Global Warming and Polar Ice Caps Melting?

[Erby Crofutt]

So here's a question my brother posed to me the other day when he drove thru from Nebraska headed somewhere, again. Reading another thread reminded me of it but I didn't want to steal that thread.

If the Polar Ice Caps melt will low lying areas flood?

Think about these things.

9/10ths of ice is below the water level.

Frozen ice takes up more room than water.

If the ice melts, doesn't that make more room for water without raising the water level?

Your thoughts.

And another one. (He must do a lot of out there thinking while driving that truck)

When a ship carrying aqueduct is built, does the engineer just calculate the weight of the water in the aqueduct or do they also have to account for the weight of the ship? Ship's float on water.

Your thoughts.

[Billy Stephens]

So here's a question my brother posed to me the other day when he drove thru from Nebraska headed somewhere, again. Reading another thread reminded me of it but I didn't want to steal that thread.

If the Polar Ice Caps melt will low lying areas flood?

Think about these things.

9/10ths of ice is below the water level.

Frozen ice takes up more room than water.

If the ice melts, doesn't that make more room for water without raising the water level?

Your thoughts.

And another one. (He must do a lot of out there thinking while driving that truck)

When a ship carrying aqueduct is built, does the engineer just calculate the weight of the water in the aqueduct or do they also have to account for the weight of the ship? Ship's float on water.

Your thoughts.
.
Erby,

Your Brother sounds like a Trouble Maker. :D

Ice has less density than water ( it floats.)

Ice = .092g/ml

Water = 1.0g/mil.

If 9/10s under water ice (melts) net gain is .008g/ml thus a rise .

Question 2 is not a weight problem but a buoyancy / displacement problem.

Or area of water displaced to accommodate ( exceed ) the amount of cargo carried.

I usually just play the License Plate Game or Listen to the Radio on Long Trips. :)

[Jim Robinson]

For the first time in my life I actually saw a glacier this summer while on a cruise in Alaska. The sheer size of some of these ice fields is breathtaking. Some of them are over 1000 square miles. The vast majority (99%) of the glacier is above the water line, and slowly feeds into the fjord. They have been shrinking for a long time, but the shrinkage rate has accelerated significantly in the past 10 years. We spent some time at the Mendenhall visitor center and learned quite a bit about the ice caps and the glaciers. It was pretty informative.

[John Arnold]

Imagine how much higher sea level would be if it weren't for all the sponges. (or words to that effect).
Steven Wright

[Ron Bibler]

I bet if you got all the fish to stop peeing that would help things.

Thats why the watert taste like salt.:D

Best

Ron

[Gunnar Alquist]

So here's a question my brother posed to me the other day when he drove thru from Nebraska headed somewhere, again. Reading another thread reminded me of it but I didn't want to steal that thread.
If the Polar Ice Caps melt will low lying areas flood?
Think about these things. 9/10ths of ice is below the water level. Frozen ice takes up more room than water. If the ice melts, doesn't that make more room for water without raising the water level?
Your thoughts.

Erby,

Your brother should remember that we have two poles. The north pole is ice on water. However, the south pole is a continent. Nearly all of that ice is sitting on land and the thickness of the ice on Antarctica is 2000-4000 meters (roughly 1-2 miles). That's a lotta frozen water. Also, there is Greenland. Not as large, but it has a lot of ice.


And another one. (He must do a lot of out there thinking while driving that truck) When a ship carrying aqueduct is built, does the engineer just calculate the weight of the water in the aqueduct or do they also have to account for the weight of the ship? Ship's float on water. Your thoughts.

The reason ships float is that they displace more water than they weigh loaded. Think of it this way. If you were to fill a ship with water and then weigh it, it would weight more than the empty ship. Obvious, right? It would also weigh more than just the volume of water needed to fill the ship. Also obvious. In order for a ship to float, it would be necessary to remove water from the ship equal to the weight of the empty ship. This is displacement. Essentially a footprint. The amount of water displaced is equal to the weight of the ship and its contents. Therefore, the lock only has to be engineered for the weight of the maximum amount of water that it would hold.