"1. The ocean level is unchanged when floating ice melts." But if that floating ice originated on land, like pieces of the Greenland or Antarctic ice shelves, then the sea level would go up when that ice was added to the ocean (and eventually melted). In addition, melting glaciers and continental ice sheets do raise the level of the ocean. Ice bergs don't typically originate as floating ice.
"2. The ocean is a spherical body of water. The ocean volume varies as the cube of the ocean radius. Therefore, for the ocean radius to increase 20 feet, the ocean volume must increase 8,000 times more than for a 1-foot radius increase. For the ocean radius to increase 40 feet, the ocean volume must increase 64,000 times more than for a 1-foot radius increase." This seems to attempt to downplay the possibility of rising sea level. Sea level has risen some 400 feet since the end of the last ice age, a magnitude twenty times greater than the twenty-foot increase you hypothesize here. Granted, current ice volumes are a fraction of that of Pleistocene glaciation, but taking average estimates of just the Antarctic ice sheet (at approximately 30 million square km) and the Greenland ice sheet (3 million square km) and ignoring mountain glaciers, a 20-foot sea-level rise doesn't seem too far-fetched, regardless of the volumetric mechanics. In addition, thermal expansion of water as the oceans warm would contribute to a measurable amount of sea level rise. The sea level has risen 1-3mm/year in the last 100 years, and it is believed that thermal expansion is responsible for at least as much if not more of that warming. Cheers, .j. ************************ Jacquelyn Gill Graduate Research Assistant Jack Williams Lab University of Wisconsin - Madison Department of Geography 550 North Park St. Madison, WI 53706 608.890.1188 (phone) 608.265.9331 (fax) ----- Original Message ----- From: "James T. Conklin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Wednesday, March 21, 2007 5:42 pm Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Ocean Level Rising To: [email protected] > Inconvenient Facts regarding rising ocean level: > > 1. The ocean level is unchanged when floating ice melts. > > 2. The ocean is a spherical body of water. The ocean volume varies > as > the cube of the ocean radius. Therefore, for the ocean radius to > increase > 20 feet, the ocean volume must increase 8,000 times more than for a > 1-foot > radius increase. For the ocean radius to increase 40 feet, the ocean > > volume must increase 64,000 times more than for a 1-foot radius increase.
