If a cubic metre of ice melted wouldn't it just fill the volume of water it displaces?

Question

The arctic ice cap is as far as i am aware mainly free floating. Therefore, the volume of water displaced is equivalent to the weight of ice sitting on it. The density of ice is lower hence it floats and its volume is greater would it not be a zero sum result. Just how much would a total melt down actually raise sea levels.
The Antarctic is a different kettle of fish!!

Answer 1

You're absolutely right. However thermal expansion of water at lower lattitudes is likely to raise sea levels.

Answer 2

This is an interesting question with a complex answer repleat with exigencies. I'll answer it in a manner later but first consider that in order for the melt to occur avarage temperatures all over the earth must rise. Therefor all air on average would be warmer and the warmer the air the more moisture it will hold before it rains or condenses as dew somewhere. Far more moisture is in the atmosphere than is in the icecaps already and it is possible that most of the melt would be absorbed. Additionally, rainfall patterns would likely change and perhaps desert areas would become great lakes acting as repositories for all that additional water. So, even if the melt should occur the net gain to the oceans may be quite small. There are many other considerations also. What will the effect be on ocean salinity and currents and how will these affect climates and life?
Now, more directly to the question...... Consider an ice 'barge' if you will. This barge has a hull which is 12" thick, it is 100 ft x 100 ft and 11 ft of hull depth. Water weighs about 60 lbs per cu ft. I don't know the exact weight of ice (and am too lazy to look it up) but it is less than water, let's estimate 50lbs per cu ft. The ice hull of our barge therefor weighs (approximately) a petite 520,000 lbs. (check my arithmetic, it's early and I did it in my head) If we load our barge with ice cargo so that it floats with only one foot of freeboard (it sinks 10 ft deep on the sides), it will hold 6 million pounds of ice (A stack of ice 12 ft high displacing 100,000 cu ft of water). We melt that cargo and wallah it equals exactly the amount of water displaced! But then we can still melt the barge and that will be the net apparent gain to sea level, around 10% (of this volumn). Multiply that by all the square miles of floating ice 'barges'. But then there are a many thousands of square miles of ocean surface into which that would be dispersed. Again, this is an extremely complex question, but I'm not getting my scuba gear out yet.

Answer 3

Thankfully, water expands slightly when frozen into ice, which is why ice floats. It is less dense than water. Good thing too, because if it didn't, lakes and rivers would freeze all the way to the bottom, and we would have an earth frozen into a big round ball.

When ice melts, it will result in slightly less liquid than it occupied as a solid.

Answer 4

effortless: Ever placed ice in an ice-dice tray and freeze it, in basic terms to discover that it has lengthy previous intense of the tray? Water expands even as frozen. SO....once you throw in an ice dice and look on the quantity of water, it has lengthy previous up slightly because a number of the ice dice is displacing water, making it more effective. THEN....even as it has melted it easily takes up a lot less room than it did even as frozen. Your question is a touch hard to comprehend regardless of the reality that.... Are you suggesting that a cup of water vs. a cup of water with an ice dice in it (both all started with an same quantity of water) will be an same? Thats not authentic. to attempt the this, get a set of ice cubes, and upload them to a 1/2 cup of water. Watch even as they have melted. there'll be extra water than only a 1/2 contained in the glass. one difficulty that may screw up outcomes in this difficulty is sublimation, even as a number of the water contained in the glass is going off into the air as vapour (same as sweat leaves your pores and skin contained in the wind) So do the try in an section the position there is not alot of wind/air stream. sturdy success!

Answer 5

Water expands slightly when it is between 1 and 4 degrees celcius. This is why we get burst pipes in winter. Therefore the water would fill a greater volume at this temp.

Answer 6

Yes I think it would when ice is on or in water, however ice that is resting on land will raise sea levels

Answer 7

ok dear...those Ice are in solid stage.. and it displaces the equal volume of the water.. but it melts into water water level increases due addition of water.

just take a glass of water and measure the level and put one ice cube from your refrigerator and put it in the Glass. then measure the level. after some time the Ice will melt into water and there will be no ice cube.in that stage just measure the water level. you will see the significant hike in the level.

that is going to happen when the Antarctic ices melts.

Answer 8

the main reason for the future rise in water level will be due to the expansion of the water already melted as water is less dense above 4C-being most dense at this temp.The melting of ice due to global warming is not as significant partly due to what you have said above in your question

Answer 9

A large amount of the northern ice cap is on land (Greenland, Canada, Russia).

Answer 10

Yes, it would be just the same.