Originally Posted by Raistlin

Also spotted the fact that I had claimed that the density will increase as the water is heated :dunce:

Still not sure about the maths though. Does it neccessarily follow that a decrease in density of (say) 6% will lead to an equal (6%) increase in volume? It seems to make sense but my head's a bit foggy :D

Oh, and sorry if it seems like the thread's been hijacked. It hasn't, well - not really anyway :D

Originally Posted by Paul M

How did a wind thread move onto ice :confused:

Anyway, I thought ice floated on water, and the water it displaces while floating is less than the total amount of water in the ice - therefore if it melts, the overall water level rises.

Originally Posted by JohnHorb

The question is surely how much of the polar ice caps are on land. If the ice is actually on land above sea level, then, when melted, it will run down to sea level, thus raising the water level.

Originally Posted by Raistlin

Global warming won't cause an increase in sea-level, it's all hype from militant fluffy types trying to get us to eat Tofu!

<Pay attention - here comes the dodgy science bit :D >

When you put Ice in a glass of water what happens to the level of the water? It raises (of course it does). As the ice melts does the level of the water continue to raise? No, it actually falls.

The reason that Ice floats is that it is actually less dense than water (water becomes less dense as it cools, in a complete contradiction to the normal scheme of things) and therefore it actually displaces more water (due to the increased volume of the ice) than it contains - enabling it to float.

It therefore stands to reason that the volume of water being displaced by the polar ice caps (ie the amount by which the sea-level has already risen due to their formation) is greater than the volume of water contained within them. So, when they melt, the water contained within them will actually take up less volume than the ice does which means that the sea level should fall slightly.

Obviously there is a large amount of ice above the water but this is only a small amount of ice compared to what is below the surface (the tip of the iceberg if you will) and should therefore have an almost negligable effect. I would expect the net result of complete polar ice cap meltage to be that the sea-levels will remain pretty much as they are at the moment.

<Dons a flame-proof suit and waits patiently>

Originally Posted by bb31

survived the nite, but my fence hasnt :cry:

had to be let loose with hammer and nails to botch them up for now - dont know how long they will last if this wind keeps up :shocked:

Originally Posted by JohnHorb

The question is surely how much of the polar ice caps are on land. If the ice is actually on land above sea level, then, when melted, it will run down to sea level, thus raising the water level.

Originally Posted by Paul M

How did a wind thread move onto ice :confused:

Anyway, I thought ice floated on water, and the water it displaces while floating is less than the total amount of water in the ice - therefore if it melts, the overall water level rises.

Originally Posted by AndrewJames

Main contributer to the wind is all the hot air the goverment speaks.

Originally Posted by BBKing

...has anyone pointed out that working out sea level rises due to changes in ice/water density is fairly irrelevant as one of the ice caps is largely on land?