cementor

One year data is insignificant as is 15 year data, as is 50 year data. Most of the prognostication is built around financial agenda. Climate Gate and the subsequent NOAA data scandal has made all this stuff questionable. That means it might be real or it might not, but who knows. The idea that all ice caps would melt completely is scaremongering in itself. It might happen but 10 generations will be gone and the world will no longer look as it does today. The idea that man can materially change the climate to me is arrogant, we can do the right thing and do our part to control the things we put into our ecosystems, and we should, but at the end of the day this world will change. That is the truth you can count on.

One of our local radio folks likes to quote that Baffin Island hasn't been void of ice in 1600 years. But it currently losing it's ice cap. My point is "what caused the ice to reform in the last 1600 years and perhaps more importantly why was it void of ice 1600 years ago"? It most certainly wasn't man doing.....Earths weather cycles and man can effect it, but we don't control it.

Back to the question... if all the ice caps melted instantaneously or nearly so (200 - 500 years????) (in my opinion a ridiculous suposition).... I suspect we would have some tectonic reactions to the weight of the additional water. I also think the bigger ticket items would be the, loss of land mass, swallowing of volcanic systems and the flooding of these systems with water, which would most certainly cause weather pattern changes due to the additions of water vapor to the atmosphere. The loss of land mass is also an incredibly complex batch of problems, due to population redistribution into what is left, food sources, land mass effects on storm systems etc . There are some good things regarding an instantaneous melt. 3% additional fresh water means some of the ocean pollution would be disapated, pH which is dropping slowly (many believe, I am one of those) would stabilize ( perhaps) and we would likely have massive changes in the "human" ability to pollute, due to those that drown and the losses of land mass. It is an interesting exercise and I have only touched on a couple of the ramifications.

As a side light I don't buy into the climate change nearly as much as the idea that our CO2 emmissions are effecting the oceanic systems thru PH reduction and chemistry changes. This will get rigth to the heart of the matter and that is the food chain, if organisms cannot evolve fast enough we will have real issues in this area.

Hope I haven't messed up anyones day.

__________________
Cementor
If I was any better I'd have to be twins!