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

Salt doesn’t necessarily melt ice, it just lowers the freezing point of the water that composes the ice, meaning that water has to reach a lower temperature in order to freeze. My guess is that the oceans in the Arctic and Antarctic are so cold, that it negates the effect of the salt on the ice, but I’m not a scientist or anything