The ‘solar constant,' which describes the amount of energy that the Earth absorbs as radiation from the Sun is 1340 W . Each square meter which m2 is perpendicular to the light of the Sun absorbs 1340J of energy every second.
(a) Estimate how long the Sun would have to shine on the Earth to supply enough energy to melt all the polar ice-caps, assuming that no energy escapes the Earth. Most of the volume of the ice-caps is on Antarctica, which is covered by an ice-cap 2.0km thick. The surface area of Antarctica is 14 × 106km2.
(b) Estimate how long it would take to melt the polar ice-caps assuming that Earth behaves as a perfect black-body (so e = 1 in Stephan's Law) with a uniform temperature of 15?C.
(c) Explain how the previous part suggests that the polar ice-caps act as a ‘buffer' that moderates global average temperature.