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I would be curious if anyone can give a scientific analysis of the "Blue Ocean Event" theory. If you apply heat to a pot of water that has ice cubes, most of th

I would be curious if anyone can give a scientific analysis of the "Blue Ocean Event" theory. If you apply heat to a pot of water that has ice cubes, most of the energy goes to melting the ice, and once the ice is melted the remaining water warms much more quickly. Are we not due for similar abrupt disruption when the ice finally disappears? I've tried to find any strong support or criticism of this idea but haven't come up with anything thorough.

dependsontheq 6y ago
I'ts not a lot of ice compared to the ocean. A bigger problem is that ice reflects light and in this way keeps the temperature down.
- jansan 6y ago
  But there is not that much sunlight at the poles, which is actually the reason why there is ice. Also, the antarctic ice coverage seems to be pretty stable.
  - noiv 6y ago
    Depends on the season, in summer with 24/7 sunlight the Arctic takes more heat than a location near the equator.
    - nickff 6y ago
      Apparently the Arctic gets more insolation than the Antarctic, but the former only peaks at about 25% higher than the Equatorial mean, and the peak is relatively short.[1] [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/insolation https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sci...
      - noiv 6y ago
        You might want to read what you link: Because the insolation function is the same for the northern and southern hemispheres, i.e., S˜(φ,ε)=S˜(−φ,−ε), annual solar insolation is the same for corresponding latitudes in each hemisphere.
nickff 6y ago
Interesting question, it relates to the heat of fusion of water ice.[1] I think the issue is that there just isn't that much ice on Earth, so its heat capacity (which is somewhat proportional to its temperature) dominates the equation. Here's the information you'd need to do the math yourself: >"It has been estimated that there are 1,386 million cubic kilometres (333,000,000 cubic miles) of water on Earth.[6] This includes water in liquid and frozen forms in groundwater, oceans, lakes and streams. Saltwater accounts for 97.5% of this amount, whereas fresh water accounts for only 2.5%. Of this fresh water, 68.9% is in the form of ice and permanent snow cover in the Arctic, the Antarctic and mountain glaciers; 30.8% is in the form of fresh groundwater; and only 0.3% of the fresh water on Earth is in easily accessible lakes, reservoirs and river systems."[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_fusion [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrosphere#cite_note-Shiklomanov1998-6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrosphere#cite_note-Shikloma...

dependsontheq 6y ago

I'ts not a lot of ice compared to the ocean. A bigger problem is that ice reflects light and in this way keeps the temperature down.

jansan 6y ago
But there is not that much sunlight at the poles, which is actually the reason why there is ice. Also, the antarctic ice coverage seems to be pretty stable.
- noiv 6y ago
  Depends on the season, in summer with 24/7 sunlight the Arctic takes more heat than a location near the equator.
  - nickff 6y ago
    Apparently the Arctic gets more insolation than the Antarctic, but the former only peaks at about 25% higher than the Equatorial mean, and the peak is relatively short.[1] [1] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sciences/insolation https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/earth-and-planetary-sci...
    - noiv 6y ago
      You might want to read what you link: Because the insolation function is the same for the northern and southern hemispheres, i.e., S˜(φ,ε)=S˜(−φ,−ε), annual solar insolation is the same for corresponding latitudes in each hemisphere.

nickff 6y ago

Interesting question, it relates to the heat of fusion of water ice.[1] I think the issue is that there just isn't that much ice on Earth, so its heat capacity (which is somewhat proportional to its temperature) dominates the equation. Here's the information you'd need to do the math yourself: >"It has been estimated that there are 1,386 million cubic kilometres (333,000,000 cubic miles) of water on Earth.[6] This includes water in liquid and frozen forms in groundwater, oceans, lakes and streams. Saltwater accounts for 97.5% of this amount, whereas fresh water accounts for only 2.5%. Of this fresh water, 68.9% is in the form of ice and permanent snow cover in the Arctic, the Antarctic and mountain glaciers; 30.8% is in the form of fresh groundwater; and only 0.3% of the fresh water on Earth is in easily accessible lakes, reservoirs and river systems."[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_fusion https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enthalpy_of_fusion [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrosphere#cite_note-Shiklomanov1998-6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrosphere#cite_note-Shikloma...