Eli5. Salt melts ice. Glaciers sit in an ocean of salt. Glaciers don’t melt.
In: Earth Science
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.
Salt is a solute, which when added to water (ice in this case) lowers its freezing point.
The freezing point of water is 0 degrees on Celsius scale. Addition of salt will lower its freezing point, to some negative temperature.
The geological locations where Glaciers exist, the temperatures are way below 0 degrees. So even though the freezing point of ice is lower, the temperature is still lower than the final freezing point of the salt-water solution, hence it tends to remain in the solid state.
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
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