that when it does, the ocean waters would rise 20 feet, covering 70% of florida in water, as well as cities around the world near the ocean?
2006-06-23 21:58:02 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Polar ice is melting at an alarming rate. Shelves of ice are breaking off of Antarctica, float out to sea, and melt. At the North Pole, the ice isn't coming back like it used to and this is messing the polar bears all up. They cant catch a ride on an ice chunk so that they can go out and hunt seals like they used to. This all happened before. At the end of the Ice Age, like 12 thousand years ago, the Mediterranean Sea was dry and above sea level. When all the glaciers slowly melted, the ocean level rose all over the world and human settlements, which are mostly by water and thus semi coastal, got flooded. Many great archaeological sites still exist beneath the waves. Underwater archeology is still a new science. The ocean levels are going to rise again and we will see many coastal cities flooded and large masses of people migrating away from them.
2006-06-23 22:05:41 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe you are refering to the Ross Ice Sheet in Antarctica? yeah if it were to break off it would cause a huge displacement of water including sea-level rise and Giant Tsunamis (like thousand of feet high, that is if it all broke off at once) because the weight of the ice sheet is supported by the ice shelf which anchors the weight to land, not the ocean. There is evidence this has happened in the past and with any sea-level rise (due to global warming or something else) the east coast of the USA is screwed and would be inundated hundreds of miles inland due to the flat and low elevation coastline. The west coast doesnt have to worry as much as we have an emergent coastline which has mostly cliffs boardering the oceans on average 20-30 feet high.
2006-06-24 05:08:37 · answer #2 · answered by UCSC Slugmaster 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The only ice that will make a difference to the water level is that supportes by land. If an iceberg melt or the north polar icecap (which is floating) nothing will happen. Try it yourself with a glass of water and an ice cube.
The reason is that ice expands as it solidfies (thats why the ice floats) If it melts it will only take up the volume of ice that is under the water (archimedes principle). I can't explain it fully here but if you need an explanation, email me. I will try to find some valid links.
2006-06-24 05:49:40 · answer #3 · answered by Nemesis 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes. it's simple physics. the earth doesn't spin evenly, it wobbles. the current wobble is based on where the weight on the earth is (spin a top and you'll see). so if huge caps break off/melt, the wobble will be thrown off, and then the problem won't just be about flooding.
Great news story in todays LA Times (and probably most other majors) that Congress just examined global warming findings from 8 years ago and the hockey stick curve of the graph has them singing a different tune than before. it's about time.
people are tied to the earth, and how we've treated her is a total blow it - all in the name of power and money. it will be curious to see what happens, but if you looked at the situation from off the planet, what do you think is going to happen.....
2006-06-24 05:13:21 · answer #4 · answered by Kevin A 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No...If it was already in the water, it would just continue to float. There are huge walls of ice in the Alaskan area that can cause local surges in a limited area when they break off and fall into the water. This is simple displacement of the water by the large mass of ice when it lands.
2006-06-24 05:36:09 · answer #5 · answered by Dale P 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yeah global warming is causing that... though i think we will be in the later part of our lives... (may be later... only trying to be proactive!!) and many things can happen even before that!
Did u see the movie 'water world'??
If polar ice caps melt... large tracts of what we know as land will be water.... but a counter ecological wave is also possible after much devastation.
2006-06-24 05:03:10 · answer #6 · answered by boogie man 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Yes, Virginia, polar ice is melting and isn't coming back (in our lifetimes):
"Upwards of 90% of glaciers reported to the World Glacier Monitoring Service have retreated since 1995 [26].'
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_warming
2006-06-24 05:17:44 · answer #7 · answered by Left the building 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's part of the global warming myth. The big threat to Florida are the hurricanes, which cause occasional flooding.
2006-06-24 05:03:07 · answer #8 · answered by onelm0 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
That is when more then one happens. Hence the second ice age which will come sooner or later.
2006-06-24 05:04:01 · answer #9 · answered by silvs 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
NO
2006-06-24 05:01:30 · answer #10 · answered by FiFi BABY 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋