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Glaciers are obviously important to people and wildlife in the region, but I don't think it's important as global heat reservoir. Glaciers are only 1.74% of to

Glaciers are obviously important to people and wildlife in the region, but I don't think it's important as global heat reservoir. Glaciers are only 1.74% of total water on earth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_distribution_on_Earth Of course the ocean itself is warming up, so I guess we're screwed either way. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

psychoslave 3y ago
Don't they play a role in term of light reflection?
Espressosaurus 3y ago
Glaciers and ice in general reflect a lot of light/heat back into space. As they disappear you end up with a positive feedback loop so that extra heat is mostly absorbed instead of reflected. It's yet another safety that is going to disappear.
dredmorbius 3y ago
The concern is albedo (absorption of incoming solar radiation), not heat reservoir. Lighter surfaces (snow, ice, clouds) typically reflect more light and heat. Darker surfaces (water, ground, asphalt) absorb light and emit thermal radiation, which is then trapped within the atmosphere by greenhouse gasses. The atmosphere is differentially transparent to visible-light frequencies (high transparency) and infra-red radiation (low-transparency). That's the essence of what causes greenhouse warming, and we're adding more of the gasses (CO2, methane, and others) which are more effective at trapping heat. Changes to surface characteristics (such as glacial melting) and atmospheric conditions (cloud formation, with dependencies on whether these are high-altitude or low), as a result of greenhouse-gas induced warming, provide feedback cycles which amplify or dampen effects. Many of the known feedbacks accelerate warming. That's in addition to other feedbacks such as warming arctic-region permafrost, releasing both trapped CO2 and methane and triggering decomposition which generates more of these, or the "clathrate gun hypothesis", in which frozen and dissolved methane hydrates, themselves exceedingly powerful greenhouse gasses, are released at a rapid and accelerating rate. Among potential scenarios is a runaway greenhouse gas effect where global climates warm far beyond human or biological tolerance, either regionally or globally. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis>
dotancohen 3y ago
> 1.74% of total water on earth That is still a lot of water, and the phase change is a terrific heat reservoir. It takes a comparable amount of energy to melt water from -1 to 1 degrees, as it does to bring the water from 1 degrees up to 99 degrees.

psychoslave 3y ago

Don't they play a role in term of light reflection?

Espressosaurus 3y ago

Glaciers and ice in general reflect a lot of light/heat back into space. As they disappear you end up with a positive feedback loop so that extra heat is mostly absorbed instead of reflected. It's yet another safety that is going to disappear.

dredmorbius 3y ago

The concern is albedo (absorption of incoming solar radiation), not heat reservoir. Lighter surfaces (snow, ice, clouds) typically reflect more light and heat. Darker surfaces (water, ground, asphalt) absorb light and emit thermal radiation, which is then trapped within the atmosphere by greenhouse gasses. The atmosphere is differentially transparent to visible-light frequencies (high transparency) and infra-red radiation (low-transparency). That's the essence of what causes greenhouse warming, and we're adding more of the gasses (CO2, methane, and others) which are more effective at trapping heat. Changes to surface characteristics (such as glacial melting) and atmospheric conditions (cloud formation, with dependencies on whether these are high-altitude or low), as a result of greenhouse-gas induced warming, provide feedback cycles which amplify or dampen effects. Many of the known feedbacks accelerate warming. That's in addition to other feedbacks such as warming arctic-region permafrost, releasing both trapped CO2 and methane and triggering decomposition which generates more of these, or the "clathrate gun hypothesis", in which frozen and dissolved methane hydrates, themselves exceedingly powerful greenhouse gasses, are released at a rapid and accelerating rate. Among potential scenarios is a runaway greenhouse gas effect where global climates warm far beyond human or biological tolerance, either regionally or globally. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clathrate_gun_hypothesis>

dotancohen 3y ago

> 1.74% of total water on earth That is still a lot of water, and the phase change is a terrific heat reservoir. It takes a comparable amount of energy to melt water from -1 to 1 degrees, as it does to bring the water from 1 degrees up to 99 degrees.