Quote:
Originally Posted by chris9991
I did hear on Material World that because the sea temperatures as rising that sea levels will also rise due to expansion.
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It's a very complex calculation, because water doesn't behave like most materials when its temperature changes. Ice has a greater volume than cold water. So sea-borne ice, when it melts, takes up
less room than it did when it was ice.
There is no land under the north pole - it is all sea ice. So the sea levels are not going to shoot upwards as a result of it melting. However, if the north pole becomes ice-free it presents another big problem in the reduced albedo effect (reduced reflection of solar radiation back into space). Water tends to absorb solar radiation while ice reflects it. So once the arctic ice is gone, the rate of warming will increase.
Then there are big problems from elsewhere, i.e. glaciers permafrost melting on land and flowing into the seas. This is water that wasn't in the oceans to start with, so whatever temperature it's at, its going to add to the overall volume.