Re: Antarctic's ice 'melting faster'

From: Puppet_Sock (puppet_sock_at_hotmail.com)
Date: 02/03/05 

Date: 3 Feb 2005 08:09:40 -0800

robert j. kolker wrote:
[snip]
> Arrivaderce Venice! Itsa beena a nica to known you.

As somebody else already pointed out, the maximum change in
sea level due to ice being there in Antarctica, or melting,
is pretty trivial.

The worry from global warming changing sea level is in expansion
of the column of the ocean. Water does change density as it
changes temperature, the maximum density being somewhere just
above freezing, I forget the exact value.

If the column of the ocean warms significantly, this could
cause a significant change in sea levels. Recall that the ocean
is several km deep in some places. A change of 0.1 percent means
a few meters change in depth.

Now, whether it's possible to heat the oceans that much is quite
another question. That 0.1 percent would require a change of
5C or more over the entire depth of the ocean. Not sure that's
possible in even the most severe global warming scenario.
Socks

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