Climate change liquefying Great Lakes ice: Study

MHz

Time Out
Mar 16, 2007
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Red Deer AB
Does anybody have the stats on how much salt gets used in the roads in a year? And the tonnage the freighters move in the winter.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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You sure that isn't absorbtion and not albedo?

Heat is either radiated, conducted, or convected. How much heat radiates away from the pop can is related to it's albedo, in fact how much energy can be conducted away is also related to it's albedo. If the albedo was 1.0, then all of the energy is reflected, none is absorbed, and then there is no heat to radiate or conduct. Snow has high albedo, most of the energy is reflected, and what little energy is absorbed is radiated very slowly. Black top soil, low albedo, the energy is mostly absorbed and radiated away rapidly, melting the snow.
 

petros

The Central Scrutinizer
Nov 21, 2008
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UV and IR are not one in the same. Absorbed UV is turned to IR through absorbtion. Albedo measures reflecting UV and not absorbed IR as heat energy.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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UV and IR are not one in the same. Absorbed UV is turned to IR through absorbtion. Albedo measures reflecting UV and not absorbed IR as heat energy.

An albedo of 0 means all radiation is absorbed, an albedo of 1 would mean none of the radiation is absorbed, not only one part of the spectrum. Check your definitions.
 

Tonington

Hall of Fame Member
Oct 27, 2006
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That will lengthen the shipping season. Nothing wrong with that.

Less ice cover means more lake effect snow. Less ice means lower albedo. Lower albedo means more absorbed radiation. More absorbed radiation means even more moisture for lake effect snow. Positive feedback.

Big snow storms cost Ontario, and other states around the Great Lakes a lot of money:
Tallying up the cost of a big snow storm - thestar.com

Good for the ships, bad for land travel.

Red, below, means ice where there normally would be. It's been a warm year, but it's going to get warmer as the decades march on:
 
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