[Greenbuilding] Climate breakdown is here. (polar ice melt)

[Joe Killian]

   Classic trick high school question:
   Fill a glass with ice, add water to the brim (top of ice will float 
higher).  Let it melt.  Does it overflow?
   Answer:  No.  The weight (mass) of water displaced by the floating 
ice is the same as  the weight of all the ice, which is also the same 
volume of the displaced water once melted.
   So melting sea ice doesn't raise (or lower) sea level.
   The fresh water added to the ocean, however, may well accelerate the 
feared effect of the melting Greenland ice adding fresh water to the 
North Atlantic and potentially (inevitably?) changing the course of the 
Gulf Stream.  Whereupon northern Europe's climate becomes more like 
Siberia's climate.
    Hang on....
Joe



On 8/29/2012 8:32 AM, Alan Abrams wrote:
> if salt water is more dense than fresh--then when the ice pack melts, 
> does this not result in a rise in sea level?  No, wait, ice contracts 
> when it melts.  But most of a floating mass of ice is submerged, and 
> the volume of the exposed mass is equal to the increase in volume as a 
> result of freezing...
>
> ...ouch.  my head hurts.
>
> -AA
>
> Alan Abrams*
> Abrams Design Build LLC*
> /design for purposeful living/
>
> 6411 Orchard Avenue Suite 102
> Takoma Park, MD 20912
> office 301-270-NET- ZERO (301-270-6380)
> fax 301-270-1466
> cell 202-437-8583
> alan at abramsdesignbuild.com <mailto:alan at abramsdesignbuild.com>
> www.abramsdesignbuild.com <http://www.abramsdesignbuild.com/>
>
>
>
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