Eli5. Salt melts ice. Glaciers sit in an ocean of salt. Glaciers don’t melt.
In: Earth Science
at 35g/kg salinity, the [Freezing Point Depression](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freezing-point_depression) effect of regular sea water is only a few degrees below normal freezing. if the seawater is cold enough the iceberg won’t melt and can last for years. this is no longer the case though for most areas with icebergs, due to climate change
Glaciers don’t melt? They’re melting at a record pace.
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/satellites-show-worlds-glaciers-melting-faster-ever-rcna791
Glaciers sit on land. Land is made of dirt and rock. It doesn’t have much salt.
Now, icebergs which are in the water melt. That’s why the entire surface of the oceans isn’t covered in icebergs.
You have several misconceptions here. Salt doesn’t melt ice, it just lowers the freezing point of water so water has to be colder to freeze and ice will melt and colder temperatures. Also, glaciers are not on water. A glacier is, by definition, on land.
Now if you’re asking about sea ice, yes, salt in the ocean lowers the freezing point of the water slightly from 32 degrees F (0C) to about 28.5 F (-2C), but there’s still (for the time being) sea ice that’s below 28.5 degrees, so it doesn’t melt.
Salt doesn’t melt ice.
It changes the freezing point of the water.
So instead of water changing from liquid to solid at 0C, that number decreases. How much it decreases depends on how much salt you add. The actual scientific concept is called “freezing point depression” and you can calculate the exact new freezing point if you know how much salt is added, but it’s not very ELI5.
The reason it seems like it melts the ice is because most places don’t maintain a constant temperature of -20C, which is relatively easy to depress water to with icemelt pellets. So, the ice then melts because it isn’t cold enough for it to stay frozen with the newly depressed freezing point.
If you try using salt to melt ice in places where it’s freakishly cold, it doesn’t really work very well.
The glaciers exist in places (the Arctic and Antarctic), which are generally freakishly cold.
Salt causes water to melt at a temperature below the usual freezing point (32F/0C).
If it’s colder that that new freezing point, the ice stays frozen.
I think you mean icebergs?
Glaciers are rivers of ice. They don’t touch salt water as a general rule, except where the river meets the sea.
Icebergs are giant hunks of ice floating in the ocean.
Salt lowers the freezing point of water, which is why it can cause ice to melt. But it does not remove the freezing point altogether. At about 28.4F, saltwater will freeze. That is the point at which salt will no longer melt ice, and that is the temperature at which icebergs can survive in saltwater.
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Only the very edge of glaciers touch ocean water. Glaciers are constantly melting into the ocean and forming farther up on land.
Glaciers sit on land, not the ocean. When the end of a glacier reaches the ocean, parts of it break off and become icebergs, which eventually melt.
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