Current Events — HabitableZone

Current Events » in reply to Rise in sea level

re: Rise in sea level
gbaikie — (archived)

"Even if the oceans are rising by 2mm a year, how long to get to this dreaded "20 foot rise" I keep hearing about?"

Well if it was 2.5 mm year then that's 1" per decade. And since there is 240" in 20', it would be 240 decades.

Or other way to look at it is if half of the ice in Greenland melts then you are half way there- you need to melt all the ice to get 20'.

"The main ice covered landmass is Antarctica at the South Pole, with about 90 percent of the world's ice (and 70 percent of its fresh water). Antarctica is covered with ice an average of 2,133 meters (7,000 feet) thick. If all of the Antarctic ice melted, sea levels around the world would rise about 61 meters (200 feet). But the average temperature in Antarctica is -37°C, so the ice there is in no danger of melting. In fact in most parts of the continent it never gets above freezing.

At the other end of the world, the North Pole, the ice is not nearly as thick as at the South Pole. The ice floats on the Arctic Ocean. If it melted sea levels would not be affected.

There is a significant amount of ice covering Greenland, which would add another 7 meters (20 feet) to the oceans if it melted. Because Greenland is closer to the equator than Antarctica, the temperatures there are higher, so the ice is more likely to melt. "
http://science.howstuffworks.com/question473.htm

"Over 15 years ago, John Sansom published a paper in Journal of Climate that showed no net warming of Antarctica. While it was widely cited by critics of global warming doom, no one seemed to take notice. After all, it relied on only a handful of stations. Then, in 2002, Peter Doran published a more comprehensive analysis in Nature and found a cooling trend.

At the same time, a deluge of stories appeared, paradoxically, about Antarctic warming. These studies concentrated on the tip of the Antarctic Peninsula, the narrow strip of land that juts out towards South America. That region, which comprises less than one-half of one percent of Antarctica, is warming because the surrounding ocean has warmed."
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=4470

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (57 posts)