If the polar ice caps melted, would it really flood the world?

[dstebbins]

This concept has often been entertained in various works of fiction, but is it really a plausible concept, from a scientific standpoint?

 

Think about it: Ice actually has more volume than water does. That's why it's able to float in water: It's the same mass as water, but greater volume, so the density is less.

 

If the polar ice caps melt, it seems that the sea level might actually decrease, because the volume of the solid water will go down. It's the volume that counts, isn't it? Not the mass or density.

 

Thoughts?

Edited April 5, 2011 by dstebbins

[swansont]

This concept has often been entertained in various works of fiction, but is it really a plausible concept, from a scientific standpoint?

 

Think about it: Ice actually has more volume than water does. That's why it's able to float in water: It's the same mass as water, but greater volume, so the density is less.

 

If the polar ice caps melt, it seems that the sea level might actually decrease, because the volume of the solid water will go down. It's the volume that counts, isn't it? Not the mass or density.

 

Thoughts?

 

The ice on the south pole is on land, not floating. Same with Greenland.

[Eyvind]

The ice on the south pole is on land, not floating. Same with Greenland.

 

Not only there

 

Canada

Alasca

Himalayas

Alpes

.......................

 

All around the world there's millions of cubic meters on land!! 20 or so years ago they were given as permenent ice caps, now they are melting...

[SMF]

A fun factoid-- We are all familiar with the bit about ice cubes in a glass of water where melting of the ice doesn't change the water level. However, when an iceberg melts in the ocean the ocean level goes up just a little. This is because icebergs calve from fresh water glaciers, and fresh water is not as dense as salt water. Melting of sea ice will also raise the ocean, but even less than icebergs because even though sea ice is salty it is less so than sea water. When ocean water freezes to make sea ice there is a process, whose name I forget, whereby salt is partially excluded from both the forming and formed ice.

 

A little more-- The process of excluding salt from sea ice was used by Eskimos for getting fresh water when hunting out on the sea ice. They cut a piece of fairly pure sea ice and set it in the sun. After the ice is partially melted, what is left is fresh enough to drink. Successful low tech is nifty. SM

Edited April 5, 2011 by SMF

[Janus]

This concept has often been entertained in various works of fiction, but is it really a plausible concept, from a scientific standpoint?

 

Think about it: Ice actually has more volume than water does. That's why it's able to float in water: It's the same mass as water, but greater volume, so the density is less.

 

If the polar ice caps melt, it seems that the sea level might actually decrease, because the volume of the solid water will go down. It's the volume that counts, isn't it? Not the mass or density.

 

Thoughts?

 

It depends on what you mean by "flood the World" . Yes, sea levels would rise by many meters, but not to the extent pictured in say, "Waterworld"

[Larix]

Unfortunately it's not just a matter of ice caps melting, the problem will be the thermal expansion of the oceans as they heat up.

This concept has often been entertained in various works of fiction, but is it really a plausible concept, from a scientific standpoint?

 

Think about it: Ice actually has more volume than water does. That's why it's able to float in water: It's the same mass as water, but greater volume, so the density is less.

 

If the polar ice caps melt, it seems that the sea level might actually decrease, because the volume of the solid water will go down. It's the volume that counts, isn't it? Not the mass or density.

 

Thoughts?

[Light Storm]

Roughly 55 million years ago sea level was 70 meters higher then it is today....

While run off green house gasses are the popular accepted account for this number, I tend to learn towards another unmentionable theory that makes more sense.

 

In any regard... here is a pretty good article on the subject "What if all the ice melts?"

 

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/environment/waterworld.html

[Athena]

Dstebbins, thank you for the question.

 

Light Storm, thank you for a link to the possible answer.

[Moontanman]

Roughly 55 million years ago sea level was 70 meters higher then it is today....

While run off green house gasses are the popular accepted account for this number, I tend to learn towards another unmentionable theory that makes more sense.

 

In any regard... here is a pretty good article on the subject "What if all the ice melts?"

 

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/environment/waterworld.html

 

 

Very nice light storm, way to inject some of your male bovine excrement into a totally non related thread. Yes it describes how much the ocean levels would rise but the "global warming is not true" part of the link is suspect and so is the description of how high the ocean would get if the ice caps melted. A somewhat less biased if not more accurate answer can be found here... 80 meters is the figure they give.

 

http://pubs.usgs.gov/fs/fs2-00/

Edited May 19, 2011 by Moontanman

[mooeypoo]

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