what would happen if the the surface area that the ocean covers Earth decreases?

Question

will there be heat waves in the winter or a larger variation of temperature?

Answer 1

Well, during the last great glaciation, much of the Earth's water was locked up in ice, and ocean levels (and ocean surface area) were smaller. The planet was generally much colder, winter and summer.

Answer 2

During the last ice age, there was a land bridge between Asia and North America where Alaska is now. The so-called native Americans (also called Indians) came across that land bridge from Asia.

Proxy data collected from millennia old ice shelves in Antarctica, indicate our Earth has been going through periodic stages of global warming and global cooling for 100s of thousand of years. Last I heard, the data collected went back as far as 800,000 years ago...long before modern mankind (homo sapiens) set foot on Earth some 250,000 years ago.

The mechanisms for these warming and cooling cycles are complex and interrelated. They involve both phenomena on land and in the oceans. For one thing, the cold and warm ocean currents, which are interconnected between the Pacific, Indian, and Atlantic Oceans, change from stage to stage. And, most well known today, concentration of greenhouse gases (notably CO2) changes during the warming and cooling stages.

If our ocean areas were to shrink, the water would go somewhere, but only if it did not escape the Earth's atmosphere. Presuming that to be the case, shelf ice in both poles is the most likely place for that water to end up. It has done so in the past during all the ice ages; so there is no reason to believe it would do otherwise this time.

My house back in Ohio was literally just across the street from the southern most reach of the North American glacier during the last ice age. That's how far south the polar ice cap came. And that's why the oceans were so low that there was a land bridge between Asia and North America.

Weather patterns would change and cause climate changes. Coastlines would become greater as the oceans receded. Given the oceans receded, we can only presume the global rains have lessened; otherwise, why would the oceans recede? Rain is what replenishes oceans as they evaporate.

An interesting question given that the fear now is that the oceans are getting larger and will soon flood our costlines throughout the world.

Answer 3

The old professor says: That is easy! The surface area of the dry land increases!

Seriously, that has happened many times in the past...especially during ice ages. Ocean water is "locked up" as polar ice and the sea levels drop. During ice ages, the climates are dryer and there are many dust storms (today's loess deposits around the world) Many life forms suffer from the aridity, cold temps, lack of vegetation, etc. Wind patterns change and land bridges are formed...making migration of competitive species possible...like humans coming to North America (maybe?). With less water to moderate temps and to carry heat/cold to different parts of the globe, extremes could occur. Needless to say, ocean current patterns would also be changed.

Answer 4

The air born ash from the Iceland volcano contribute to the extreme cold by preventing some of the Winter Sun's Radiation from hitting the Earth's surface. The unusual movement of air may also be enhanced by differences in temperature between zones where the ash cause dimming and zones where it is not.

Answer 5

The last time the Oceans receded was during the Ice Age. The water was locked up in icecaps and glaciers. With global warming, these are melting and the oceans are rising.

Answer 6

Well, let's compare earth to a bubble. When a bubble's surface tension decreases, it gets stronger and thicker, so the oceans and lakes may overflow and flood, but the water will also move slower than usual, and so will everything else.

Answer 7

more beaches. more clouds. more flooding. more river.
The water coming out of the ocean would end up somewhere, probably in the atmosphere.