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Discussion » Questions » Environment » How hot would it have to get for ALL icebergs in the world to melt? Could humans survive it?

How hot would it have to get for ALL icebergs in the world to melt? Could humans survive it?

Posted - April 17, 2017

Responses


  • 22891
    not  sure how hot, dont know if humans will survive it
      April 19, 2017 3:44 PM MDT
    1

  • 3680
    Only needs the Polar regions to reach just over 0ºC consistently to melt their land and sea ice, at least at modest land altitudes, though fairly slowly. I've no idea what that would mean for tropical regions - I don't know if the temperature rise (not actual temperatures) would be uniform or vary by latitude.
      April 20, 2017 4:51 PM MDT
    1

  • 113301
    So then what? Would all the land masses be flooded? Would we all drown Durdle? How high would the seas have to rise to effect that? Thank you for your thoughtful reply and Happy Friday! :)
      April 21, 2017 4:37 AM MDT
    0

  • 3680
    Hi Rosie.

    No, you can rest assured that the land masses would not all be flooded, as in the Noah myth or that daft Waterworld film. In any case neither you nor I would be here to see it as the rise would take far too long! 

    There is not enough water on the planet to cover all. Although huge areas of of low-lying coastal land would be inundated, plenty of land would stay dry.

    I don't know what the actual rise might be, nor how many centuries or millennia it would take the sea to reach the new level, but the last high sea-level was at about 10-15 metres above present. I live only a few miles from a "Raised Beach" left by that last marine transgression, as it's called somewhat anthropomorphically. This was in the previous warm phase of the present Ice Age: the Earth's present climate is warming but still relatively cool, when seen in geological history terms.


    One important point: melting sea ice, including the North Polar Ice Cap and ice shelves, would make NO difference to sea-level. Melting icebergs, and ice on land, would raise the seas because they originate as terrestrial glacier ice.
      April 23, 2017 5:47 PM MDT
    0