Quote:
Originally Posted by NeilBlanchard
the salinity of the surface water is dropping due to the melt water.
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Now I'm curious if the decrease in ocean salinity would allow more of it to freeze, since the freezing point of water increases as salinity decreases (inverse relationship). Perhaps this would be one type of stabilizing mechanism?
At any rate, it wouldn't counteract sea rise since floating ice has no effect on that.
... and I just found this:
Quote:
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It may seem paradoxical, but while the sea ice in the Arctic is rapidly shrinking, the sea ice surrounding the Antarctic continent is actually expanding, despite global warming. Satellite observations show that the maximum ice cover in the Southern Ocean now extends further north than it did 30 years ago. This expansion is mainly due to a stronger transport of sea ice that has pushed the sea-ice edge further to the north.
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