global warming Q ? polar ice caps...?

Question

someone out there has an answer...
my question is about polar ice caps and water displacement.
i understand that when water freezes it expands around four times in sizes/volume... how does this affect its weight?
if an ice cap has a volume and wieght when frozen and displaces the water in the ocean as it floats, what happens when it melts and that weight is lifted ? ?
is the actuall amount of water released from the frozen block equal/more or less than the amount of water the frozen mass displaces ?
what im trying to say is, when its frozen and sitting in the ocean it must have the same effect as when i sit in a half filled bath of water, the water or the oceans level must rise.... when it melts, is the actual amount of water released as much as the amount the frozen mass has displaced in the first place ?
im sure the scientists have cleared this one up long ago, but to me its an unanswered question.

Answer 1

God made water the only substance in creation, that is less dense in it's solid state than it's liquid state.

If ice were heavier than water, it would freeze, and sink until all lakes were frozen solid. God's pretty neat that way.

Anyway, because it is less dense it would displaces much less water when it melted. This is also why a cup or ice doesn't overflow when melted.

I think that answers your question.

Answer 2

The same quantity of water, when it is in a solid state occupies a larger volume than when it is in a liquid state, therefore it is less dense, and that is why it floats.
Get a bowl, fill it half full with water, and some ice cubes, mark the water level, then wait for the ice to melt and remark the water level, you will see that the level has not gone up, but maybe, if you are very accurate, you will see that it has gone down.
The Arctic ice cap is mostly sea ice, so even if it all melted it would not cause flooding of our coastal areas.
As for Antarctica, the peninsular (3% of the land area) is warming, but both satellite and ground measurements show that the main bulk of the continent (97%) is getting colder.
In 1988, one of the UN's '2500 scientists' reported to congress that by 2000 that sea level would have risen by several feet, a reality check in 2000 showed that it had not risen even 1 inch. Exaggerated claims are being made for political reasons, and should be viewed with a healthy dose of scepticism

Answer 3

I actually had this same question, and i figured it out just by thinking about it for a while. Only the part of the glacier which is under the water displaces water. Like if you stood in a bath of water, the water level wouldnt rise as much as if you lay down in it. So if the polar ice caps melted, the ocean level would rise, minus the amount of water displaced by the solid glacier. I think this was what you were asking, if not sorry.

Answer 4

There is another problem with melting glacial ice called thermal expansion. As water from melting glaciers enters the ocean it continues to heat up until it is the same temperature as the water around it. That would be MUCH warmer than when it entered the water, and as the water heats up it will expand thus occupying much more area than when it first entered the ocean.

The net effect raises ocean levels in two way 1) there is more water and 2) the water is warmer and takes up much more space.

Answer 5

I try to answer your very long question in a very short way.
The ice you see is in fact fresh sweet water and sweet water is lighted than salt water, therefore once the sweet water freeze is very logical that regardless of the amount or size of the ice block, it will swim above the salt water and the structure of the salt water is strong enough to hold weight and expansion of the salt water across the globe which at the same time overflow low lever land according to the planet rotation, once the ice melt all together the expansion of the water is not base on weight but quantity- pressure in motion.
I hope you understood this answer and I want to invite you to visit: www.santanaeffect.com the soldier of global warming.

Answer 6

It's part of the big lie they are trying to have us buy into.

It's a simple physics test.

If you have a glass of water with 6 or 7 ice cubes in it filled to the brim, and you leave it at room temperature until the ice melts....does it run over the top and spill down the sides???

The answer is NO. Ice displaces the exact same volume as the water.

So if there is a little more or less ice on the earth due to the natural fluctuation of the temperature cycle, Florida is not going to suddenly sink like Atlantis.

Answer 7

Actually, ice doesn't expand QUITE as much as you think. Ice is only about 8% less dense than water.

The problem isn't so much ice floating on the top that displaces the water around it. When it melts, it doesn't change the displacement. Since ice is 8% less dense, when it melts, it can occupy less volume with the same mass (so no change in displacement).

The problem comes from places like Greenland, which have a LOT of ice on top of it. It's already melting, and when it reaches a certain point, practically ALL of the ice on Greenland will melt in a short time.

But here's another problem. If too much ice melts, the salinity of the oceans will be less, so the water on top will be less dense again. This is a problem because the world's ocean currents depend on the differences in salinity to move the water around. Less dense water stays on top and denser water moves to the bottom, creating currents. If the salinity becomes a lot less, there won't be so much movement of dense water to the bottom and currents will be less strong. This will change weather all around the world.

If Greenland melts quickly (as it is already beginning to), eventually this less-saline water will start affecting the Gulf of Mexico Current that goes up the Eastern US Coast, then over to Greenland, over to Europe, and back south again. The less dense freshwater from the ice will inhibit this current. It could even stop it all together for a while. That would cripple the economies of the Western hemisphere.

As for the guy below me who doesn't believe sea levels can rise 20 feet, if you studied geology, you'd know that this happened many times in the past, and will do so again. The only difference is what the effect will be on us.

Answer 8

The polar ice caps aren't displacing any water in the oceans because they're on land (look at a map). So the water from any melting will simply add to the total volume of water in the oceans, raising the sea level.

Answer 9

You're absolutely right. Archimedes is credited with that same observation many centuries ago - only according to lore he lept from the bathtub and went out into the streets buck-naked, yelling, "Eureka!"

It's the ice that is on top of land that causes the sea-level rise. There is such a massive amount of ice on Greenland and Antarctica that scientists believe that the ground beneath is depressed by about 1/3 of the depth of the ice atop it.

Not to worry too much. Antarctica ice is actually INCREASING.

Answer 10

The north polar ice is floating on the surface of the sea, and even if it all melted it would not cause sea level to rise.

But the ice sheets on Greenland and Antarctica are on land. If they both melted completely and the water drained into the sea, sea levels would go up about 220 feet.

Answer 11

There are two distinct types of polar climate. The less severe of the two is the tundra climate, where at least one month has an average temperature of above freezing, while the colder one — known by various names including the "ice cap climate" and the "perpetual frost climate" — features sub-freezing average