Rawmustard – Mate you are on the money. It is true that melting ice in the ocean will not cause the oceans to rise. It’s a science principle which tells us this and its called the “Archimedes Principle” which was developed by Archimedes in the 3rd century bc. Its very basic science, so its no surprise that most people on OLO are ignorant to it.

Has anybody ever noticed that there drinks do not go up when the ice cubes in them melts? Water expands when it is frozen!

Archimedes Principle - http://www.answers.com/topic/buoyancy-1

I don't think any of us would argue against better managment of resources. What gets up my nose is when people who should know better never let the truth get in the way of a good story for the sake of their god the prince of lies, the god of this world.

Easytimes, a classic example of "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing"
Didn't stop to think, did you? The level doesn't go up when the ice melts, if it's already IN the water. Most of the ice that is melting isn't!
Glaciers, Antartica, most of the tundra's world-wide, NONE of them or the water they contain, are in the oceans, but as it all melts, it soon ends up there!
Even the Arctic is composed of mountains of ice sitting on the sea-floor, it too will add to the overall rise.

Does it really matter whether the sea levels are rising and whether or not we are being told the truth about it? Regardless of what opinion anyone may hold on this subject, nature will take its course and all will be revealed in the years to come. There were also debates centuries ago whether the earth was round or flat. An excessive amount of energy was spent on proving both sides of that debate. What if we just stop questioning nature and accept that what is, IS.

Maximillion's quite correct. It's not so much the melting (saltwalter) sea ice that's the problem, it's all the freshwater ice sitting on land that represents the threat.

Unsurprising to see that ET is parroting Andrew Bolt today:

http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/index.php/heraldsun/comments/the_great_antarctic_ice_scare_the_facts/

Fortunately, this latest idiocy from one of Australia's most prominent global warming denialists is being thoroughly refuted here:

http://blogs.crikey.com.au/purepoison/2009/04/06/dinky-science-experiment-ignores-the-facts/

As stated by one commenter there - and it seems equally applicable to some around here - "This is classic Bolt. It’s not happening, but even if it is it doesn’t matter. And it’s not my fault."

Sound familiar?

Another thing, some people fail to understand that the oceans are excellent heat sinks. As water warms, it expands (another property of H2O ... resulting in sea level rise). Warming is most evident in the Southern Ocean around Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean.

Btw, has anyone seen the latest about the Wilkins Ice Shelf?

Further, the oceans (70% of the planet) used to be excellent in absorbing CO2. However, since the advent of the ‘industrial revolution’ (and particularly since the advent of rampant consumerism) humanity has been spewing carbon into the atmosphere that now totals billions of tons per year – think about it, how many molecules of CO2 in a ton of it ... a gas for Pete’s sake?

Problem – as water warms it is less able to absorb gases.

Big kahuna problem?
The oceans and terrestrial biosphere (because of poor land management practices) cannot absorb the excess CO2 as fast as it is being generated – so it stays in the atmosphere longer. Due to the heat trapping properties of CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) the heat is re-irradiated (not into space).

Whatever way you look at it, the planet (oceans and atmosphere) is warming (well, not exactly ... the stratosphere is cooling). When you put energy into a system, it heats up. If there is water around, some of it will evaporate and fall out somewhere as rain or snow. The more the energy, the more the extremes in weather events (the system tries to equilibrate).
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Nature Lover, that’s a ‘cop out’.

Fwiw, if humanity has had anything at all to do with this current round of GW (and it has), then humanity must try to do something about it. Or is this a problem for your children’s children?

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CJ
Bolt is a media shock-jock columnist (not a journalist, imho) – nuff said.
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Richie 10

Do I assume you have no substantive questions, or do I assume you did not understand what was being said? Either way, I would be glad to talk science with you ... with or without the equations.