It’s well understood that melting sea ice doesn’t raise sea levels much; just like ice cubes in a glass of water don’t cause the glass to overflow when they melt. It’s the melting and runoff of land-based glaciers and ice sheets that really increases water volume in the ocean.

There’s a little wiggle room in that statement because researchers recently determined that melting icebergs have a small effect on sea levels, because sea water is warmer and more salty than floating ice. The change in density and temperature raises sea levels very slightly.

– Eliza, DISCOVER online news editor

archemedes principle!!! a guy over 2,000 years ago in sandals figured it out….who never even saw a glacier, let alone Antartica.

CO2 is not a greenhouse gas. never was…never will be. CO2 is opaque to IR wavelengths…everyone knows that IR energy wont leave. But hey! gues what?!! because E=mc2, no new energy comes in either.

people need to read books…not burn them.

The person who wrote this comment should indeed read a little more. The sun, due to the temperatures of its photosphere does not emitt much IR radiation. On the other hand the earth does. Almost all incoming solar radiation is converetd to IR and this is absorbed by CO2. Thus, this energy stays in the atmosphere to a greater extent in the presence of higher CO2 levels.

m: You’re correct, the CO2 blocks IR wavelengths. Unfortunately, more energy comes in from the sun in the higher wavelengths as light, gets absorbed by surfaces and lower atmosphere(dust, etc), then gets re-radiated as heat (IR wavelengths), which get blocked by the CO2 and sent back to earth. That’s why it’s called a “Greenhouse” effect. My greenhouse gets warmer than ambient inside even when the sun is behind clouds and I don’t feel any heat from it outside the greenhouse in winter. The visible light is the difference (UV is blocked by the plastic’s protective coating).

In other words, you missed a step of the process that often confuses people. Don’t feel bad.

That the Antarctic sea ice extent increases, despite higher temperatures both above it and below it, is described as confusing or puzzling or a paradox. It is not seriously described as being contested.

I am sorry to inform you that you are Not Even Wrong.

The Antarctic Peninsula and West Antarctica are losing ice through melting and dynamic movement. Even East Antarctica is now in a net ice mass loss.

Archimedes would worry.

Antarctic ice melt: Spring 2007-2008 & 2008-2009 vs 1979-2000 average.
http://www.mcculloughsite.net/stingray/assets_c/2008/12/antarctic_sea_ice_2008_12-20-thumb-400×320.png

This does not match snow.

i especially love the part about how when the sea ice melts that sea water will rise.

archemedes principle!!! a guy over 2,000 years ago in sandals figured it out….who never even saw a glacier, let alone Antartica.

CO2 is not a greenhouse gas. never was…never will be. CO2 is opaque to IR wavelengths…everyone knows that IR energy wont leave. But hey! gues what?!! because E=mc2, no new energy comes in either.

people need to read books…not burn them.