Quote:
Originally Posted by kp11364
In regard to a recently closed thread about rising water levels, try this:
1. Fill a drinking glass half-full with water
2. Add 2-3 ice cubes. Look at the water level.
3. Put the glass aside; let all the ice melt. You will see that the water level remains the same. Why? Because the amount of water remains the same, regardless of the state of the water.
|
Be patient with me, my masters is in corporate finance. The first law of thermodynamics, matter can neither be created nor destroyed. When I was much younger I would consider that all of the water that has been or will be is already here. Ocean has evaporation, clouds form, when a certain saturation is reached it rains (or snows) and the water falls to the earth. It may land on land as snow or ice or rain. Rain that falls anywhere, or frozen precipitation that falls in water will flow back to the seas. (Kind of makes me wonder about the water we drink, but that too makes its way back I guess). I would propose the sea level can increase based on melting of ice on land. Icebergs or glaciers floating in the sea should have no effect on the sea level when it melts. Only ice now on land, as it melts, would add to the sea level. Overly simplified but I need it to be. Sorry if I am boring or wrong. I understand the above. What I do not understand is how the sea level could increase over 100 years, 1.5 feet off Main, 1 foot in NYC, 1.5 feet in Chesapeake bay and the outer banks of NC, and only 1 foot in Miami. These are all part of the same continent on the Atlantic. Can someone explain it to me, simply? Maybe after that we can discuss how water we drink gets back to the ocean (I fear the answer)