72
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] ItsPequod@hexbear.net 34 points 1 week ago

Fuckin...

Dare I suggest the problem isn't a lack of water so much as the temperature of said water. And that took like, 5 seconds of thought.

[-] Hello_Kitty_enjoyer@hexbear.net 27 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

below ice is a lot warmer than above ice, so theoretically this helps in one dimension of the problem, which is probably the angle they're going for

practically it's still stupid because it's about as effective as moving a semi truck with a sewing needle

it's even stupider theoretically because the salt is gonna lower the melting point of the already-there ice, which likely has some freshwater snow precipitation on it

[-] pancake@lemmygrad.ml 13 points 1 week ago

Ice isolates water from the cold air above though. And simply freezing lots of water makes the surface more reflective too, which mitigates further heating.

[-] Hello_Kitty_enjoyer@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago

it's still stupid because now the ice on top melts easier due to salt. whereas the freshwater natural snow layer would not

[-] MemesAreTheory@hexbear.net 8 points 1 week ago

So as others have mentioned, the water underneath the ice is warmer than the air above it. That's a problem, because then the glacial sheets melt from the bottom up. If you pump enough water out from under the ice, not only will it refreeze in the much colder air above, it will eventually cause the glacier to sink until it makes contact with the ground again. That would remarkably slow the speed at which it melts, and thus help retain more ice longer which would prevent sea level rise and keep the reflective surface and reduce warming.

This sounds dumb, but the science is pretty cool. It would require a metric fuckton of pump capacity, though. This is likely a small proof of concept test to secure future funding.

this post was submitted on 12 Dec 2024
72 points (100.0% liked)

chapotraphouse

13601 readers
647 users here now

Banned? DM Wmill to appeal.

No anti-nautilism posts. See: Eco-fascism Primer

Slop posts go in c/slop. Don't post low-hanging fruit here.

founded 4 years ago
MODERATORS