IPCC sixth report.

[nowty]

James Lovelock, thought provoking as always,

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... isis-earth

shame we didn't listen to him 40 years ago

Desp

One of the things in that article is exactly what I have been thinking about for years as the melting ice is helping to reduce the overall temperature rises because of all the latent heat it requires to change ice into water (i.e. a solid into a liquid).

But once the ice is gone .......................................................


"Much of the confusion over global heating comes about because of the huge quantities of heat needed to change the state of water. Few are aware that to melt a gram of ice takes 80 calories, enough heat to raise the temperature of 1ml of water to 80C. Try an ice cube in your boiling hot tea.

Then imagine how much heat was needed to melt large areas of the polar ice cap during the recent summer and how much hotter the world would have been if the ice had not been there. No wonder there is confusion about whether there is global heating or not."


I recall remembering this short cartoon from Futurama which gives you the point.

[spread-tee]

Absolutely, I believe this is one of the positive feedback mechanisms that scientists are really worried about, it's a triple whammy.

First as you say the latent heat holds temperatures down until a large proportion of the ice is gone,
secondly there needs to be a huge amount of heat withdrawn from the earth system to re-freeze the poles and high glaciers,
and thirdly the earths albedo reduces quite a bit without the snow and ice cover, which ensures more heat is absorbed.

Then there's Methane Clathrates in the permafrost

Desp

[Stinsy]

James Lovelock, thought provoking as always,

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... isis-earth

shame we didn't listen to him 40 years ago

Desp

One of the things in that article is exactly what I have been thinking about for years as the melting ice is helping to reduce the overall temperature rises because of all the latent heat it requires to change ice into water (i.e. a solid into a liquid).

But once the ice is gone .......................................................


"Much of the confusion over global heating comes about because of the huge quantities of heat needed to change the state of water. Few are aware that to melt a gram of ice takes 80 calories, enough heat to raise the temperature of 1ml of water to 80C. Try an ice cube in your boiling hot tea.

Then imagine how much heat was needed to melt large areas of the polar ice cap during the recent summer and how much hotter the world would have been if the ice had not been there. No wonder there is confusion about whether there is global heating or not."


I recall remembering this short cartoon from Futurama which gives you the point.

It’s not just the state-change that is slowing down warming, also the snow/ice covered areas reflect heat back into space. Once that is gone temperature rise accelerates.

[spread-tee]

James Lovelock, thought provoking as always,

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfr ... isis-earth

shame we didn't listen to him 40 years ago

Desp

One of the things in that article is exactly what I have been thinking about for years as the melting ice is helping to reduce the overall temperature rises because of all the latent heat it requires to change ice into water (i.e. a solid into a liquid).

But once the ice is gone .......................................................


"Much of the confusion over global heating comes about because of the huge quantities of heat needed to change the state of water. Few are aware that to melt a gram of ice takes 80 calories, enough heat to raise the temperature of 1ml of water to 80C. Try an ice cube in your boiling hot tea.

Then imagine how much heat was needed to melt large areas of the polar ice cap during the recent summer and how much hotter the world would have been if the ice had not been there. No wonder there is confusion about whether there is global heating or not."


I recall remembering this short cartoon from Futurama which gives you the point.

It’s not just the state-change that is slowing down warming, also the snow/ice covered areas reflect heat back into space. Once that is gone temperature rise accelerates.

That'll be the Albedo then

Desp

[Ken]

Turkeys dont vote for xmas.

I remember back along the liberals campaigned on increasing tax by 1p to pay for NHS. They were annihilated at the polls - finished and yet it has been done 3 ? times since then.

The Gov, any gov can only do what the majority public will allow them to do - as long as we have democracy and free press.

[Bugtownboy]

Didn’t take long

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-59169547