The claim

A meme aims to prove that melting sea ice has no effect on sea level. The experiment thus uses the “Archimedean principle” regarding the displacement of bodies in water.

Our conclusion

On the one hand, the melting land ice was completely forgotten here, and the volume also increases by 2 to 3% due to the dilution of the salty sea water with the fresh melt of the iceberg.

Two images that are compared are intended to prove that melting ice does not cause sea levels to rise. But the comparison was made somewhat naively.

These comparison images have been circulating on social media for a long time - for example in this Facebook post from August 7, 2019 .

They are used to do a simple milkmaid calculation: an iceberg floating in the ocean melts, which is represented by the ice cubes in the water jug. Lo and behold - the contents in the water jug ​​do not change in quantity after the ice melts, but remain the same.

This is intended to prove that we have no problem at all with icebergs melting and do not have to fear sea level rise.

But it's not quite that simple

What has been completely left out here is the melting of land ice. Because no, there is not only ice or icebergs floating in the water. Ice from land also melts and flows into the waters.

To do this, a second container would have to be included in the pictures, which only contains ice. After melting this “external” ice, i.e. ice that was not already in the water, it would have to be added to the water jug. – Prize question: What will happen then? N/a?

It's not just sea ice that is relevant

The so-called “cryosphere” includes all ice on our planet: sea ice and also glacial ice.
Sea ice is frozen seawater that floats on the surface. The freezing and melting of sea ice has no significant impact on sea level. However, there is a small additional contribution from the dilution of the salty seawater with the fresh melt from the iceberg. This increases the volume of displaced seawater by 2 to 3%.

“According to Archimedean principle, every floating object displaces its own weight of fluid. For example, an ice cube in a glass of water will not cause the glass to overflow when it melts. However, because seawater is warmer and saltier than floating ice, changes in the amount of this ice affect global sea levels.”

Source: University of Leeds study

However, glaciers in the mountains or parts of the large ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica have a strong impact on sea levels as they melt and flow into the ocean. Some glaciers end on land and the meltwater from them reaches the ocean via rivers. Other glaciers slide directly into the ocean and calve large blocks - the icebergs we know.

The comparison experiment simply sweeps some relevant parameters under the carpet. An experiment with several different water levels could have shown this. As Ted Scambos, senior research scientist at the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences : "If you do the same experiment with a cup of water that is almost full and then add a large iceberg, it will overflow at the top."

In addition to the change in sea level, what should not be forgotten is the impact of disappearing sea ice on ecosystems and the Earth's climate system.

Conclusion

This comparative experiment does not prove that melting sea ice is not responsible for sea level rise. Too many details were simply left out here.

On the one hand, the volume increases due to the dilution of salt water with “fresh water” due to the melting of icebergs, but on the other hand, the melting of land ice is completely ignored.

Due to the lack of detail and extremely simplistic approach, this experiment cannot provide serious proof of anything.

You might also be interested in: The Climate Report 2021 - Unfortunately record values ​​in many respects

Source: Climate Feedback , Science Daily , Reuters , AFP


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