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To: Tolerance Sucks Rocks
One thing about the flooding that I do not get is this...

If all of the snow/ice that is on land melts, the water level will go up, but if all of the snow/ice melts that is in the water, the water level will go down significantly...

So which is more? Snow/ice on land or snow/ice in the water. that should predict the direction of the sea level change.
19 posted on 07/19/2006 11:35:37 AM PDT by jrestrepo
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To: jrestrepo
but if all of the snow/ice melts that is in the water, the water level will go down significantly...

No, it won't. Floating ice displaces an amount of water equal to it's own mass, so if all sea ice melted the water level would stay the same, not decrease.

Actually, it may be a bit more complicated than that, since ice would melt into fresh water which is a bit less dense than the sea water the ice is displacing. So, melting sea ice would slightly reduce the density (and salinity) of the ocean and perhaps actually raise sea level a little bit. Changes in the overall ocean temperature would also affect sea level, as water density changes with temperature. Regardless, melting sea ice would not really cause sea levels to drop in any significant way.

22 posted on 07/19/2006 11:50:57 AM PDT by A. Goodwin
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