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| Fig. 1 How 'Heat' Penetrates Tidewater Glacier Ice |
Physicists point out that 'heat' flows to cold per the Second Law of Thermodynamics (NASA).
Quantum physicists point out, further, that the said 'heat' is transferred via a photon emitted from an atom in warmer seawater.
That photon 'instantly' travels through the space between the atoms of warmer seawater then into the colder glacial ice.
When that photon makes contact with an atom in the glacial ice, it is then and there absorbed, adding 'heat' to the glacial ice in the same quantity removed from the warmer seawater (Fig. 1).
No energy is lost, i.e., unlike water current caused melt where molecules impacting molecules generates friction, the overall energy balance does not change because of the mere relocation of photons (conservation of energy).
This photon based heat transfer dynamic causes more tidewater glacier melt than meets the eye (most of the ice-melt takes place at or near the grounding line where the ice meets the ocean, see video below at ~9:30-10:30).
Meanwhile, the beat goes on ... except that in this case "the catchment of Thwaites Glacier is grounded below sea level on bedrock that deepens inland" (see red triangle shape, Fig. 1; Schmidt, B.E., Washam, P., Davis, P.E.D. et al. Publisher Correction: Heterogeneous melting near the Thwaites Glacier grounding line, Nature 615, E21 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-05861-8; see also Davis, P.E.D., Nicholls, K.W., Holland, D.M. et al. Suppressed basal melting in the eastern Thwaites Glacier grounding zone, Nature 614, 479–485 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05586-0 ).
Dredd Blog keeps apace of or ahead of these developments:
(The Ghost Plumes, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15; The Ghost Photons, 2, 3; The Ghost-Water Constant, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9; NASA Busts The Ghost; Quantum Oceanography, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16; In Search Of Ocean Heat, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ).
It is a public service of Dredd Blog.
The next post in this series is here, previous post in this series is here.
There really is such a thing as "too late" (Link).
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