General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Y'all do realize that the Arctic sea ice is going to be GONE within the next administration... [View all]FedUpWithIt All
(4,442 posts)The fact is, the ice no longer has enough time of cold enough conditions to refreeze as solid as it had been prior to the melt. Once that area is either thin enough or completely thawed, the sun will begin heating the water even more. This increased environmental heating causes Greenland and other land permafrost areas to melt at an increasing rate. Greenland's fresh water flows into the sea and the permafrost areas begin releasing more methane...which is, of course, very bad.
There is also the issue of ocean salinity as the icebergs are made up of fresh water (not to mention the water from a melting Greenland) and once that melts is pushes the denser salt water to the bottom and the fresher water stays more surface. Two problems arise from this, the first is that the deep ocean currents get very messed up and the second problem being the affect all this would have on phytoplankton.
This is a pretty basic overview and many of these problems would in turn lead to larger feedback loops.