Let’s also look at the supposed “cause” of the “rising” sea level, which is melting of the polar ice caps. Both North and South ice caps barely represent 5% of the area of our oceans globally.
Scientists have been concerned that in recent years that the thickness of the ice caps has been as little as four to six feet, with ten to thirteen feet being a “safe” norm.
Somehow, they try to tell us that if the ice caps were to completely melt, that sea levels would rise by over three feet.
Hmmmm....if we’ve seen ice cap thicknesses more than 50% below than the norm in the last 20 years, wouldn’t that mean we should have had an 18” or greater rise in sea level? We’d certainly have know it and felt its effect if it happened....apparently it didn’t!
The sea-level change business can create a lot of concern if the data is selectively used. Rarely, both polar regions experience a simultaneous drop in sea ice, normally the Polar regions response independently of each other, because of very different geography. A quick look at a globe of the earth explains why. The North Pole is surrounded by land masses, with the only notable break being the Norwegian Sea. The South Pole region is surrounded by lots and lots of water.
To attempt to link what is happening to the North and South polar ice caps to a single issue like CO2 emissions is absurd, given the dynamics of the two regions are so different.
At almost any time in history, alarmists can find melting of one or the other polar ice caps. You may have noted that as polar ice in the Artic region has increased in recent years, the alarmists are now focusing on the Antartic region.
Cherry picking at its finest!
"Ice sheets contain enormous quantities of frozen water. If the Greenland Ice Sheet melted, scientists estimate that sea level would rise about 6 meters (20 feet). If the Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, sea level would rise by about 60 meters (200 feet)."
http://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html
Sea level is pretty much unaffected by melting sea ice (it’s already floating). Just as the level in your glass of ice tea is unaffected by melting ice.
The northern ocean either freezing in the winter or melting in the summer has no affect on sea level. Dido the Southern Ocean. It is land based ice melting that contributed to sea level rise. Happily there is very little melting of land based ice. Most of the observed rise in sea level is due to thermal expansion. As the oceans warm they expand and the oceans were warming (recovering from the little ice age?) for most of the 20th century. Currently a heated debate is on going as to the rate of sea level rise. Some experts claim the current rate is 0 and others that it’s 4mm per year and accelerating. I’m not expert but the lower range fits my observations so without very good evidence I would believe at most 2mm/year of sea level rise. (I have Galveston Bay for a front yard so I am very aware of day to day sea level).