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In: Chemistry
An important note is that the goal of warming the inside of the igloo is NOT to keep the inside a temperature that you would be comfortable in your home. It is to make it more comfortable in clothes and blankets. The structure does melt if the internal temperatures get too high. As others have said, you want to find an equilibrium so that the melting is not happening faster than refreezing. If you want the structure to last more than a few days, the internal temperature needs to be fairly low, say 40s or perhaps up to 50s. This is a welcomed respite from negative temperatures in the arctic.
Snow melt, humidity from your body, and breath will freeze into the cracks, helping to seal the structure and block wind and the elements from infiltrating. However, ice is a much worse insulator than the packed snow initially used to create the igloo, so you don’t want the walls to too thick with ice. The ice also helps trap moisture inside, thus increasing the relative humidity inside of the igloo. Super cold air is very dry, and can make it painful to even breathe. Humid air also holds heat better than dry, so a small heat source can provide a better warming effect when the humidity is slightly higher.
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