Polar snow and ice melting question?

Question

The amount of sunlight at the poles is very low angle and only lasts about 3-4 months of the year, so the average ambient temperature is very low (today the still air was well below zero F). The ocean currents are warmer than usual - we know that - and warm moves toward cold - we also know that. But the water is warmer at the 200-900 foot level and would have to be significantly warmer than 32 degrees F to melt much sea ice. Given all of this, does the popular premise that Global Warming is melting the polar ice caps and polar sea ice make any sense? The air and water temperature would have to be warm enough to compensate for the resulting cold caused by the low angle and duration of daylight. I haven't heard anything scientific to support this but could it be, given the proximity to known active volcanoes, that geothermal activity is causing the polar melting? It would make far more semse.

One undisputable fact is that SOMETHING has to be greater than 32 degrees (F) in order for all this snow and ice to melt. Regardless of how much of the sun is getting through, the angle and duration is still too low to play a major role. Data from PMEL North Pole Buoy 9115 shows that yesterday and the day before the temperature range was from 10-27 degrees (F). Sure, that's warm for the Arctic but it's still not above freezing. And remember, they're getting virtually no solar radiation right now. So this becomes a balance between melting when the conditions are right and freezing when the conditions are right. The conditions to freeze are right more frequently that they are to melt. So despite what some are saying, if you look at the data and logic, and know a little bit about climate and meteorology (I happen to), what they say is happening might be so but the root causes they're giving don't make sense. And mankind is NOT causing this. Read Dr. William Gray from CSU.

Answer 1

I think what you said is generally very sound. I don't think the geothermal activity is significantly different though. The warming that they talk about is only a degree or two but it is typically a bit warmer in the Artic and nights. The warming is mostly from warming the coldest times and places rather than warming the warmest times and places. Sounds like a global moderation to me. Anyway, I digress. I think they typically try to exaggerate any melting and especially man's potential influence. It has been warming since the little ice age a hundred and fifty years ago and generally before that since the last major ice age some 10,000 years ago. The glaciers have been retreating somewhat. The artic ice may retreat a bit this decade but grow back next decade.

Answer 2

Temperatures are rising faster than expected:

"Logs from an expedition in 2001 showed the average Arctic temperature at this time of year was minus 15 to minus 20 degrees Celsius (plus 5 to to minus 4 degrees Fahrenheit).

Saunders said the average temperature this time was just minus 5 to minus 7 degrees Celsius (23 to 19 degrees Fahrenheit)."

There are many factors at work here -- surface water on the ice is a major one:

"But in studying the Larsen shelf, researchers found that melting surface water, which can build up in just a few warm summers, seeps into cracks and forces a quicker-than-expected breakup."

This is true in both the arctic and antarctic ice. Also:

"the contraction of the Arctic ice cap is accelerating global warming. Snow and ice usually form a protective, cooling layer over the Arctic. When that covering melts, the earth absorbs more sunlight and gets hotter. And the latest scientific data confirm the far-reaching effects of climbing global temperatures."

Bottom line, though -- it really doesn't matter WHAT is doing it -- it spells trouble!

Answer 3

Things are melting is it our fault?? The CFC didn't eat a hole in the ozone layer if it had why would it be at the poles. The holes is caused from the solar winds reacting with the magnetic field. The beta particles are attracted to the north pole making it negative. The alpha particles are attracted to the south pole making it positive. There is large currents in the Van Allan Belt between the poles that ionizes the ozone layer that protects us. U can't affect the solar winds or the magnetic field so u cant do nothing.

Answer 4

Basically, nobody really knows the details. If we see less ice than we did, we assume ice has melted. Since we DO know that there is an increase in greenhouse gasses in the air, and since air temperature does not seem to have gone up much, many people assume the extra heat is going into the melting of ice. But as I say, the details are unknown.

Answer 5

What is happening with the ice caps is this: the sun, when it is exposed, is at a much higher temperature because of the depletion of the ozone layer, which usually helps to block out heat. But your volcano idea could work as well. Prehaps its a combonation of these factors, with increased pollution that is melting the ice caps at such a rapid rate.