How can polar or alpine ice melt since temperatures at those levels are sub-freezing even with global warming?

Question

Reports are that alpine ice in South America will be completely gone in 15 years, yet reports of global warming suggest temperature increases of 1 to 2 degrees. This would not seem to bring alpine temperatures above freezing.

Answer 1

any slight temprature change can make a huge change. that's just the way our earth works...the more you kill the ozone layer, the more we let the sun through, the more damage it will do

Answer 2

You consider the freezing point of ice as 0 deg. But salty water has freezing point much below (-23 deg for brine). Since there is an equilibrium of water (sea) and the ice, which gets disturbed, the risk arises due to global warming.

Answer 3

32 degrees (F) is still freezing and if you don't exceed that, it's going to be pretty difficult to get any melting.  And when you consider the high latitudes, the sun's angle of incidence, albedo, and the lack of black bodies to absorb heat, it like the say in the South, "That dog don't hunt."

Answer 4

I can see how you are confused.  It's a very complicated subject.

Reports of global warming talk about average temperatures all over the world, including the oceans, which make up most of the Earth.  Global warming effects are different in different areas.  In some places they are more severe.

The temperature on an a glacier is not always below freezing, otherwise the world's glaciers would have grown so massive as to cover the continents.  Their size has to do with the balance between more snow or sleet in winter and the melt in summer.  All that needs to happen is for there to be more above-freezing weather than usual, and the glacier will start to retreat.

What seem like small changes can trigger massive effects as they alter climate cycles.  On the Pacific Coast we are subject to El Nino, or Southern Oscillation, where changes in the temperature of ocean water thousands of miles away trigger massive storms.

Answer 5

I'm in Canada and our scientists are noticing the icepack is retreating. Sea level is still okay, but the glaciers are dropping off huge icebergs. The icebergs are showing up in places they shouldn't be.  So if life hands ya lemons, make lemonade--and grab a chunk off the iceberg to keep it cool.  Cheers mate.

Answer 6

The alpine temperature goes above freezing frequently in summer, especially in sunshine.  It's not below freezing all the time.  The same is true even in the Arctic.

The time when it's above freezing is constantly getting longer, causing more ice to melt.

In the Antarctic, scientists now think that warmer ocean coastal waters in summer are also causing significant melting.

Answer 7

I agree with Kilty!!!

Ha Ha Good one.

Hand me a glass of lemonade with ice.

PS. The question is intriguing, but I have heard so many theories. Most people I know (older generations) say that we are still coming out of the last ice age and are not convinced of global warming, but they do care so will be keeping an eye on it.