At 07:04 PM 3/9/2010, Al Knoll wrote...
>So in my vanagon, if the inside temperature of the air is 85deg
>(jonesin for
>spring, here) and a block of ice is melting what temperature is the
>water
>that is on the surface of the ice?  Oh yeah, at 60'ASL here in
>downtowncowtown.

Nowhere close to 0 C, depending on what you consider accurate. To get
close to 0 C, you need shaved ice, made of distilled water, saturated
with liquid, but not floating in liquid water. That, in a well
insulated container, will get you within millidegrees of 0 C.

Reference:
http://ts.nist.gov/MeasurementServices/Calibrations/upload/SP819.PDF