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Re: Study: Melting Antarctic Glacier Raising Sea Level



 
 
On Sat, 03 Feb 2001 22:45:22 -0500 Steven Lowenthal <lowenthl@optonline.net> writes:
I know that I've forgotten a lot of physics, but I  think Maggie Fox was wrong about the consequences of global warming and its effect on the rising sea of sea levels on the whole world.http://news.excite.com/news/r/010202/00/science-environment-glacier-dc)
 
She wrote:
>Much of Antarctica consists of ice sheets with no ground underneath. If the ice melts it could not only raise ocean levels but could shift ocean circulation and weather patterns, bringing drought, severe storms and the wider spread of tropical diseases/
 
Steve Lowenthal believes: "If ice sheets have "no ground underneath", then they are floating, and if they are floating, then they are already displacing water and impacting sea level.  Ice floats because it is less dense than water.  Upon melting, the entire floating ice sheet (that which is visible above the water line plus that submerged or below the water line) would have a volume equal to only that of the submerged ice block due to its increased density. So, the total embodiment of water contained within a floating ice sheet will not displace any additional water even after it has completely melted and will neither impact sea level nor "raise ocean levels".

Since "much of Antarctica consists of ice sheets with no ground underneath", then there exists relatively "little" ice with "ground underneath".  The only melting ice that can "raise ocean levels" would be from that which is not floating.  So if Maggie Fox's premises are correct, then we should have relatively "little" to worry about.