Hi Paul,
Wish i wasn't so busy and missing these posts.
You have made some good points above--and nicely stated too.
One thing that I have a problem with is this idea of the pressure release causing cooling.
It's a neat idea, and technically reasonable (common sense) if you know physics, etc.
But I wonder about several aspects of scale with this idea. Both in time (time lag) and in magnitude, such as the amount of change in pressure relative to the overall pressure.
I think it more likely that these relatively small pressure changes may allow movement of the lower layers and some volcanic activity may be hastened; but the crust normally is flexed and released as the moon circles around, so it shouldn't be that dramatic of a change--except in relative location. Though I suppose the poles aren't affected as much by the lunar-tidal movement as more equatorial areas, eh? ...hmmm.
Well, also... I don't think the cooling (miniscule as it might be) will travel through the crust of the sea floor, to affect the lower ocean-water temperature, on anything but the scale of centuries. Certainly it wouldn't be an immediate effect, or even delayed by just a few years, would it?
I'd think that volcanic releases of magma to the surface would release more pressure than the amount released by isostatic changes caused by melting icemass. [maybe google: isostatic greenland --to see if i'm using isostatic right]
Gotta run for now.... Keep up the good work. Your under-apprecieated perspective on these things is usually a good challenge for me, and always good for some inspiration too.
~Later
