* Posts by MrEsp

1 publicly visible post • joined 20 Jun 2013

Washout 2012 summer, melty Greenland 'nothing to do with Arctic ice or warm oceans'

MrEsp

Arctic "air conditioner" effect?

Focus seems to be on what caused the ice to melt. Regardless, the state change itself will have absorbed latent heat energy from surroundings. Not as much as evaporation but still something. Given circulation-of-air (wind) around low pressure systems (typically around or north of Scotland), this looks to me a bit like an air-conditioner.

Could such an interpretation help explain the air temperature and the location/path of lows and jetstream? Without being an expert, the overall phenomenon (climate/weather) feels like a dynamic system of interactions, rather than plain cause-and-effect between single factors. Conversely, at the end of summer, might the reverse effect (liberation of thermal energy on re-freezing) increase the chance of warm sunny days?

(Started writing this earlier today but work distracted)