If ice floats on water and the icecap up north is on water why would it melting raise sealevel?

Answer 1

It doesn't. Only the melting ice that is on land contributes to the rise in sea levels, and the ice sheet on the land in Antarctica is actually increasing, so that is not a problem. Only the temperatures in the Northern hemisphere are thought to be increasing. The temperatures in the Southern hemisphere are actually dropping.

Answer 2

An experiment and an answer:

Fill a cup of water to about 3/4 full. Add ice cubes until the level reaches the top of the glass.

Let melt.

First guess would lead one to think that the water would overflow the glass, but it will not. The water level will be lower after the ice melted. (The ice is -expanded- water, thus a smaller volume once melted).

Now, do the same experiment except get a block of ice that is well above and beyond the top of the glass. When this ice melts, the water level will overflow the glass.

No different with glaciers. They are well above the 'rim' of the ocean. Some many miles deep. Add that melt to the ocean and it will rise.

Answer 3

You're right, the sea-ice in the Arctic melts and freezes without appreciably changing sea level. The _Antarctic_, however, is a land mass covered by ice, which is melting into the water or shedding icebergs into it. Greenland and other land up North also have receding glaciers.

Answer 4

think about where the ice is ¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿¿
here is a breakdown,

25% of the planets surface is land
75%of the surface is water and it is rising

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97%of the Earths water is salt

fresh water is only 3% of all the Earths water
most of it is beyond out reach

now much ice is melting and running into the seas fresh water lost for ever.

STORAGE or Location of % of the fresh water
ice and glaziers 74%
groundwater 800 meters + 13.5 %
groundwater less than 800meters 11.o%
Lakes 0.3%
soils 0.006%
Atmospheric in circulation 0.0035%
rivers 0.03%


frozen land or permafrost is not included and represent an unavailable storage of 40%

so of the 3% about 11.6 ,is easily available to us ,in rivers, lakes and ground water surface aquifers,more and more of this is becoming contaminated

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take a glass of water fill it up with ice,higher than the rim ,when it melts not a drop leaves the glass.

because the ice is full of air.
So you are right about the north pole ,this does not affect the sea water levels.

However Greenland ,Antarctica,the worlds glaziers and mountain snow is all ice out of the water and when it melts it returns either directly or via the rivers into the sea and the bulk of our sweet water suplies is lost .as well as raising the overall sea water level

It only has risen some centimeters but this already means land loss of some parts of low lying coastal lands

Answer 5

Once the ice melts, it turns into water, which becomes a part of the ocean, which then rises. This effect is easy to observe in a glass of ice water.

Answer 6

If ice melts it becomes water. Ice is less dense than water so as it melts the water that runs off has to go some where. Into the sea!

Answer 7

Your observations are correct. The Arctic Ice Cap is a floating block of ice and is already displacing it's own mass of water, even if it were to melt completely there would be no change in sea levels.

The Greenland Ice Cap and Antarctica are not floating so any melting that occurs here adds to the water in the seas and oceans and causes the sea levels to rise.

Answer 8

Because once it melts it becomes water. Therefore, it adds more water to the sealevel... it being water instead of ice.

Answer 9

Most of that ice is under the water. Have you ever heard of the phrase "it's only the tip of the iceberg?" It means there's a lot more under the surface.

Answer 10

It doesn't. The problem is land based ice in places like Greenland and Antarctica. And thermal expansion of the existing water.