Whats the panic with tides rising due to the melting of the polar ice caps?

Question

if you have a glass full of ice cubes and then fill to the top with water when the ice melts it doesn't overflow. I know this is due to displacement but if i can work it out looking at my rum and coke on a sat night surely the boffs can too.

Answer 1

First, most of the ice is not floating, but on land in Antarctica and Greenland.

One possible consequence is that millions-of-years-old micro-organisms such as bacteria and viruses which are embedded in the ice thousands of feet deep may reactivate; we and most of today's creatures would have no immunity to them.

Furthermore, the stress being released by the loss of so much ice weight at the poles, and its redistribution around the oceans, is so great that the shape of the earth's crust is changing. The flattened poles are "popping up" like a football when you take weight off it. This will cause far more earthquakes and volcanoes.

Answer 2

Sadly the world is not a glass of rum and coke. Ahhh. If all the ice melts it will no longer be contained at the top and bottom of the world. It will spread itself out equally amongst the oceans with the help of gravity and the moon, and as the land masses are fixed to the earth's core the oceans will rise and low-lying coastal areas will suffer higher tides. Does that theory hold any water?

Answer 3

Its not only the polar ice caps that will melt, but also glaciers etc. This coupled with the thermal expansion of water due to the increasing heat would result in a rise in the tides. Low lying land would be under greater threat of being flooded, for example the Netherlands. And like others have said it is also land ice, so would contribute to volume.

Answer 4

Wait a minute. The polar ice caps occupy a certain space right? OK, since a previous inebriated contributor referred to his rum and coke as an example, let's imagine them as two gigantic ice cubes.

Now, imagine removing those two gigantic ice cubes right down to the earth's crust and storing them somewhere... let's say, for sake of an argument, in Michael Moore's underwear drawer .... What are you left with? An immense hole! Or rather, TWO immense holes! The sea will now flow back into these holes dramatically lowering the sea level!

Now. Retrieve your giant ice cubes from amongst Moore's underwear and put them back into the sea and let them melt. Do you think that would cause the sea to rise above the level it was prior to removing your giant ice cubes??

Also, liquid expands as it freezes. Anyone who has left a bottle of Chardonnay to chill in the freezer a little too long will know this, as invariably, the freezing liquid forces the cork out. Soo, this proves that ice takes up more space than water.

Simplistic I know, but my point is that the melting of the ice caps would pretty much just occupy the space they already sit in. Maybe the small percentage of ice that pokes above sea level may cause a tiny rise in sea level but enough to make Birmingham the new Blackpool?? I don't think so.

Problem is the annoyingly intrepid likes of Sir Ranulph Fiennes will have no idea where the North and South Poles are since all the flags will have floated away and we may get hoards of displaced penguins and polar bears seeking asylum here but let's look on the bright side... there may be huge untapped reserves of oil under those giant ice cubes. ;)

Answer 5

We've heard this glib argument so often I'm amazed anybody is so out of touch to still use it (you're not alone, Tom Utley in the Daily Mail trotted it out a couple of days ago. But he's a professional journalist, he's paid to talk rubbish).

But we'll try again (*yawn*). The ice that would contribute to sea level change isn't the floating ice of the Arctic Ocean or the ice shelves off Antarctica, it is the continental ice on Greenland and the Antarctic continent. This is firmly grounded on land, and will contribute directly to ocean volume. It has before, it will again.

Answer 6

Don't think melting polar caps is going to have much effect on rising tides as tides are produced by the gravitational pull of the moon and the sun on the Earth (and more particularly on the wet bits that cover 2/3 of its surface). Now a rise in global sea levels is much more concerning. The melting of the Greenland icecap (likely in the next couple of centuries - it's already started) will result in worldwide sea level rise of about 7m or 22ft whilst the melting of the Antarctic icecap will add a whopping 70m or 230ft to global sea levels - you might want to check out what elevation you live at! Still it likely won't affect you but our descendants won't thank us for it!

Answer 7

When the Polar Ice caps melt it will raise the level of the oceans because unlike your drink, the Polar ice is outside of the system initially... it is like putting your drink under the dripping water from an ice-chest.. it will overflow eventually.

Answer 8

1. As the ice caps (which are white) melt less of the Sun's energy gets reflected into space so the Earth absorbs more heat and gets warmer.
2 As the Earth gets warmer the Ice sheets that cover the land melt (ie. mainly Greenland and Antarctica) and go into the sea raising the sea level.
3 Also, water expands as it gets warmer making the sea levels rise farther.

Answer 9

I assume you have been drinking it bit by bit and thats why it wont overflow!:) However this is not the case for global climate. It is more complicted than putting ice and add rum and coke with a thin slice of lime. However, I am impressed that you to show concern toward this subject. We must start somewhere, right?
Cheers!

Answer 10

hi, you're absolotely suitable at your element that "the quantity of water displaced is comparable to the quantity of water the ice cube will take up while melted. this suggests that the water point interior the glass will stay consistent even while the ice cube melts." for this reason, this suggests there are diffrent motives. one in all them the glaciers that have been weakened by ability of warmth and broken off from their land into the sea. The extra the temperature gets bigger, the extra glaciers fall into the oceans. the 2nd reason ; the density of the water is optimal at 4 degree, while the temperature gets bigger , the degree of the water might bypass bigger. consequently, this might scale back the density of the water and increse the quantity ( m (mass) = d (density)* v( quantity) . as a consequence of incresed water quantity , the sea point might bypass up. wish that may assist you...