Melting ice in water does not increase the water level

This is a demonstration of melting ice in a beaker of water.

[Silverbugle]

Geez, after reading through the comments it becomes clear what problem is... most people do not understand basic physical principals.
Here we go: 1. Ice floating on water is buoyant because the ice-crystalline structure is less dense than liquid water.
2. Liquid water will displace the same amount of any given objects density and weight by rising ( being pushed out of the way) Example: A 20 ton ship displaces 20 tons of water. This is the Archimedes principal.
3. As an iceberg melts (or in this case ice block) the water around it does NOT rise. This is because the water has already risen in response to the ice. It has already been displaced and therefore rose due to being pushed out of the way.
4. The majority of polar ice is NOT on land. And what ice is on land, is land locked by sea ice surrounding it.
Conclusion is that Sea Ice melt DOES NOT MAKE OCEAN LEVEL RISE. The total amount of land/glacial ice falling into the oceans is minuscule compared to the total volume of our oceans.
Why does no one entertain the theory that 1. The areas observed are losing shoreline And 2. More possible that observation of plate tectonics would yield a better understanding as to why ocean levels rise in som places and fall in others. Or a combination of the two. Think People... don't just rattle off the first "scientific conclusion" the mass media shoves down your throat. There are other, more viable options.

Here's to all the arm-chair scientists out there that are saying, "90% of polar ice is on land"... more like 70% but anyway. What percent of that land based ice actually ends up in our oceans? Do you know? Less than 1% per year falls into the oceans. That it. And the process by which glaciers more faster is NOT global warming. It is due to more pressure pushing against the previous ice sheet to move it. That added pressure comes increased snow pack! The temps at a glaciers base remains at a constant. In other words, it does not matter the temperature of a few degrees at the surface, THAT is not going to make a glacier travel faster. Only more pressure can increase the speed of a glacier's decent. Now, there are some different things happening at the calving face once it gets close to the sea. But it has to get there before it can break off.

Antarctica absolutely does not fit the media narrative, as it has been increasing its sea ice shelf for several years now. That's why you don't hear as much about it as in the past. Over the last 10 years it has also been increasingly difficult to tour or make a stay there. The waiting lists have gotten longer and the requirements have gotten more stringent to go there. (Once such requirement is the removal of your appendic)

[AlanHamilton]

We need to drink more water and pee less so the sea levels stay low....this is obvious answer

[johanna]

This applies to icebergs but not ice on land.

[cynthiapowers]

Icebergs float in salt water, but they are formed from freshwater glacial ice. Melting icebergs will cause sea level to rise. Icebergs are already floating in the ocean, so melting will not raise sea level. Melting of land-based ice (such as glaciers) will raise sea level.

[johnf.hebert]

According to Noerdlinger and Brower (2007) it doesn’t because the principle refers to weight and not volume. The salt in sea water raises its density from about 1000 kg/m3 for salt free water to 1026 kg/m3 for normal sea water. The ice however is nearly salt free because of a process called “brine rejection” (the salt from sea water doesn’t enter the crystal structure of ice).


When the ice melts then this is a kind of freshening of the ocean and the overall salinity is lowered. The lower salinity, the lower density and the larger volume.


The melting of sea ice therefore doesn’t increase the mass but it increases the volume and therefore causes the water level to rise. After Noerdlinger’s and Brower’s calculations the volume of the meltwater is about 2.6% larger than the displaced sea water.


But what is the actual relevance of this effect? Does is contribute significantly to sea level rise? Before answering this questions we should deal with an objection raised by Jenkins and Holland (2007). They are arguing that a huge amount of energy is required to melt the ice. They find that the energy comes from the ocean, as the albedo (reflectivity) of ice is very high, it doesn’t absorb much solar energy. Hence the ocean will cool a bit, causing the density of the briny water to increase (It should be noted that fresh water exhibits the peculiar behavior that its density increases as the temperature falls almost all the way to freezing; but just before freezing, the density is reduced. Briny water does not exhibit that reversal). The cooling therefore offsets the density decrease at least partially in the words of Jenkins and Holland.


As they put it, Noerdlinger’s and Bower’s result is a good first approximation in cold waters where most floating ice is found. The density of cold water is mainly determined by its salinity while for warmer water temperature is also an important factor. Therefore in warmer water the cooling effect matters.


Back to the question, if this effect contributes to sea level rise in a relevant way. Shepherd et al 2010 examine this. They combine satellite observations for an assessment of the loss of floating ice. According to this 743 km3/yr floating ice was lost in average between 1994 and 2004. They further conclude that 1.6% of current sea level rise (about 3.1 mm per year) is caused by loss of sea ice. This is not very much compared to other sources. However the authors assert that this effect should be considered for future assessments of global sea level rise.

[carlhuebner]

This guy seems earnest enough, but he missed a few things. He never says he's talking about the impact of glaciers melting on sea levels, but the topic and photo behind him, and his mentioning of "iceberg" suggest that.

1 - Fresh water ice (which icebergs are made of) DOES add to the level of a body of salt water it's in. This guy's experiment is probably using fresh water for both.
2 - Glaciers are on land, not IN the ocean so when they melt their water ads to the amount of ocean water.
3 - When part of a glacier breaks off and falls into the ocean becoming an iceberg it clearly adds to the water level. You can see that happen in his video at 0:26.
4 - Icebergs don't form in the ocean out of ocean water. The crust on the top of the ocean may freeze, but that's negligible. Icebergs start as land glaciers or frozen above sea level.

So technically he's correct that melting fresh water ice in fresh water doesn't change the level. But adding a ice to existing water does. And melting saltless ice in the ocean does.

[waynedavies]

What he says is true to a point. He supported an ice cube fully in water. Now take a tray, with another ice cube sitting on it and allow it also to melt ( this represents the ice that is supported by land mass under it, and is not sitting, or supported in the ocean. When the ice cube on the ray melts, along with the ice cube that's sitting in the water, he will have an over flow. That's because the ice sitting in the tray runs into the full container, and adds more water than the container will hold. In other words the water level rises. That's why the oceans rise when the land supported ice melts into the ocean, so don't be fooled here. Don't believe me, then try it out for yourself, and you'll see I'm right.

[paulkercher]

I've got a relevant experiment for you to try, professor. Fill a glass of water and position a block of ice outside of it, directing the melting runoff into the glass.

[gerardjordaan]

I need that ice for my brandy and coke, seemed like it was never gonna melt

[christopherphillips]

THIS is of course TRUE. BUT when he put the lump of ice into the water the level of water did rise. Which is what is happeneing the world over, much ice that has collected on land is now falling into the sea, in large quantities, and the sea level rises. When ice melts its apparent volume does decrease. Ice at 0C has more volume than Water at 0C. BUT as the temperature of the water rises its volume increases.
So the sea levels will rise a) because huge volumes of ice are falling into the sea
b) the water temperature is rising

[thulette]

Lol.... It's an iceberg... The water already rose when he put it in the water... Like an iceberg that breaks off of a glacier...
This experiment shows what happens when ice caps melt.. it's EASY to understand...
The second he dropped the ice into the bowl, the water rose..
That's what happens as glaciers ABOVE GROUND melt and break off into the ocean... It rises

[mariantomasec]

You are so right - melting ice does not increase the water level. Adding ice does :)

[DMAEdge]

All true, but misleading. Glaciers on land are not yet in the oceans. When glaciers not yet in the oceans melt, the ocean levels rise.

[robynguinn]

and that is why obama bought a mansion on the sea shore.

[nimadarabi]

Glaciers are formed after the accumulation of snow on land (snow doesn't sit on water). Sea levels do rise not when floating ice melts, but when ice breaks off a glacier and ends up floating in the ocean.

[cocotower]

However... glaciers and other ice that's mostly above the ocean will add to the water when melted because it's currently not displacing the water. Ice that's already displacing water of course won't add to it the volume when melted.

[dmh]

To all the people bring up land glaciers...what has been observed is that while the edges of ice sheets are shrinking the height up the glaciers are growing at a faster rate. The melting causes more evaporation which leads to more snowfall within the center of the ice sheets so now, the sea levels are not rising.

[neverbob]

I wonder how many of these commenters think Greenland and Antarctica are made of ice floating in water...

[shriner]

People forget the law of conservation of mass. Be it currently in liquid, solid or gaseous form, there is exactly the same amount of water on the planet as there was a million years ago.

[eiffler]

Add the land based ice on Greenland and Antarctica to that beaker and see what the levels are like. The ice sheet on Antarctica averages over a mile in thickness. The ice sheet over Greenland is over 2 miles thick at its maximum.