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Why are the ice caps melting?

Posted at 17:23 on 26 August 09 by Harold
The global warmers say that the temperature is increasing and the ice is melting.
The assumption is correct that melting the arctic ice [floating] woudl have no effect on sea level.
Raising the temperature in the Antarctic even by double the 'forecast' would have no effect on sea level either. The vast mass of Antarctic ice is land based, so I suggest you look up the average temperature of antarctica, add a few degrees and then decide if ice will melt - it won't.
As for large icebergs 'dropping into the ocean' and raising sea level a little - get real! The Amzon river has been flowing into the Altlantic Ocean 'for ever' and has not raised the ocean level. Find out for yourself the volme per minute of the Amazon flow!
IF it gets warmer - and by now you've figured I'm skeptical - the surface of the ocean will evaporate at a more rapid rate- the ocean level may even drop somewhat! Now there's a view you wont hear elsewhere!
More evaporation = more clouds. I'd much rather be under the shade of a cloud on a hot day than in the sun, wouldn't you.
The whole thing is self governing - always has been, always will be.

Posted at 14:50 on 25 August 09 by Brian
The ice at the poles is said to be only 5000 years old. There was a wooley mammoth dug up in syberia, it was said to be quick frosen, it is said that the meat was eaten???? May be it is time for the poles to change again as the scientists have said , has happened in the past.???

Posted at 14:15 on 25 August 09 by Gregary Boyles
I believe that warm tongues of water, associated with global warming enhanced al nino events, are flowing down the coast of south america and increasingly reaching into antarctic waters in the vicinity of the Ross Ice Shelf.

The Ross Ice Shelf is expected to completely melt over the summer months in the next decade or two and may well melt permanently.



Posted at 15:55 on 20 April 09 by Mike
But the rising temperature and icebergs could play a small role in the rising ocean level. Icebergs are chunks of frozen glaciers that break off from landmasses and fall into the ocean. The rising temperature may be causing more icebergs to form by weakening the glaciers, causing more cracks and making ice mo­re likely to break off. As soon as the ice falls into the ocean, the ocean rises a little.

If the rising temperature affects glaciers and icebergs, could the polar ice caps be in danger of melting and causing the oceans to rise? This could happen, but no one knows when it might happen.

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.


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