abc7 World News: Greenland's largest glacier is melting twice as fast today as it was five years ago. The ice this one glacier dumps out in just one day holds as much water as New York City uses in a year.
"Most of the fresh water in the world is stored in Antarctica and Greenland. If all that ice melted, sea level would rise more than 300 feet across the planet,
are we going to be extinct in the next 50 years?
2007-12-11 15:03:01 · 12 answers · asked by bball17 2 in Environment ➔ Global Warming
If all the ice melted sea levels would rise by 80 metres / 263 feet. Due to thermal expansion of the oceans and glacial rebound the actual sea level rise would be more than double this amount. However, this is not going to happen for a very long time - thousands of years.
To put it into context - the ice around the planet is currently melting at the rate of 800 billion tons per year but in total there's 29 quadrillion tons of ice on the planet. If it keeps melting at the current rate it will be 36,000 years before it all melts.
We are definitely not going to be extinct in the next 50 years and even if all the ice were to melt (it won't but assuming it did) then sea levels would rise very slowly and we'd all have plenty of time to relocate to higher ground.
2007-12-11 15:31:18 · answer #1 · answered by Trevor 7 · 4⤊ 1⤋
I think that the distribution of the melting ice is very important for this problem. If one considers only the heat capacity of ice and the heat of fusion, the time required to melt all of the ice is on the order of 8000 years. Initially, most of the extra energy just goes into warming Antarctic ice from -30 C to 0 C. On this basis, one would expect a slow rate of sea level rise at early time and a very rapid rise in the last millennium. This simple model does not include the effects of ice transport, which would tend to make the curve closer to linear. I think that the current rate of sea level rise may be a spike in the base rate from the melting of small glaciers. After the small glaciers are gone, the rate of sea level increase may decrease, at least in the short term. Do small glaciers have enough volume to sustain the current rate of sea level rise for the next 100 years?
2016-04-08 22:02:18 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well the areas of interest are #1 West Antarctic Ice Shelf. ~2.2 million km cubed of ice. It is actually connected to the content under sea lvl (like new Orleans not actually having water on top). This is of most importance in such when it destabilizes to the terminal point it will cause a chain reaction maybe (less then a decade to turn to water). This will raise sea levels ~10 ft (sounds like nothing, but will but some water in a lot of homes among other things).
Greenland ice sheet is under much less of a threat, but we arent going in the right direction, but it is breaking apart in pieces not one event
That is the worry at this point in time (general warming will be negligible compared to the two events)
Outside of giant ice shelves/sheets the worst case scenarios have to assume exponential growth of melting, accelerating positive feedback loops, and that there is more natural resources then there actually are for us to pump into the air. The general thing is to report that these things all those criteria are met (3rd one physically cant). You actually have to dive much deeper to see the more negative things from this happening (Moving to an elevation 10ft over a decade or ~7m over a century isn't the end of the world.)
2014-03-08 01:12:02 · answer #3 · answered by Brian 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Antarctica won't melt in that timeframe. Significant portions of its ice shelves might break up however.
Greenland is worth watching for the next few years to see if the rate keeps accelerating. Scientists hope it will take 300+ years and raise the oceans only 7 meters.
The most likely melt rate is currently difficult to predict.
"We know that ice sheets in the last ice age collapsed faster than any current models can capture, so our models are known to be too sluggish."
2007-12-11 15:38:58 · answer #4 · answered by J S 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No, but you might want to find a place to live that's higher than 300 ft above sea level!
Actually, I've never seen that if all that ice melted it would cause the oceans to rise 300 ft. Seems like kind of a lot
2007-12-11 17:43:18 · answer #5 · answered by qu1ck80 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i doubt there are enough glaciers on the earth to raise the sea level 1 foot
2007-12-12 12:33:45 · answer #6 · answered by Mary Jo W 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Not for a long while. But it is a serious problem.
We won't "become extinct".
It won't be a Hollywood movie style disaster. Gradually coastal areas will flood and agriculture will be damaged. But it will be very bad. Rich countries will cope, but it will take huge amounts of money. In poor countries many people will die of starvation, but not all of them.
Most scientists say, in 20-50 years. But we need to start right now to fix it, fixing it will take even longer than that.
Really good website for more information here:
http://profend.com/global-warming/
2007-12-11 16:16:03 · answer #7 · answered by Bob 7 · 1⤊ 4⤋
no, we're not going to be extinct, AL.
we are going to grow gills and live in and out of the water.
i suggest you build your hut on the high ground.
2007-12-11 15:24:12 · answer #8 · answered by gen patton 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
i for one am excited at this prospect!
the beach will finally be closer to my home as i have been asking congress for since i was a child
2007-12-11 19:05:18 · answer #9 · answered by miname 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
WHO SAID
You
you out no link in your question
are we to believe YOU
ARE you a climatologist.
prove it
you are just repeating propaganda
2007-12-11 16:49:51 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋