– Polar Ice and Rising Sea levels

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OK, I’ve always had trouble with this idea. As far as I’ve ever known, when you drop ice in a glass of water, the ice already displaces an amount of water equal to the amount of water in the ice. So as it melts, it won’t cause the water to suddenly overfull the glass. So what’s different about the polar ice that makes it so that it will raise the sea level if it’s already floating in the sea to begin with?

In: Planetary Science

15 Answers

Anonymous 0 Comments

Polar ice isn’t floating, it is sitting on land and elevated above the water. Since it is not already displacing water line your drink’s ice would be if it was floating, when it melts it raises the water level.

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