June 27, 2008
Dept. of Scary News: No More Arctic
The Arctic ice is apparently all gone, or may well be soon, according to the Independent (UK). "The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice," writes science editor Steve Connor, "making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer." It turns out that currently, 70% of the polar ice cap is "first year" ice. The ice cap shrinks and expands yearly, but last year it shrunk to one of the smallest levels yet known, to within 700 miles of the pole. This year, scientists predict it could completely disappear for the first time in known human history.
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Oh man..its almost completely melted? Is this the part when the entire coastlines go under water? I kinda figured that was supposed to happen way before all the icecap melted...
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On the bright side, this could be a boon for the cruise ship industry.
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Some friends and I were just talking about Waterworld -- maybe it's time for another viewing, what with gas prices rising and artic circles melting.
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I have never understood this idea that the sea levels will rise when the polar ice cap melts.
It's like if you have icecubes in a glass of liquid. When the icecube melts, the liquid inside the glass doesn't come overflowing over the top. The weight of the ice has already been displaced.
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It's not exactly the same thing with a glass of water--the ice-cubes are mostly submerged in a glass of a water, so the space is already displaced. The polar ice cap, on the other hand, has quite a volume above sea level. Additionally, if the caps are melting, the glaciers are also melting, and all of that liquid makes its way back to the sea.
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So alarmist! I prefer to think of it as "finally, a chance to cruise the Northwest Passage."
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Ruffhauser, you are correct, melting of the north polar ice cap will do very little to directly contribute to sea level rise since it is already in water. It is the south polar ice cap that, if it melts appreciably, will cause sea level rise. Antarctica is a continent with over a mile of ice over land in many (most?) places. Once that ice melts and runs off land into the sea, levels will rise.
Additionally, as the linked article stated, ice-free water absorbs more heat, whereas ice reflects it. This causes the planet to heat up further.