On Jan 6, 2008 7:56 PM, Venkat Mangudi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Interesting piece... Of late, I have started to trust information in > Wikipedia less than before. Can someone validate if these two specific > claims are true? > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_misconceptions? > > # Due to Archimedes's principle, the melting of glaciers contributes far > more to raising sea level than the melting of sea ice or floating > icebergs. The predicted threat of rising sea levels due to global > warming is mainly due to the detachment or melting of inland ice, such > as that on Greenland and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet in Antarctica, the > melting of glaciers, and the thermal expansion of seawater. Melting of > sea ice in the Arctic makes only a tiny contribution, by lowering the > global average salinity (and therefore the density) of seawater.
About right. The estimated rise in sea level if the entire sea ice in the Arctic melts is about 4mm.[1] > # The melting of Antarctic ice is not predicted to be the largest cause > of rising sea levels in the near future. While complete melting of the > Antarctic ice sheet would be the largest of all potential contributions > to sea level change, the likelihood of total melting is extremely small. > Antarctica may even help offset rising sea level by accumulating more > snow. At worst, the partial melting of Antarctic ice is predicted to be > only the fourth-largest potential contribution to sea level rise by the > year 2100 (−170 to +20mm), after thermal expansion of the world's oceans > (+110 to +430mm), melting glaciers (+10 to +230mm), and melting > Greenland ice (−20 to +90mm). Roughly in line with IPCC's assessment, but there have been quite a few wildly conflicting studies since then. The verdict seems to be on the lines of "we don't really know". [1][2][3] Venky, the Second. [1] http://www.faqs.org/faqs/sea-level-faq/ [2] http://www.jsg.utexas.edu/news/feats/2007/vaughan.html [3] http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/climate-change/dn11648
