"Deep Frayed Morgues" wrote in
message news:9s2rp0llhdv1m8fdahmcjja2buf1vm0j5t@4ax.com...
>
> It would make little difference, certainly.
>
> What does make the difference is that if the earths water heats by a
> degree or two, the water expands correspondingly, and causes the
> flooding. OK, so the ice caps melt, and the water rises, but it's not
> a direct cause and effect.
>
> (this is based all on what I have heard that made sense, prove me
> wrong if you can, I would appreciate it)
Well you asked :)
The coefficient of thermal expansion of water is really quite small
at approx 210 *10^-6 (0 .0000021%) per degree C so raising
the temperature a couple of degrees is not significant.
Melting the Arctic Ice Cap would have a quite small effect
since most of the ice is already displacing its own weight in
water, except for the Greenland ice sheet of course)
The Antarctic ice cap is a different matter. It lies on a
continent and totals about 29,315,965 km3
Its been calculated that if it all melted sea levels could rise
as much as 249 ft
Not much of a problem if you live in Denver but most of the
worlds big cities are by the ocean
Keith
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