Melting of floating ice and sea level rise

Adrian Jenkins, David Holland

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Contrary to popular belief, the melting of floating ice (in the form of ice shelves, icebergs and sea ice) may have a non-zero impact on sea level. This is because the melting process cools and dilutes the oceans on average, and unless these opposing effects exactly balance each other there will be a net change in the ocean density. We discuss how these subtle effects can be quantified and put bounds on the potential sea level rise associated with melting of the ice masses that are currently afloat in the world's oceans.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberL16609
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume34
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 28 2007

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • Earth and Planetary Sciences(all)

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