Question about the melting polar caps.

[The Backlash Cometh]

Assuming that our oceans were getting over salinated before this global warming problem started, what effect would the addition of melted glacier ice have on the salt to water ratio?

Is there any ocean life which might actually benefit from a new source of clean water?

[kenny blankenship]

1. possible effects that have been speculated about include a shutdown of the Gulf Stream

google for thermohaline conveyor.
A shutdown of the global thermohaline cycle, of which the Gulfstream is the warm upper layer, could result in catastrophic climate change for northern europe: ie. glaciation.
Or just a rain of pitchforks and frogs for forty days and nights. It would be very bad that is about the only thing for sure.
I'm sure that eventually species that currently exist would adapt or decline and generally shake out and there would be winners and losers in the oceanic ecology, including possible new species evolving from the pressures of partially desalinated oceans and suspended deep ocean currents; but the point is that we would be big losers in any melted icecap scenario since civilization depends absolutely on climate stability and since most of the cities that make up civilization are close to sea level.

[The Backlash Cometh]

2. It would be bad for life on this planet as we know it,

but something always seems to thrive where we list expect it. Even Chernoybl had an unexpected beneficiary. A rodent called a Vole? Don't know the spelling, exactly.

But just for conjecture, what kind of adaptation would a creature have to make to survive the new climate, Ph, etc changes in the ocean?

[Donald Ian Rankin]

3. I don't think the change in concentration would be noticeable.

My understanding is that global warming is predicted to cause sea levels to rise by a distance of the order of tens of metres. Given the depth of the sea, that's not an appreciable change in volume, I think.