Global Warming?

Question

they say the ice caps will melt, and there will be flooding due to rising sea levels, but!
in a glass of ice water, as the ice melts the water level decreases(there is less water in an ice cube than in an equall volume of water alone)
so how is it that the sea level will rise when the ice melts . . .woudlnt the sea level decrese?

just to clear it up, im not defending or rejecting the idea of global warming becaus ei simply dont knwo if its true . . .i thik we are polluting the earth beyond all recognition, but global warming . . .ah im not so sure of

Answer 1

The Greenland and Antarctic ice caps are currently on land. It's like holding a melting ice cube in your hand over the glass of ice water.

Answer 2

Most of the ice is on land. Also, always some part of an iceberg floats above water. It may be small relative to the iceberg, but we're talking about millions of gal of water.

Also, sea ice helps keep land ice on land, i.e. preventing ice from flowing downstream to the ocean. When that big antartic ice self dislodged in 2005, only did it go away but a lot of land ice did too.

By the way:

CO2 is 30% higher than it has been for 650,000 years. Methane is 130% greater. These are two of the main pollutants humans put into the atmosphere in excess, and they are two of the primary greenhouse gases.

Look at the 'hockeystick', which shows a dramatic warming since 1950 after a fairly stable climate for 1000 years. In fact, the 10 hottest years in recorded history have all happened since 1990, with 2005 being the hottest, and 2006 is shaping up to maybe break that record.
(see links below)

How's that for proof of man's fault in this? There is ample proof, any real scientist will tell you that.

There has NEVER been an article doubting man's influence on global warming published in a peer-reviewed journal. A recent study of almost 1000 proved that.

Yes, the earth naturally heats and cools, but the rate and amount we are warming now is unprecedented in the recent geologic past. We are doing this, and we must stop it. This is not some political statement or rhetoric. This is science trying to educate a crass, ignorant public of the damage they are doing. The magnitude of temperature increase ALREADY is about 10x that of the 'little ice age' of the middle ages, and rate and amount are only going up.

Just to be clear, glacial and interglacial cycles are mainly controlled by astronomical fluctuations, but we have a detailed record of the last 7 cycles, and what the climate and CO2 is doing now is way different and extreme. The rate of increase is much higher than in the past AND the value itself is much higher.

HI CO2:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4467420.stm
HOCKEY STICK:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/5109188.stm
General climate stuff:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3897061.stm

Answer 3

Good observation. But here the ice is not with in the sea water. Ice is stored in the land. They melt and run down to the sea and increase its volume.

Answer 4

I'm a geology major and all my professors agree global warming is a natural cycle of the earth. One volcano pollutes more than years of fossil fuel burning can. We have been on a warming trend since the last ice-age 65,000 years ago.
You people have the Chicken Little "The sky is falling" syndrome.

Answer 5

melting floating ice does not cause sea levels to rise, but melting ice that is on land, like in Antarctica or Greenland will cause it to rise. See Al Gore's movie, where this is explained.

Answer 6

Well I was watching this thing on the Discovery channel and it says when the water temp. increases expands how I do not know but that's what the Discovery channel said so umm hoped that helped