Shouldn't global warming make the oceans go down?

Question

When I was in high school we learned that H2O in solid form (frozen) has more volume than it does in it's liquid form. I think my teacher even said it was the only substance that expands as it gets colder. At any rate, If I fill a glass with water and froze it then drew a line at the top of the ice, when the ice melted the water line would be below the line I drew.

So wouldn't melting ice caps mean lower oceans?

Answer 1

Go back to high school, or better yet second grade.   Fill a glass with ice cubes, then add water to it so its half full.   Wait for all the ice to melt and see where the water level is.   Bet you it goes up when the cubes out of the water melt.

Answer 2

No.

The temperature of maximum density of water is about 4C.  After that, it expands as it gets warmer.

The problem with ice is not floating ice, but land based ice running into the sea as it melts.

Answer 3

YES !!

Answer 4

You might also like to know that the Artic Oceans continue to show a warming trend, which is actually a stronger indicator of global warming in the short run. In the long wrong, it is true, the global oceans must show an overall warming trend if global warming is actually occuring. Indeed, despite the recent "cooling" the overall trend of the global oceans in the past 50 years has been one of significant warming; in fact, even though the oceans have been in an overall warming trend, there have been decades where they have cooled somewhat.

Hence, this recent decrease in tempature- a decrease of .055 degrees Farhenheit from 2003 to 2005, after an increase of .16 degrees Farhenheit from 1993 to 2003- does not really mean anything because: a.) This has happened before, despite the overall warming trend; b.) the Artic Oceans, a better gauge in the short run of global warming, continue to show a warming trend; and c.) in such massive and dynamic bodies like the ocean, such short run fluctuations are to be expected; in other words, short run fluctuations in either direction do not really mean anything in term of global warming. It is the overall trend that is important.

The oceans are cooling, and they're only willing to say that the oceans are warming more slowly.

In addition an iceberg displaces a volume of water equal to its mass. Since freezing the water into ice changes its volume but not its mass the volume of the iceberg below the water line is the same as the volume of water you will get if you melt the iceberg. Melting an iceberg does not change the water level at all.

Also, if you have a mass of ice floating in water, if the ice melts the water level will stay the exact same. This is because:

Vwater displaced / Vice = pice / pwater

Where V is volume, and p is density (closest symbol I could find).

Basically, ice floats because it is less dense than water, but also because of this some of its volume will be above water level. This will result in the water level remaining the same when the ice melts.

Note that this is only exact in pure water at 4oC, but it wouldn't make a huge difference.

Since the ice being talked about is located on land (yes, Antarctica is land) and as such is not floating in water, the sea level would in fact rise.

Answer 5

No and here is why: Ice floats.

Let me explain. first, over 1/3 of an ice mass will remain Above the water's surface; therefore, this mass cannot be included in the water displacement. Also, expansion of water as it changes state to ice is not a dominating factor in mass1/mass2 ratio. In other words, the mass below the water's surface simply cancels itself from one state to the next. It is, however, the mass above the water's surface that contributes to the rising water levels, being that displacement only deals with surface AREA, and not MASS.

Answer 6

Global warming is an imputation for scientists and a very creative way for them to obtain research grants from tax payers.

Vikings settled Greenland during a warm period, much like a global warming we are experiencing today- the so-called 'Medieval Warm Period' between 1000 AD and 1200 AD. Climate cooled in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, forcing Vikings to abandon their Greenland settlements.

Yes, global temperatures have risen slightly over the past 30 years (~0.4 degress), however this can be accreditted to the fact that weather monitoring stations have increased, Look at Africa for example, which has and had a higher than average median temprature than most other continents, but over the pst 30 years due to aid from urbanized countries we have collected more weather data in these remote areas that we did not prior to the 1970's/80's and theze contributions aid in the "raising" the global temparature.

In addition, looking at climate changes over the past 25,000 years a warming period has also been noticed just before a "ice-age", so yes if we in fact are seeing a true increase in temperatures then what we should be worried about is the proceeding cooling and the deceptive global warming...

Answer 7

No, as "Ice Caps" melt, they add to to total "liquid" volume. The Ice Caps are above the surface of the oceans, on land.

Global Warming has been "happening" since the last "Ice Age". People, AND Industry, did not exist back then. Yet "G-W" exists. WHY? Because it is a naturally occurring phenomena. WE(humans) don't cause it. WE can't stop IT! Wasting "money" on it, just wastes money!!!

http://GlobalClimateScam.com   Check it out.

Answer 8

um. no. thats pretty obvious. more water would be added to the oceans

Answer 9

The experiment you describe is correct, since the ice does take up more volume than the water will once the ice has melted.(going from its solid state to liquid form)

One of the answers is completely wrong.

The experiment was described as follows.

Fill a glass with ice cubes, then add water to it so its half full. Wait for all the ice to melt and see where the water level is.

If enough water is placed into the glass, such that the ice is floating, there will be no change in water level at all.

This is simple physics, since the water has already been displaced by the mass of the ice.

If you do not add enough water to the glass to cause the ice to become buoyant then you WOULD see an increase in level.

Icebergs floating in the oceans could never ad to increased levels of water after melting since they have already displaced the the same volume of water which would be created by their melting.

Water is most dense at 4 degrees C.

Warmer or colder than this temperature, it becomes less dense.

This is why you can guarantee that if you have ice covering a lake or pond and dropped a thermometer to the bottom, it will always read 4 degrees C.

This is because the entire volume of the water has got to drop to 4 degrees Celsius before the lower temperatures can even begin to turn into ice.

I hope that helped a bit.

Answer 10

In a sense yes and no the warming will make the ocean fill from melting ice and snow but as the heat gets hotter the water will disappear as well so you see its a y/n question and all others are right as well.