When Icebergs Melt and Pieces Break Off, Sea Levels Rise?

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Norrm

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Since icebergs float, as they melt they don't sit as deep in the water and they don't displace as much water. So as the iceberg melts, and when pieces break off, the balance is maintained and nothing changes. However at the LIDA Film Festival tonight, living legend, environmentalist and pioneering underwater explorer Jill Heinerth actually said that as icebergs melt due to global warming, sea levels rise and if this continues there will be major flooding in coastal areas everywhere as a result.

Now don't get me wrong, it's understood that icebergs are composed of less dense fresh water that displace less salt water than the added volume when melted, but the difference is minute- not enough to cause major flooding as stated- sea level rise due to melting icebergs is estimated to be less than 5/100ths of a millimeter per year.
 
I think they mean the ice that is high above the sea level, in glaciers of Greenland and Antartica will slide down off land and add total ocean.
I wonder if the shift in weights from land masses to submarine land will shift the tectonic plates. The scientists could model this too: less weight here, more weight there and the tectonic teeter totter is bound to shift as well. More earthquakes, shifts up and down in elevation relative to sea level.
 
Yes melting of ice on land and melt water going into the oceans fill them up and they get deeper.
 
They aren't talking about icebergs that are already in the water. They are talking about ice that comes off a glacier or ice sheet, becomes an iceberg and then melts.
 
The living legend specifically mentioned ICEBERGS, which by definition, float in seawater.
 
The living legend specifically mentioned ICEBERGS, which by definition, float in seawater.

After they break off a glacier, yes they are now floating in water, when they were not previously.
 
Again, during the lecture it was stated that when icebergs melt and pieces break off, sea levels will rise significantly and there will be major flooding.

Had the presenter correctly referred to glaciers or land based ice I would not have started this thread.
 
Again, they are not referring to icebergs that are already floating in the water.
 
I think they mean the ice that is high above the sea level, in glaciers of Greenland and Antartica will slide down off land and add total ocean.
I wonder if the shift in weights from land masses to submarine land will shift the tectonic plates. The scientists could model this too: less weight here, more weight there and the tectonic teeter totter is bound to shift as well. More earthquakes, shifts up and down in elevation relative to sea level.

Isostatic rebound due to loss of significant land ice is real. NE Canada as well as most of scandanavia have experienced significant rebound since the last glacial maximum.
 
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