Eli5. Salt melts ice. Glaciers sit in an ocean of salt. Glaciers don’t melt.

Question

Eli5. Salt melts ice. Glaciers sit in an ocean of salt. Glaciers don’t melt.

In: Earth Science

Answer 1

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.