Entire Antarctic Shelf splitting away from Continent.

[RiversideGator]

It speaks to the increased probability that RSG is also wrong about this.

Actually, it cases doubt on your current weather predictions.   

[gatorback]

are not they mutually exclusive. Besides we already know how wrong he is on this topic. He just won't admit it. Kind of like how Bill Gates would not admit being a preditor of unfair trade. 

[jandar]

Well considering that Glaciers are growing in Alaska, Iceland, Norway, Canada, France, Russia, and many other places, perhaps it is just the Earth doing what the Earth does.


Perhaps the penisula is facing slightly warmer waters from the Pacific while the rest of the Antarctic Ice sheet (where 95% of the ice mass is actually located at) continues to grow.


but since you wont believe me, please read this before responding:
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Minority.Blogs&ContentRecord_id=f1f2f75f-802a-23ad-4701-a92b4ebbccbf

[Ocklawaha]

As the world goes to hell in a handbasket, and the Southern USA floods 30 feet deep, I sure hope I'm around for a 50 yard line seat. Damn, we're so screwed. At least I'd like to be one of the Neanderthals that SAW the meteor! Would make for some cool converstation in Heaven... "Ya know, I was just there on the beach and man, I saw like this mountain screaming down on us..."

OCKLAWAHA

[BridgeTroll]

Im sorry that you don't really understand the facts or pertinent concerns of Global Warming, Jandar.

Perhaps before you respond you should check out the IPCC white paper on Global Warming.

Because that is the only definitive, correct, and comprehensive document regarding large chunks of ice breaking from continents...

[RiversideGator]

Im sorry that you don't really understand the facts or pertinent concerns of Global Warming, Jandar.

Translation:  You dont agree with the extremist GW hype so you are stoopid.   

[Jason]

I haven't read every article on the subject nor do I consider myself an expert on weather patterns or climate change but I still can't fathom how melting polar ice can raise the worldwide sea levels by more than a few inches.  Check out the article below...

How much water is there on Earth?

There's a whole lot of water on Earth! Something like 326,000,000,000,000,000,000 gallons (326 million trillion gallons) of the stuff (roughly 1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 liters) can be found on our planet. This water is in a constant cycle -- it evaporates from the ocean, travels through the air, rains down on the land and then flows back to the ocean.

The oceans are huge. About 70 percent of the planet is covered in ocean, and the average depth of the ocean is several thousand feet (about 1,000 meters). Ninety-eight percent of the water on the planet is in the oceans, and therefore is unusable for drinking because of the salt. About 2 percent of the planet's water is fresh, but 1.6 percent of the planet's water is locked up in the polar ice caps and glaciers. Another 0.36 percent is found underground in aquifers and wells. Only about 0.036 percent of the planet's total water supply is found in lakes and rivers. That's still thousands of trillions of gallons, but it's a very small amount compared to all the water available.

The rest of the water on the planet is either floating in the air as clouds and water vapor, or is locked up in plants and animals (your body is 65 percent water, so if you weigh 100 pounds, 65 pounds of you is water!). There's also all the soda pop, milk and orange juice you see at the store and in your refrigerator… There's probably several billion gallons of water sitting on a shelf at any one time!

Source: http://science.howstuffworks.com/question157.htm




So if the approximately 1.6% of the 326 million trillion gallons of oceans is locked up in the the poles and glaciers and all of it melted it would add another 3.26 million trillion gallons to the oceans that cover 70% of the earth's surface at an average depth of 1,000 meters.  Would the overall level of the oceans rise 30'

[BridgeTroll]

If the ice floating on the ocean melts it changes nothing except the local salinity of the water.  The issue is the ice that is currently land locked on Greenland and Antarctica.  This is the ice that may cause ocean levels to rise... if melted.

[Jason]

That was my point.  I was being conservative in saying that if ALL of the artic ice melted (including glaciers, land ice, permanent snow, sea ice, etc) melted, that is approximately how much water would be added to the total fluid ocean.  Based on those numbers and assuming global warming would eventually melt ALL of the frozen water on this planet, I can't fathom a substantial rise in sea levels because of the sheer vastness that the oceans cover.

Here is another interesting site that better breaks down the Earth's water and where it is found..
http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/earthhowmuch.html

[Jason]

Alright, the Earth's oceans cover approximately 139,397,000 square miles.  Add to that the supposed 5,773 million cubic miles of ice.  That converts to approximately 30,481,440 square miles of coverage at 1' deep.  The leaves a gap of about 108,915,560 square miles of ocean to absorb the 1 foot rise.  Based on that math and assuming the estimated volumes of polar ice indicated on the sites I linked above are correct, there would be no more than a few inches of total sea level rise.

Are my claculations off?

[Jason]

So how will a sea level rise of a few inches devastate the planet or drown the dumb species?

[Jason]

I guess my numbers were wrong 

Here is a great article that talks about the total sea level rise if the land based ice caps melted.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/question473.htm

The main ice covered landmass is Antarctica at the South Pole, with about 90 percent of the world's ice (and 70 percent of its fresh water). Antarctica is covered with ice an average of 2,133 meters (7,000 feet) thick. If all of the Antarctic ice melted, sea levels around the world would rise about 61 meters (200 feet). But the average temperature in Antarctica is -37°C, so the ice there is in no danger of melting. In fact in most parts of the continent it never gets above freezing.

In 1995 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued a report which contained various projections of the sea level change by the year 2100. They estimate that the sea will rise 50 centimeters (20 inches) with the lowest estimates at 15 centimeters (6 inches) and the highest at 95 centimeters (37 inches). The rise will come from thermal expansion of the ocean and from melting glaciers and ice sheets. Twenty inches is no small amount -- it could have a big effect on coastal cities, especially during storms.

[Lunican]

According to this link, a 50 foot sea level rise would turn Atlanta into an oceanfront city.

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/sealevel

[jandar]

Im sorry that you don't really understand the facts or pertinent concerns of Global Warming, Jandar.

Perhaps before you respond you should check out the IPCC white paper on Global Warming.

Perhaps the IPCC, headed by a PhD in Industrial Engineering and Economics knows more about weather than I do. But at least I try to see all sides before claiming that man is cause and fix of all things.

Stephen, since you always want us to look at your side of the argument as proof, I want, no, insist, that you read this link:
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2008/11/07/truly-inconvenient-truths-about-climate-change-being-ignored-ipccs-pachauri-says-warming-is-taking-place-at-a-much-faster-rate/

Ignore the comments at the bottom. Notice how a man with no weather education is talking to an audience about global warming and states "We’re at a stage where warming is taking place at a much faster rate [than before]"
Scientific measurements from NOAA/NASA/HADLEY and others say not so. The temperature continues to plateau and is actually cooler so far this year.

[RiversideGator]

Please dont confuse the global warmistas with facts.   

Oops.  Here is a chart: