If all the ice caps and frozen methane at the bottom of the oceans melt. Where will the new ocean fronts be?

Question

Ocean fronts being the new locations of beaches on every continent. I know if we don't cut our emissions by 2012 it will be too late to stop global warming. I'm predicting that in 30 years the beaches we know today will no longer exist. That is my prediction only because I do not have much fate in our abilities to cut down on CO2 emissions.

Answer 1

Mr Nice Guy is I am sure very nice but also apparently uninformed. See below for methane ice. As for glacier melting and sea level rise. According to wikipedia: "Around 90 percent of the fresh water on the Earth's surface is held in the ice sheet, an amount equivalent to 70 m of water in the world's oceans." That implys that the ocean levels would rise about 230 feet due to ice melting alone. There would also be additional rise due to thermal expansion of the oceans.

Methane clathrate
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Methane hydrate)

"Burning ice". Methane, released by heating, burns; water drips. Inlay: clathrate structure.
Source: USGS
Methane clathrate, also called methane hydrate or methane ice, is a form of water ice that contains a large amount of methane within its crystal structure (a clathrate hydrate). Originally thought to occur only in the outer regions of the solar system where temperatures are low and water ice is common, extremely large deposits of methane clathrate have been found under sediments on the ocean floors of Earth.

Answer 2

The methane-clathrate can become the next resources of the oil-industry. They can use it just as natural gas and convert it into any organic chemical product; even gasoline they can make out of it. Be sure, they will take it out of the oceans if their oil reserves are ending.

Referring to the pole caps of ice I have seen coming up new calculations: this ice is are already swimming in water isn't it? So this means, that 6/7 of this ice already is under surface of oceans. The melting of the pole caps therfore would not rise the ocean surface many 10 meters. Reality seems to be some mm per year .... so in your 30 years period the rise would be just 10 to 20 cm.

Please do not misunderstand me: I am thinking green, I do not want to discuss the CO2 problem away. But also I can not accept a horror scenario made in Hollywood or by mass media greedy for bad sensations.

Exist quite a lot efforts of cutting down greenhouse gases; but I feel very sad when learning that all European efforts for a year of CO2 saving are just neutralized by Indonesia's big bushfires (after Mr. Suharto had decided to dry the natural swamps there for his ambitious developing projects).

Also is obviously underestimated, that oil platforms when drilling for oil emit millions of tons of CO2 and only a few of them have started now to collect it and prress it back into the sediments.

Answer 3

There has been a lot of silly hype about this but it really is very simple. I ask you to consider a full glass of water with ice in it. When the ice melts does the water overflow the top of the glass? No not at all because the ice displaced as much water in it's frozen form as it did in it's liquid from. If the ice caps melted entrily it would have little to no effect on ocean surface levels. The only addition would be the ice currently over the continent of antartica which is minimal when considering the volumn of the ocean.

Answer 4

First of all, there is NO frozen methane at the bottom of the oceans however there may be some trapped methane gas there. If the ice caps all melted then sea level would rise 225 feet and this would greatly imact a couple billion of people on Earth who would have to move to higher ground. Since 1980 sea level has risen 5 inches.

Answer 5

that's a difficult one to answer. if all the ice caps melted and large amounts of methane were released into the atmosphere you'd not only have to take into account the volume of ice underwater tha t has elted but also how much of the seabed was removed as methane was released form the methane hydrate rocks.

Then calculate what volume of water has beenn liberated but work out ho w much that would raise the present level. But also bear in mind methane and more water vapor would increase the earth's temp even more so more evaporation will occur so ultimately it could lead to an eventual drop in present sea levels, as more water is trapped in avaporation cycle and water ground water levels raise ditto inland lakes and rivers. So a very tricky one

Answer 6

Hmm. Methane is a gas at room temperature. Most of the alkanes are. To freeze methane into a solid would require an enormous temperature drop, far more than the temperature difference between room and bottom of sea.
THERE'S NO FROZEN METHANE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE OCEAN!
Hope this helps.

Answer 7

Well, I'm not sure about the frozen methane, but I do know this: California is so long overdue, for the "Big One" that I could see Nevada, or even Arizona, becoming the next "West Coast".... And, Georgia, being the "South-Eastern" coast next, from all the Hurricanes!! And, I just thank-God, my dad finally got out of Florida. But, now he's in California. Cant win, for loseing!!!

Answer 8

the ocean will rise and the lower land on the coasts would flood and be under water. Example New Orleans or in Manitoba the Red River would rise and create more flooding to reestablish Lake Agazzi that dried up thousands of years ago.

Answer 9

You can see all the changes to the earth that will happen from Global Warming by going to see the movie,"An
Inconvenient Truth" or buy the Book and read it.
Better yet, do both.

The Film is a "Must See".

Answer 10

The new ocean fronts would probably be only at the highest elevations.