencing the climate with his production of greenhouse gases. If this trend isn’t stopped soon, isn’t reversed, then it is going to get hot enough to start a tipping of the scales until it is tipped too much for man to reverse.

Answer 2

There are two reasons why we can't do this. The first makes it impractical, and the second makes it counterproductive.
First, to produce the amount of liquid nitrogen required to refreeze any significant fraction of the glaciers and ice caps that have already melted would be extremely expensive. It's economically wiser to develop cleaner forms of energy and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Second, due to the second law of thermodynamics, the production of liquid nitrogen generates at least as much heat as is lot by the nitrogen itself. This heat is eventually released back into the atmosphere, thus actually contributing to glacial melting.

Answer 3

no becuase glaicers that are made of freshwater,cannot be remade by saltwater or liquid nitrogen,also the creation of liquid nitrogen would create larger climate problems than it would solve.

Answer 4

Sounds like a great idea. I would be interested to see what a scientist might say.

Answer 5

there is no way you can get that much nitrogen...then again if it does happen, wouldn't it just melt all over again?

Answer 6

wouldn't they just melt again? I don't know enough about it. Awseome idea, either way!!!


Perhaps re-routing the water somehow?

Answer 7

No, it is cost prohibitive and impractical.

Answer 8

no..we've messed with natures course as it is..