NASA | Earth Science Week: Melting Ice, Rising Seas

"Melting Ice, Rising Seas" is Episode 5 in the six-part series "Tides of Change", exploring amazing NASA ocean science to celebrate Earth Science Week 2009.




Sea level rise is an indicator that our planet is warming. Much of the world's population lives on or near the coast, and rising seas are something worth watching. Sea level can rise for two reasons, both linked to a warming planet. When ice on land, such as mountain glaciers or the ice sheets of Greenland or Antarctica, melt, that water contributes to sea level rise. And when our oceans get warmer - another indicator of climate change - the water expands, also making sea level higher. Using satellites, lasers, and radar in space, and dedicated researchers on the ground, NASA is studying the Earth's ice and water to better understand how sea level rise might affect us all.

[NotoriousEcho]

@IamMarkusF Because this ice is on land, and if you have a cup of water and then put ice cubes in it, it will rise

[thebottlemusician]

we know that earth is coming upon a heating period like all other inner planets all planets steadily heat/cool periodically yet here is the thing The earth is heating up EXTREMELY fast and thats just compared to earths norm in fact compared to any planets even mercury has a more predictable climate of sorts

[muhauuahhauaha]

YES, it does -.- use your prior knowledge

[Galv]

Fact is if you actually go look at sea levels you'll find it's gone down recently. So has the global temperature. Of course these parametres change all the time naturally so it depends wether you measure from a time when it was higher or a time when it was lower.

[Viracocha]

Sea levels have not gone down nor have temps...Globally.

[Viracocha]

You don't understand "post glacial rebound" if you think it is anything but local. The person you tried to correct was 100% correct & you were incorrect. TRY AGAIN!

[hyhhy]

I like the "no doom and gloom scenarios" attitude to global warming. I have the same view. Environmental changes always have caused and always will cause suffering to life (that means all species including humans), but I believe that "life will find a way", as it has for thousands and millions and billions of years.

[Atoyota]

Coal ash is has a constant affect on ice melt.
Warming trends are due to excess energy due to our increasing energy appetite and compounded by our developing sprawl and destruction of ecosystems which both contain and manage energy and CO2. (CO2 displacement)

CO2 is a symptom, but not a causal affect of warming trends. Development, agribusiness, and energy use are the cause as it is more than can be dissipated even with normal CO2 levels.
remove CO2 and we'd still have a problem.

[Zimph]

Perhaps, maybe it is not JUST global warming contributing to this, but since all things gravity are lead towards the greatest gravitational pull, then perhaps we are getting closer to the sun slowly so maybe global warmnig is just a small factor contributing to it.... not such a big pandemic as people think

[hyhhy]

Yeah, I agree with you that it would be a good thing if civilization didn't collapse. My point was just something like "humanity will probably take some hits, but it's unlikely to kill us off completely, and even if it's going to, it's probably not useful to panic about it". I did mean human civilization too when I said "life" will find a way.

Besides that, I am personally not even very afraid of dying, even though I prefer living at the moment.

[Galv]

Ice is less dense than water. Ice floats, the volume of frozen water (ice) per gram is considerably greater than the volume of liquid water per gram. If the ice caps melted the volume of the frozen water would decrease considerably as it became liquid. The sea levels would actually fall not rise. Global warming is NOT a threat & even if it was it wouldn't be entirely man-made, about 3% of it would be. Increased CO2 is crucial for a growing population's crop needs. Carbon tax = depopulation.

[azngreenteas]

@zutroy1 he works for NASA. he has more credibility. u dont

[Galv]

@NotoriousEcho Take the weight off the land & you get "post-glacial-rebound" where the land rises up & the weight of the extra water off land pushes the ocean floor down. sea level doesn't rise. Try again.

[gato]

@zutroy1 call me stupid but can you explain that again. i'm sorry i didn't get you.

[othestars]

climatic changes have always caused problems to life, but the question is not whether life will survive, but whether our civilization will survive or not. I am hopeful that it will, but the possibility exists that our civilization my erode due to the indirect effects of global warming.

[Zimph]

no getting closer to the sun MIGHT be :P

[IamMarkusF]

so ... take a plastic cup ... but some ice cubes in it and fill it with water ... and see what happens :o)
and then explain me why the ocean should rise :o)

[MsLozeh]

his voice just sounds so... unatural....

[FatherAnon]

um, ice melting does not make water level rise.

[gordon]

Gravity making the ice melt? nice one..