finally some sense about global warming

[funkfool]

"Now, with concentrations of greenhouse gases rising, Earth's remaining ice sheets (such as Greenland and Antarctica) are starting to melt too. The extra water could potentially raise sea levels significantly."

OK... their understanding of the basic propeties of physics are off a bit - just to try to fool the ignorant masses.
Ice floats, even polar ice caps float.
When floating ice melts, it does not change the water level.
Put a block of ice in a glass of water and watch it.
It is called "displacement"... use the brain God gave you... look it up.

[Hoosier]

OK... their understanding of the basic propeties of physics are off a bit - just to try to fool the ignorant masses.
Ice floats, even polar ice caps float.
When floating ice melts, it does not change the water level.
Put a block of ice in a glass of water and watch it.
It is called "displacement"... use the brain God gave you... look it up.

The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica aren't floating, they're sitting on land, called Greenland and Antarctica.

Mother nature is capable of some surprises still: http://www.livescience.com/environme...nd-110117.html

I think what a lot of people fail to grasp is exactly how much greenhouse gas humans are putting out. In our head, we think of all the people we know, we think of all the places we've been, and that 100 miles of atmosphere above our head the entire time. We think there's no conceivable way humans can affect it. I've heard it said before that a single Volcano eruption puts out more greenhouse gasses than all of humankind...

Do the Earth’s volcanoes emit more CO2 than human activities? Research findings indicate that the answer to this frequently asked question is a clear and unequivocal, “No.” Human activities, responsible for some 36,300 million metric tons of CO2 emissions in 2008 [Le Quéré et al., 2009], release at least a hundred times more CO2 annually than all the world’s degassing subaerial and submarine volcanoes (Gerlach, 2010).

http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/hazards/gas/climate.php

There is of course lots of "information" about the subject online now, and as polarized as the debate has become it's difficult to find unbiased sources. Of course, political rhetoric has entered into the realm of scientific inquiry, so the result is unlikely to be pretty.

H.

[funkfool]

The ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica aren't floating, they're sitting on land, called Greenland and Antarctica.

To make a further clarification about ice caps...ice caps are dome-shaped masses of ice of < 50K sq. km. Ice sheets are >50K sq km. Ice caps and ice sheets exist in Canada, Greenland, and Antarctica. Sea ice is water from the sea that freezes. Sea ice is not the same thing as icebergs. The term "polar ice cap" can include ice caps, ice sheets, and sea ice, although technically, it is only the sea ice portion.
Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_shelf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_ice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_ice_p…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pack_ice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg

The northern polar ice cap = ~100% floating...

Which ones are growing?

Of course, political rhetoric has entered into the realm of scientific inquiry, so the result is unlikely to be pretty.
H.

+1 Agreed.

[DeusExMachina]

Can we at least agree that funkfool says "Use the brain god gave you" far too much?

[funkfool]

Can we at least agree that funkfool says "Use the brain god gave you" far too much?

Yes. noted.

[spyder]

It's actually not 100% floating. It is attached to land masses and resting on parts of the shallower ocean floor. I do understand science, very well in fact and displacement is a very easy concept to get as you know. Unfortunately, if you want to use the whole use your brain comment, I would suggest doing so yourself before attacking what someone else has said. If something is holding itself up, the displacement of the object isn't 100% is it? I will use the glass of ice thing with you also, imagine freezing a toothpick in the cube, and putting the picks on the edges of the glass holding most of the ice out of the water, displacement isn't 100% at that point is it? Can you go under the northern cap? Yep. Can you go around it in a boat? Nope. Why? Because it is attached to land, and below on the continental shelves.

[spyder]

Now, I didn't post on this to try to be some big advocate for the dumb ass known as Al Gore. That guy is a moron as are most of his supporters. Each side has it's dumb shits. If you are going to base your decision on who is on each side, you really need to look at some of the followers that don't believe that fossile fules are indeed bad for the atmosphere. That said, bringing up morons for each side really doesn't add to the arguement but to the ignorance.

[spyder]

To make a further clarification about ice caps...ice caps are dome-shaped masses of ice of < 50K sq. km. Ice sheets are >50K sq km. Ice caps and ice sheets exist in Canada, Greenland, and Antarctica. Sea ice is water from the sea that freezes. Sea ice is not the same thing as icebergs. The term "polar ice cap" can include ice caps, ice sheets, and sea ice, although technically, it is only the sea ice portion.
Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_shelf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_ice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_cap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_ice_p…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pack_ice
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceberg

The northern polar ice cap = ~100&#37; floating...



.

Just so you know, wikipedia isn't always correct. Anyone, and I mean anyone can add to wikipedia. Most of its information is written by every day people that think that they know what the truth is.

[funkfool]

Just used Wikiporkula for general definition...
Just fyi - the tilde (~) expresses approximate.