From rmg3@access5.digex.net Fri Oct  3 15:04:46 EDT 1997
Article: 153151 of sci.environment
Path: digex!news2.digex.net!digex.net!not-for-mail
From: rmg3@access5.digex.net (Robert Grumbine)
Newsgroups: sci.environment
Subject: Re: NY Times on warming from the sun
Date: 3 Oct 1997 15:02:54 -0400
Organization: Under construction
Lines: 41
Message-ID: <613fgu$g7f@access5.digex.net>
References: <60dkh1$hh4$1@snipp.uninett.no> <60oqj3$e13$1@snipp.uninett.no> <01bcce27$8613c420$41beaec7@hays> <60ukg1$mst$1@snipp.uninett.no>
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Xref: digex sci.environment:153151
Status: O

In article <60ukg1$mst$1@snipp.uninett.no>, Onar Aam  wrote:
>>PH> As an example, there is very roughly as much methane trapped as
>>PH> ice on the ocean bottom as the total of recoverable fossil fuels.  
>            ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>>PH> Warm the oceans just a little bit...When Mother Nature decides 
>>PH> to fart,  it ain't pretty.
>
[mass deletia]

>Now, a cubic meter of water has a mass of 1 metric ton. How large is 
>the mass of a cubic meter of air?  A few grams or so. 

  No, about a kilogram.  See my other post for the rest of the
story on heat capacity. 

[more deletia]

>AND as it happens cold water is heavier than warm water. Therefore the ocean
>floors are cold (4 degrees to be precise) and they'll stay like that.

  The ocean floors are _not_ 4 C.  They are typically near 0 C.  The
4 C figure is only the case for _fresh_ water, i.e., lakes.  Salt water
density also depends on how much salt you have, rather than merely the 
temperature.  The freezing point of the water also depends on how 
much salt is present, which is how the Antarctic manages to have a 
large volume of deep water which is near -0.5 C.

  Warm salty water (such as from the Mediterranean) can be denser than
cold, not so salty water.  It is therefore not clear that the deep oceans
would stay cold.  

  The equation of state for sea water (relation between density, 
temperature, salinity, and pressure) is an interest of mine, so I'll 
stop here, lest I put everyone to sleep.  


-- 
Robert Grumbine rmg3@access.digex.net
Sagredo (Galileo Galilei) "You present these recondite matters with too much 
evidence and ease; this great facility makes them less appreciated than they 
would be had they been presented in a more abstruse manner." Two New Sciences