Rising sea levels, a thought experiment.

So I was doing some thinking about global warming, and it led me to the following question.

First, there is a pretty simple science experiment where you put an ice cube in a full glass of water.
One would think that, as the ice melts, the glass would overflow.
However, due to the ice being less dense than water, the water in the glass never overflows.
Link for source:
van.physics.illinois.edu...

Now, applying this to the theory of global warming, wouldn't the sea levels stay approximately the same, even if the polar ice caps melted?

(not including land glaciers, etc...)

Thoughts?

reply to post by The Juice


Land glaciers comprise the majority of ice at the poles. That's why the North Pole, itself, is never included in sea-level rise estimates. Only the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets lead to significant sea-level rise.

reply to post by The Juice


I could be completely wrong about this but I believe the concern lies with the fact that there is ALOT of ice over land right now that is not displacing any water, so when this ice melts and becomes part of the ocean it then rises the sea level.

No, sea levels would not remain the same.

Take your glass of water, suspend some more cubes above the glass. Get melty with it.

Ice that is floating in the glass will not cause levels to rise. Ice that is suspended above the water and melts into the glass will cause overflow.

Hope this helps.

dont forget decreased density, i.e. increased volume, in relation with the alleged warming up of water. i suppose thats one of the main drivers of raising seawater alarmism.

The earth is moving.