Quote:
Originally posted by Yorick:
Deejax.... it wouldn't be the entire ocean that got universally warmer though would it? Ocean further away from the surface is extremely cold right? Wouldn't the water closer to the surface get warmer than water further away?
Secondly, wouldn't the water expand into areas where it already goes, such as tidal rivers and lakes? One huge shelf of ice is not going to raise the ocean levels that considerably I'd imagine. Doesn't ice annually freeze and melt each year on the two poles? Do we see higher ocean levels during global Spring and Autumn?
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It was just a calculation to show the effect of the enormous amount of water the oceans contain. And it doesn't really matter that the temperature at greater dephts is lower. It is just a matter of an
increase in temperature. If the
average temperature of the water rises 1 degree, it results in an (approximate) increase of the water level by 1/3 meter.
I don't think that the melting of the south pole ice shelf will result in a significant increase of the water level, there just isn't enough. The effect of the existing water increasing in temperature is much larger. The same reasoning for the effect of melting (but reverse) goes for the tidal rivers and lakes. The capacity of these areas is not comparable with the amounts of extra water needed to raise the ocean levels by 30 cm.
As for changes ocean levels in the seasons. Firstly when it is spring on the northern hemisphere it is autumn on the southern. That should level things out. Secondly I think these changes are too swift to cause a structural change in the average water temperature.