I'm looking at a map of the Arctic ice sheet shrinking since 1979...?

Question

I can't believe how much of it has melted - at least a quarter of it.

Now, the question... If 25% of the ice sheet has disappeared, then why hasn't the sea level risen at all yet? It hasn't gone up one centimeter.

Imagine if ALL of the Arcitc ice sheet melts. Four multiplied by a rise of 0 centimeters is still 0 centimeters.

I mean, we've all been told that all that melting ice will make the oceans rise.

Could the doomsday experts be wrong?

Answer 1

1979 was about the last year of the cooling trend. Interesting that you picked that year. There was a cooling trend from the 1940s to 1970s. If you picked 1935, your map would be more informative and less "alarming."

Answer 2

As one of the other answerers said...melting of floating ice has no effect on sea level. And there is a LOT of floating ice melting both in the arctic and antarctic ice sheets. The problem is the worlds glaciers melting; mostly Greenland and Antarctica. See the latest Natl Geographic for some scary pics of the meltwater rivers now cascading off of Greenland. Sea level will also rise (and has) slightly from warming...because warmer water expands slightly. But that effect will soon be swamped by the effect of glacial ice melting. It is real. One interesting thing is that if enough ice in the north around Greenland (in this case also the floating ice) melts it could cause an immediate, catastrophic cooling of the earth! Its all still human-caused climate change. Warming now, maybe freezing later. See the article in the link about the possible disruption of the "ocean conveyor belt" and cooling effects coming as secondary to ice melt in the north.

Answer 3

The 'doomsday experts' are correct and so are you when you state that a large part of the Arctic ice sheet has melted.

Unlike Antarctica and the Greenland ice sheet, the Arctic is floating and is already displacing it's own mass of water. It could melt completely and sea levels would be unaffected.

It would be a very different matter if all of Antarctica melted (it won't but just assuming it did) this would raise sea levels by over 70 metres, and if all the ice melted sea levels would rise by 80.34 metres (264 feet).

Sea levels are actually rising, the global average being 3mm per year with some places locally experiencing rises of up to 30mm a year - the Sundarban Islands for example.

Answer 4

Well, you've seen enough answers about the floating ice question. As for the global rise - depends on how you calculate it. In the Northern hemisphere there has been mostly increases recorded. In the Southern hemisphere, there have actually been decreases, along with an increase in Antarctic ice.

Some scientists studying glacial formation point to complete melting of the Arctic ice just prior to an ice age. I don't know what having that free sea does to the ocean currents, but they believe it triggers the ice age. Too hot or too cold? I guess we'll be able to take our own pick...

Answer 5

Arctic ice is already in the water. So no effect on sea level.

Its the Antartic ice, Greenland ice cap, mountain snow packs and disappearing glaciers which are on land which will raise sea level eventually.

The other effect of disappearing ice is that the ice reflects a lot of solar energy back into space. No ice/snow reflectors, more heat absorption by the Earth.

Losses of Arctic ice, Antartic ice, Greenland, glaciers, and disappearing permafrost in Northern Europe, Asia, and North America.

Ski resorts world wide are anticipating potential winter shutdown for lack of snow. Not an Al Gore fairy tale.

Its not doomsday, just a different world to those who live on coasts or in mountainous regions. One will have too much water, the other not enough.

Answer 6

The North Pole is Sea Ice, much like an ice cube in a glass if water...as it melts, the level doesn't change...The land ice..like Greenland, as it melts, has already caused a rise in sea level...Al Gore, who along with the 97% of CLIMATE SCIENTISTS...who agree that Climate Change is real, caused by human activity, and will have devastating effects on human and other populations....are correct

Answer 7

There is no fear that the melting of Arctic ice will raise sea levels. Melting ice floating in water does not change the water level: you can do this experiment in your kitchen, or do the calculation using the law of Archimedes.

The fear is that ice that's above sea level will melt, and make a new contribution to the sea level. That includes glaciers and the ice caps of Greenland and Antarctica.

Sea levels are rising by about 2 mm per year.

Answer 8

what makes you think that the water hasn't risen? there are many articles stating it has (10-25 cms in the past 100 years). you need to do a little more research than just looking at a picture of a map.

when the sea level rises it doesn't stay there it spreads out causing floods. and there has been quit a few floods in the world over the past hundred years. water also evaporates into the air, which inturn comes back down as rain. there have also been many serious hurricains and tornado in the world since 1979. the water level rising does alot of damage in many different ways.

Answer 9

According to Wikipedia, the sea levels have been raising a steady 2-3 mm per year since 1992 (compared to the rise of every year for the last 3,000 years--prior to 1900--which was .1-.2 mm until 1900).

Answer 10

The ice sheet has melted and it is still melting. Proof of this is when you see the chunks of ice that slide into the water in Alaska. It caused the oceans to rise. Someone data's wrong on the rising of the oceans then.

Answer 11

Seen the same pictures and it's funny.Here in Manitoba,every year the polar bears wait for the ocean to freeze in Hudson Bay to walk to their seasonal hunting grounds. Happens every year,year in,year out.Occasionally,the freeze is a couple of weeks late,and it becomes a bit of an issue with the town of Churchill.But far more often than not, it's on time and life goes on.
Point being that if there's no ice on the shores of the Hudson Bay the bears starve.And our bears ARE NOT starving.The pictures shown raise my suspicions therefore,because I not sure at all they where taken at the same time of the year.Ice buildup in the bay stretches for hundreds of miles,then melts away for the summer season,just as it has for centuries. If those two photos were taken in the same season our polar bears would be living in a zoo near you.