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What are your thoughts on the Arctic sea ice "recovery?

If an iceberg in the sea was to melt would it create a sea level rise?

  • You always hear about the ice caps melting and sea levels rising but if the ice is already in the sea surly this will not affect the sea level , that's just displacement. I can see it will have an effect if the ice comes from the land but not if its already in the sea. What are your thoughts?

  • Answer:

    Rarely have I read so much rubbish. Some of the answers say that the ice displaces its own weight so that once the ice is free floating the sea level has risen already, that is essentially correct. Floating ice will not increase sea level as it melts. HOWEVER what most contributors have failed to note is that ice has a GREATER volume per unit weight than liquid water does. (that's how ice cracks copper pipes) water EXPANDS as it freezes. That Must mean that the volume reduces when it returns to the liquid state. So as a floating iceberg melts the sea level will actually REDUCE. albeit very slightly. The effect is tiny for any given iceberg and does not take into account the hugh amount of ice sitting on land such as Greenland and Antactica, that will effect sea levels to a much greater degree. Thus floating ice is much less of of a problem than is ice caps. Mike.. BSc Geology

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It's not the ice caps you have to worry about, but the land-based glaciers. They will melt and flow into the oceans, causing the sea level to rise

Punk Rock and Minerals

No it would not. Try putting alot of icecubes in a cup and pour water over them so none touch the bottom, mark where the water level is and then leave the ice to melt, you will find that the level will be exactly the same. If the ice is touching the bottom then then when it melts the water will rise. This is when problems are caused by climate change, it is not melting icebergs we are worried about but the glaciers, and land ice of places like greenland and antarctica.

owenpauljames

no ice is larger than the amount of water required to make it so if it melts it wont do that or it will be negligible however the glaciers melting does affect sea levels as it is water out fo the seeeea

andrew h

Icebergs melt and are reformed every year, so no. Not unless the whole of the ice caps melt.

shortie

The volume of water itself would be doubled once it had melted, so really it depends on the size of the ice-burg itself. Also you have to remember allot of the ice in lets say the artic is on land, so if ice burgs are melting in the water and also melting on te land then it will cause the sea levels to rise :) x

Meg =] ~x~

Icebergs displace their own weight in water, so the answer is no. It's the melting of ice sheets on land which will raise sea levels. Good luck to our Texan friend.

Hibee

A very big part of the ice caps are actually on a land and not floating around.

dscharge

No !

Frank J

Icebergs are substantially fresh water, which, because it does not contain salt, is slightly lighter than sea water. So, since they displace their own weight, they will displace a slightly smaller volume of sea water than the volume of fresh, liquid, water that made the iceberg. Ignoring any effect due to diluting the sea therefore the melting of an iceberg will cause a slight sea level rise. However I think it's ice on land that people are concerned about. (Also if sea temperature rises the sea will expand.)

Lugo T

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