Global Warming: Ice Caps will melt sea level will rise\ Wouldn't the sea levels go down?Ice Cube in Water

Question

The global warming statement: ''The ice caps are melting, sea levels will rise.''

Wouldn't this be false? Could global warming be a good thing?

Theory: If you put a icecube in a full glass of water, when the ice cube melts the water level decreases. Now the ice caps and the ocean is basically just a larger scale demestration, so wouldn't water levels decrease?

Also if the north and south poles become heat zones instead of freezing zones wouln't that create more precipitation and therefore more fresh water?

Wouldn't Canada and Russia finally get the head they need to live on the land?

Wouldn't land along the equator stay the same temperatures?

ANSWER THEM ALL LITTLE BOY!

Answer 1

The Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets are on land. So if that water melts and runs down to the sea, sea level will rise. But it is true that the whole floating north polar ice pack could melt without changing sea level.

And yes, global warming will cause more rain for Earth as a whole, but maybe not where you want it. The scientists say wet areas will get even more rain but wind patterns will shift to make dry areas even drier. I question that myself but do not really understand the science enough to make an informed judgment on it.

I have given this same answer to this same question/statement countless times before, but never gotten a best answer for it. I guess because it isn't what the asker/ranter wants to hear. But it IS true.

Answer 2

Fill a glass with ice cubes, then put a little water in it.   Melt the ice and see if the water level goes down or up.   I'm betting it goes up.   Most of the ice on the earth is NOT floating on water, so your scenario is useless.   If the ice were just floating, it would be correct; up to 36 degrees at which temperature the water would start to expand and pass the level it was at at 33 degrees.  

More precipitation where?   Where its needed?   Raining out in the ocean doesn't help any.   Raining where there is already enough water doesn't help any (look at the mid west).  

Canada and Russia both export food.   Yes they import bananas, but they will never get warm enough to grow those in any foreseeable future.  

No, the land along the equator would warm too.   Why would it not warm?

Answer 3

The water levels will rise, and I thin that test is innacurate

Many animals will die that are in the poles.Also, freashwater isn't always a good thing, many fish and animals willl need saltwater. GLOBAL WARMING ISN"T A GOOD THING NO MATTER WHAT REASONS THERE ARE

Answer 4

If the Arctic ice over the north pole melts, then as you say, there's no change in the sea level. However, if the Antarctic ice melts (which lies above land) then the sea level WILL rise.

The good news for low lying islands in the pacific is that antarctica is increasing it's ice cover overall (apart from a small bit that points towards Argentina).

I'm afraid Russia and Canada are going to have to wait a while yet.

Answer 5

Actually, there is a lot of ice floating on top of the water, so that the polar ice caps melting would increase the sea level. But not by the Al Gore-projected level ... more like 3 feet.

Answer 6

interesting, never thought of it that way

They say that the melting results in more water in the sea so he level will rise. As ice caps not all is actually in the sea. Also the warmer temperature of the sea will cause expansion adding to the higher level

Answer 7

The issue is land based ice, like Greenland and Antarctica.  As they melt the water runs into the sea and raises sea levels.

The scientific data shows that that's EXACTLY what is happening.  Proof:

http://sealevel.colorado.edu/

The amount of heat at the poles has little to do with the amount of precipitation, although it will change WHERE the precipitation occurs, and mess up farms.

Land along the Equator is warming too, just not as fast as the Arctic.  Proof:

http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/2007/

Basically the scientific facts say this "question" is loaded with nonsense.

Answer 8

I think you're right.  And someone compared this with filling a cup full of ice and then adding water to it--that's not a fair comparison being that the ocean isn't filled with ice from top to bottom.  And to flood nations (because if it happened slowly people would notice and could leave certain regions), the ice would have to melt really fast--if it were that hot, would we even be alive?  And if it did get that hot and we were still alive, wouldn't a lot of evaporation occur?  So would the waters even reach us much less flood us when a lot of this melting ice will end up as steam?  Is this wrong?

Answer 9

Notice the comma in your sentence.  The ice caps are indeed melting and the sea level is indeed rising. There's nothing false about either statement.

If your real question is will the melting sea ice (not the polar ground based glaciers) cause a rise in the sea level? Then the answer is "not significantly", but some. The reason is because of density and salinity differences. If all the sea ice melted the global sea-level effect would only be about a 4 mm rise.

http://www.radix.net/~bobg/faqs/sea.leve...

However, there's another indirect sea-level effect anticipated by the melting sea ice. It's the albedo effect. Sea ice is near white and reflects a lot of energy from the sun.  Ocean water is very dark and absorbs the solar heat. So by uncovering the Arctic ocean, the waters will absorb more heat and this will increase the global warming effect.  That will, in turn, cause more melting of the land based glaciers and more expansion of the ocean water (warm water expands), both of which will raise the sea-level.

If the north and south poles became "heat zones" many of the major cities of the world would be partly under water. So access to fresh water would be the least of our concerns.

Answer 10

they need a balance of Salt & Fresh water

Answer 11

it's a fraud