Making ice thicker

[Simpo Two]

According to the BBC, some boffins are spraying seawater onto the Arctic ice cap to make it thicker...

Since salt, or any other solute, lowers the melting point of water, won't that melt it?

[Zarco]

Counter acted by the extreme cold though.

[Bill]

Simpo Two said:

According to the BBC, some boffins are spraying seawater onto the Arctic ice cap to make it thicker...

Since salt, or any other solute, lowers the melting point of water, won't that melt it?

It's sea ice...

[Simpo Two]

Bill said:

It's sea ice...

Ah yes, that is true - but the water must be warmer than the ice, so whilst some might freeze on top, overall, you're warming the ice up. I can't see that moving a degree of heat 50 yards is going to do much to save the planet...

[juliussneezer]

To be honest I think they'd have spotted basic pitfalls like this before ploughing ahead with it. This isn't a bunch of school kids messing about in the snow.

[Super Sonic]

If they're spraying it through the air which is well below zero it will freeze before it hits the snow.

[Simpo Two]

Super Sonic said:

If they're spraying it through the air which is well below zero it will freeze before it hits the snow.

Now that would make the ice thicker, yes.

So our next question is 'How many men with hoses and pumps will it take to make the icecap sufficiently bigger to affect the climate?'

[WelshRich]

And how much diesel are they burning to power the pumps

[sherman]

I saw this and came to the conclusion we need an unholy amount of wave/solar powered battery pumps to make this work.
Once the battery is fully charged it pumps water onto the ice until it discharges. It then goes through a charging cycle and repeats.
The pump needs to be powerfull enough to pump the sea water to a height of 5m and spray at least 5m from the pump so the nozzle never gets burried in the ice.

[Roofless Toothless]

The phrase pissing into the wind comes to mind.

[Bill]

Simpo Two said:

Ah yes, that is true - but the water must be warmer than the ice, so whilst some might freeze on top, overall, you're warming the ice up. I can't see that moving a degree of heat 50 yards is going to do much to save the planet...

Not necessarily. IIRC* deeper water can be colder but it doesn't freeze because of the pressure.

*I might be imagining this bit...

[Scarletpimpofnel]

Bill said:

Simpo Two said:

According to the BBC, some boffins are spraying seawater onto the Arctic ice cap to make it thicker...

Since salt, or any other solute, lowers the melting point of water, won't that melt it?

It's sea ice...

Isn't most of the ice in the arctic that which has fallen as snow and is now compressed? i.e. largely not salt water? Anyway irrelevant as the boffins will take that into account.

[CoolHands]

Idiots, how would they have any idea what this would do to the world’s climate if it even worked? Why have they decided that the ice is ‘too thin’ and what the interaction is with the rest of the climate? It is literally impossible for them to know.

[juliussneezer]

They obviously think otherwise.

[Bill]

Scarletpimpofnel said:

Isn't most of the ice in the arctic that which has fallen as snow and is now compressed? i.e. largely not salt water? Anyway irrelevant as the boffins will take that into account.

That's the Antarctic.

[Simpo Two]

CoolHands said:

Idiots, how would they have any idea what this would do to the world’s climate if it even worked? Why have they decided that the ice is ‘too thin’ and what the interaction is with the rest of the climate? It is literally impossible for them to know.

The logic would be: Global warming makes ice caps smaller. Make icecaps bigger = reverse global warming (by reflecting more sunlight/heat).

So I'm going to do my bit by pinning out some Bacofoil in the garden. I mean, if everybody did it we could save the planet.

[Beati Dogu]

It’s just another dumb idea from a group of global warming grifters hoping to tap into some of that sweet sweet taxpayers’ money. I hope a polar bear gets them.

[kerplunk]

My ice hockey loving relations in british colombia have a weekend cabin by a lake and in winter often spray water onto the already frozen surface to create a better ice skating rink. I don't think there's much danger of melting thick ice when air temps are well below freezing.

[Simpo Two]

kerplunk said:

My ice hockey loving relations in british colombia have a weekend cabin by a lake and in winter often spray water onto the already frozen surface to create a better ice skating rink. I don't think there's much danger of melting thick ice when air temps are well below freezing.

Agreed, but that wouldn't that be fresh water?

[kerplunk]

Simpo Two said:

kerplunk said:

My ice hockey loving relations in british colombia have a weekend cabin by a lake and in winter often spray water onto the already frozen surface to create a better ice skating rink. I don't think there's much danger of melting thick ice when air temps are well below freezing.

Agreed, but that wouldn't that be fresh water?

Yes it's a fresh water lake and they would be spraying fresh water onto the frozen surface.

Not sure where we're going with this tbh