A Question For The Climate Skeptics

Another thread has got me contemplating this, so I thought I'd ask out loud:

If it was shown unequivocally that the world is indeed warming, but we have no idea where that warming is coming from - man, natural forces, trolling aliens using HAARP, whatever - would you accept that sea levels will rise with that warming?

Again, just to be clear - no definitive connection to man made causes here, I'm just asking if the planet is indeed warming, is it logical to deduce that sea levels will rise? e.g. because basic physics dictates that heat leads to thermal expansion of the oceans, melting ice on land pouring into the sea, etc - is this an acceptable conclusion?

a reply to: mc_squared

I don't think it will rise at any speed we need to be worried about.

Sea levels have changed throughout history and will likely do so forever. So yeah

Seems to me that this question is more for geologists and archaeologists than skeptics.

It's well known that the ocean levels have been rising since at least when the last ice age ended.

How fast it's risen is something I have no idea about, but I don't foresee it stopping until either land ice is completely gone, or a new ice age reverses it.

a reply to: mc_squared

If your follow up is going to be a reference to the article just released that NASA predicts oceans will rise by three feet , it will end in the same manner as every other climate change debate. Just as a heads up. I could be wrong about where you are going with it but if that was where you were going to go if a lot of people said yes. The overall debate will be the same.

a reply to: Reallyfolks

Nope, not where I'm going with it

Nobody here needs to be a geologist to answer - I just want to know if people agree with the basic physical premise that more heat = rising seas.

I'll explain where I'm taking this soon enough...just want to see some more responses first. Appreciate all the replies so far!

Sea levels are rising currently. GOES satellite data shows this steady rise since about 1993. Tidal gauges also show a steady rise since about 1870.

Nasa charts

Thing is a hundred years of rise is but a speck in history to base clima-strophy on. CO2 levels are more likely going to affect "climate", who knows how much…

One things certain, every summer its about warming (its summer)… every winter its about how much more ice and colder, and every spring its about flooding.

Wouldn't do to talk of heat in winter or flooding in winter, now would it?

originally posted by: Enderdog
a reply to: mc_squared

I don't think it will rise at any speed we need to be worried about.

at this stage of the game...big business will do little to prevent it...they will simply have a business model for "adaptation"

Ok this is already starting to drift into the usual climate rants, so let's simplify:

If you fill your bathtub with cold water, and put a bunch of ice blocks around the rim, but then start heating up the room - will the water in your bathtub rise?

I'm not asking about Al Gore's tub and what kind of tricks he'd use to make it look like you're gonna drown unless you pay a bathtub tax, I'm just looking for confirmation of basic physics. Thanks in advance.

Seas are on the rise !!!

The climate has ALWAYS changed and will continue to do so.

This is normal when you look back on history. No need to wonder the cause as the cause is really of no importance. We cannot change mother nature. The Sun has a lot to do with our weather and climate.

People living in coastal regions need to begin considering migration as an inevitable option on the horizon.

“We’ve seen from the paleoclimate record that sea level rise of as much as 10 feet in a century or two is possible, if the ice sheets fall apart rapidly,” said Tom Wagner, the cryosphere program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “We’re seeing evidence that the ice sheets are waking up, but we need to understand them better before we can say we’re in a new era of rapid ice loss.”

www.nasa.gov...

I would also like to add in this post there are millions of sea volcanoes. If we are seeing an increase in volcanic activity can you imagine the activity we cannot see? Does volcanic activity warm the waters? Of course it does. The correct term then would be instead of Global Warming, " Oceans Warming".

Climate changes for many reasons. The Earth has to balance itself and does so by using her resources to cool.... Volcanoes

www.waterencyclopedia.com...

Some may argue the warming is coming from our atmosphere however I believe it goes hand in hand. Volcanic activity has picked up to cool the atmosphere imo. www.sci.sdsu.edu...

a reply to: mc_squared

nothing is going to be done about it anyway, so you don't have to worry about the "rants"...they are will not be effective

a reply to: mc_squared

For the Gazillionth time, its not all about climate change, it's about what mankind is doing to accelerate the process.

I'd be selling seaside land; if the rising sea levels won't take your homes, then the cyclones, hurricanes and Typhoons will. As the sea temperature rises, those storms will get stronger, move faster and last longer.

a reply to: MamaJ

Wow....way to avoid the question. I think you agree that warming=sea level however I do not know why you had to revert to the usual climate skeptics fall back arguments.

I feel like any conversation with a climate skeptic regresses into the skeptic trying to ELI5 to a much more knowledgeable person...

I will have to mention the Dunning-Kruger effect on this topic. The typical climate skeptic is a shinning example of it.

I think an increase in the global temperature (with everything else held constant) would decrease the total amount of ice but I suppose it also depends on what other things in the climate are doing. Of course ice-loss/gain is not just temperature-dependent and even wind-erosion can play a role. The global temperature could rise by 0.001C and that could cause some ice-loss but then that might be negated (albeit perhaps only temporarily) by an increase in precipitation and/or wind erosion. The paleo-climate record seems quite clear to me though: temperature rises = less ice. That's my two-cents.

a reply to: mc_squared

Assuming the basic facts in your post and all things being equal, yes sea levels would rise, however marginally.

a reply to: mc_squared

I thought you would get at least one straight answer.

The denial is strong with this group. Oh well it is the same ole same ole.

originally posted by: Grimpachi
a reply to: mc_squared
The denial is strong with this group. Oh well it is the same ole same ole.

What comments in this thread do you consider denialist and why?

If this issue is so serious then why haven't we seen the current president apply sweeping restrictions? He has a pen and a phone that he uses to bypass congress now, why not do it if he really is the champion the liberals make him out to be.

a reply to: mc_squared

Not all ice is floating on the sea.