/sci/ - Science & Math

>>15692036
>>15691856
>>15691788
>Cold water can hold more dissolved CO2
>in Greenland, cold water sinks taking CO2 to the deep ocean
>CO2 is stored in the deep ocean

>>10726340
>1) It takes the same amount of energy to melt a given volume of ice as it does to raise the temperature of just above freezing water to 79 C
>2) The variation of volume (melting and refreezing) of arctic sea ice is about 15,000 cubic km
>3) The dark ocean absorbs roughly 10 times as much solar energy than the highly reflective ice
>4) The volume of the arctic ocean is roughly 18 million cubic km
These facts are all correct.

>So, once the ice is gone, the arctic ocean will absorb enough energy to be heated 0.59 degrees per year, or 5.9 degrees per decade.
These calculations are overly simplified because it doesn't take into account ocean currents. The ocean water doesn't just sit like a static lake and getting baked under the sun. The Arctic is a prime spot for deepwater formation (where colder water sinks). So the overall effect would be small warming (on the order fraction of degrees) for the deepwater which is already happening. Climate wise "ice-free" Arctic doesn't make that much of a difference from say sea ice patch at 5% cover. It's more a media thing to cover. However ice free Artic is a newsworthy news economically (in terms of shipping route) and for biologists because sea ice changes a lot of ecosystem dynamics.