ice packs melting?

Question

if the ice packs are melting in the south pole,they say tides are getting higher,i noticed where i live that the spring tide dont seem to make there hights any more,they use to cover the land but now it is rare to see it,i believe its oil rigs the cause,one oil rig out of hundreds in the world suck out one million barrels of oil in one day,they also pump sea water in at the same time,there is 34 imp gallons in 1 barrel of oil aprox,.what would you think.

Answer 1

You have neglected to mention the temperature factor involved. The sea and air temerature in both the Arctic and the Antarctic has risen. The buffer layer of ice that surrounds the slow moving Glaciers has dissappeared. Melted, ceased to be. The slow moving glacier is now unstable and great chunks are breaking off and floating away as icebergs. The glacier has no barrier and so therefore is moving towards the sea at a faster rate. The speed will increase over time and lumps as big as England will be floating down towards the shipping lanes of the North Atlantic ocean and warmer waters which will melt the icebergs. This will increase the depth of the oceans. The less land available the less heat dissipation from the sun and more heat is reflected back into the atmosphere. It cannot escape though because of the pollution blanket surrounding our planet and so the earth's average temperature will rise causing more ice to melt. Get the picture? The oil industry has polluted our oceans and our atmosphere with its products. China is belching out pollution at a phenominal rate and will soon overtake the USA as the biggest world polluter. Many third nations will follow suit all claiming their right to become industrialised. More pollution more trapped heat. The only thing that can save us is the knowledge that our oil and coal supplies will dry up one day, and hopefully there will be alternative forms of energy which do not damage our enviroment. The wind and solar panel industry is set to make a fortune.

Answer 2

Air pressure also affects tides. High pressure at a spring tide will probably make it below what is predicted in tide tables.
Over a longer period of time, isostatic equilibrium will appear to affect tidal heights. The UK is still rebounding back after the glaciation so southern england is sinking a bit each year while scotland is rising a bit each year. To someone in the north of scotland, it would appear as if the sea level has fallen over time when in fact, it's the land rising. Check out 'isostacy' in a search engine.

Answer 3

It could also be that last year tides washed off layers of sand and it now appears as though the tide doesn't reach as high, because you're using the old level of sand as a level.

Answer 4

In think it doesn'nt really matter both to you or me.. By the time the ice caps melt, you and me will be long gone. The population in the lower grounds will be gone and the people left on higher reaches will survive, I think we are talking multi, multi millions of people here so life will go on as normal....