Heat transfer and meltwater flows in ice sheets

[rangerrebew]

Heat transfer and meltwater flows in ice sheets
Posted on October 8, 2024 by curryja 
by Dan Hughes

This post challenges the conventional framework for simulating meltwater flows on glaciers and ice sheets.


Increased melting rates due to potential increases in temperature would add liquid water directly into the oceans. An additional aspect is that the meltwater, on reaching the base of glaciers, might lead to increased sliding of the glaciers and the consequent calving at the terminus.

The World Resources Institute (WRI) has summarized the IPCC AR6 results regarding melting of Greenland and Antarctica ice:

Should warming reach between 2 degrees C (3.6 degrees F) and 3 degrees C (5.4 degrees F), for example, the West Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets could melt almost completely and irreversibly over many thousands of years, causing sea levels to rise by several meters.

https://judithcurry.com/2024/10/08/heat-transfer-and-meltwater-flows-in-ice-sheets/

[Kamaji]

could melt almost completely and irreversibly over many thousands of years,

Two points:

a) bullshit.  In the miocene there were no ice caps - no glaciers anywheres - and yet somehow, when the present ice age started (yes, Virginia, the Earth is still in an ice age), the ice caps and glaciers all came back.

b) thousands of years - oh dearie me!!  The only people who won't be able to adapt to changes at that pace will be those benighted fools who waste all their time and resources on trying to stop the Earth from warming up out of its current ice age.