Global Warming

my feelings are this:

Humans have been studying weather patterns with slight accuracy for what, 100 yrs tops? Even then half the shit predicted is wrong. In most cases we can't even predict what will happen tomorrow. How in the hell do we honestly think we can predict what will happen in thousands and millions of years from now? The earth has been around for billions of years, and we think since we began studying its weather patterns for the last few 100 years that we actually have the slightest clue as to what is going on? I agree it's all bullshit.

I tend to think it is all bullshit, but I must correct a technical error by BB.

When you melt an ice cube in a glass, there is no increase in volume because the water displaced by the ice must be the same weight as the ice, so when it melts back to water it occupies the same volume. At the arctic however, the 'ice cube' is almost all pure water but the sea contains salt and is therefore denser. So if the arctic cap were to melt it would produce a greater volume than the salt water it had displaced.

The question is of course how much difference that would make to sea level. It certainly is not the volume of the arctic ice cap however. For example, if the specific density of sea water is 1.025 (an approximation) then only 2.5 percent of the volume would be spread throughout the oceans.

What is not widely known is that the ocean floor is actually held down by the weight of water above it, so more water would actually push down on the ocean floor, which in turn would cause a relative rise in the adjacent land masses (continental bulge), so it is actually possible that melting of the polar ice caps could cause a drop in sea levels, or at least leave them virtually unchanged.

I wonder what the effect would be if all the bolognese sause would be dumped in the sea?

Quote:

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Originally posted by lynx@14 August 2003 - 17:01
What is not widely known is that the ocean floor is actually held down by the weight of water above it

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What??? :blink:

Global what-now? :huh:

Quote:

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Originally posted by nigel123@14 August 2003 - 23:08
I wonder what the effect would be if all the bolognese sause would be dumped in the sea?

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Well it would certainly taste a lot better.

@titey - told you it was not widely known (strictly speaking I should have said depressed rather than held down, but what the heck).

Sorry but I tend to disagree. This after all started of as frozen sea and has become larger and larger by the edges freezing(again sea). The amount on the
top is negligible compared to the frozen salt water underneath. But that is my opinion. :(

Quote:

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Originally posted by lynx@14 August 2003 - 22:01
What is not widely known is that the ocean floor is actually held down by the weight of water above it, so more water would actually push down on the ocean floor, which in turn would cause a relative rise in the adjacent land masses (continental bulge), so it is actually possible that melting of the polar ice caps could cause a drop in sea levels, or at least leave them virtually unchanged.

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interesting. it makes sense to me. where did you learn of this?

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Originally posted by lynx@14 August 2003 - 17:15
@titey - told you it was not widely known (strictly speaking I should have said depressed rather than held down, but what the heck).

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If they're depressed, can't they just get a prescription for an MAOI inhibitor? :huh:

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Originally posted by bigboab+14 August 2003 - 23:26--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (bigboab @ 14 August 2003 - 23:26)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> Sorry but I tend to disagree. This after all started of as frozen sea and has become larger and larger by the edges freezing(again sea). The amount on the
top is negligible compared to the frozen salt water underneath. But that is my opinion. :( [/b]

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The original &#39;frozen sea&#39; is long since gone and has been replaced by compacted ice from snowfall (as proof, they take core samples to compare atmospheric conditions over millions of years). The salt laden frozen sea underneath would have a lower melting point compared to the freshwater ice above so it melts at temperatures where the freshwater ice does not.

<!--QuoteBegin-L0rD_S0tH
interesting. it makes sense to me. where did you learn of this?[/quote]It was on a scientific program on UK tv, though I can&#39;t remember what it was, probably one of the Horizon or Equinox series.

Continental land mass is made up of relatively thick crust; same principle as an iceberg, the more there is up top, the more there has to be down below, but floating on magma not water. Ocean floor in contrast is relatively thin, but is consequently easily distorted by the weight of water above it.