Negative Feedback in the Polar Ice System

Peter Stallinga,Igor Khmelinskii

doi:10.4236/acs.2017.71007

Abstract

One of the ingredients of the anthropogenic global warming hypothesis is the existence of large positive feedback in the climate system. An example is polar ice that, once melted, turns into blacker water that will increase radiation absorption and this rein-forces the melting. This causes a run-away scenario with a point of no return. Here it is shown that the polar ice can also have negative feedback aspects, where a melting of polar ice will cause it to reappear.

Highlights

The planet has been heating up in the last couple of decades and this causes large concern in society, more so since humans are allegedly responsible for the temperature rise
One of the major concerns is that we are at a point-of-no-return, caused by a positive feedback cycle of ice melting that is caused by an increased temperature and causes further rise in temperature
Since sea water has a much lower albedo compared to ice, i.e. sea water absorbs more of the radiation received from the Sun, a melting of ice will cause an increase in absorbed radiation and a rise in temperature and further melting of ice

Summary

Introduction

The planet has been heating up in the last couple of decades and this causes large concern in society, more so since humans are allegedly responsible for the temperature rise. Since sea water has a much lower albedo compared to ice, i.e. sea water absorbs more of the radiation received from the Sun, a melting of ice will cause an increase in absorbed radiation and a rise in temperature and further melting of ice. We recognize a positive feedback system that can cause a catastrophic runaway situation. Warming tends to decrease ice cover and the albedo, increasing the amount of solar energy absorbed, leading to more warming.” At the polar regions, most heat is received through thermal transport in the so-called Thermohaline Circulation, a moving belt of water that conveys a lot of heat to the poles This circulation carries a tremendous amount of water and heat, estimated to ( ) be 17 sverdrup 1.7 ×107 m3 s and 1.2 PW (petawatt) compared to the total global. They consist of dividing a ringlike world in many cells, each with an orientation, a temperature and an albedo and calculate the heat dynamics

Implementation

Results

Disclosure of Interests