There are two different sorts of ice in the oceans -- and two different impacts on sea level. The paper mentioned above is a second-order effect that is really not very important in the global picture.
1) "Sea ice" is floating ices that forms on top of the ocean during the winter. It is typically a few meters thick. This ice grows and shrinks dramatically each year. It has minimal impact on sea level since it is floating.
2) "Icebergs" are calved ends of glaciers. They form on land and are typically 10's of meters (or even 100's of meters) thick. When the ice leaves the land, it necessarily displaces water and raises sea level (like dropping ice cubes into a glass).
As an analogy to the paper (which I have not actually read but but the abstract seems clear enough), imagine dropping an ice cube of fresh water into a glass of salt water. The water level will rise dramatically. Then let the ice cube melt. The water level will change a TINY (but real) amount.
So while this effect is real, it is not a major player in sea level rise. (Another important factor is simply the thermal expansion of the oceans -- a 0.1 C temperature rise in water 1000 m deep leads to a not insignificant rise at the surface.)
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From: Phys-l [phys-l-bounces@phys-l.org] on behalf of Savinainen Antti [antti.savinainen@kuopio.fi]
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2014 5:04 AM
To: phys-l@phys-l.org
Subject: [Phys-L] Iceberg melting and sea level rise
":..the sea level will rise. The analysis shows the wrong conventional answer [such as the statement above] is due to the wrong assumption that water from a melted iceberg has the same density as seawater."
The argument seems convincing and the demonstration does work. Any counter-arguments?
Cheers,
Antti Savinainen, PhD
Finland
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