Reply #9: Sea Levels [View All]

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Sea levels will not rise due to the melting of ocean ice (Larsen or Arctic Ocean ice) only when the ice caps on the Antarctic mainland and on Greenland begin to melt will sea levels begin to rise significantly. Many of the "global-warming-is-a-myth" types often site that since the oceans haven't risen, then all this talk about ice melting is a lie. This is like expecting your glass to overflow when the ice melts in your ice tea.

Unfortunately, if we wait for the sign of the oceans to rising, we may be too far into the warming to do anything about it.

Another interesting thing about melting sea ice is that the denser, cooler water flowing from the Arctic into the North Atlantic may well disrupt the flow of the Gulf Stream with the unintuitive effect of causing Europe to cool dramatically while the rest of the world swelters.