Back on April 5th 2009 a “New York City” sized “chunk” of the Wilkins Ice Shelf (in Antarctica) broke off and floated away. That amounts to nearly 270 square miles of ice that dispersed.

However, don’t panic…this ice came from ice shelves that were already floating in the ocean (sea ice). That means the ice was already displacing the water. You should NOT expect the volume of water that this large amount of sea ice contains to make any substantial impact in rising sea levels.

Discover more: a few ice cubes and place them in an empty glass. Fill it to a desired level and mark the water level with tape or a marker. Wait for the ice to melt. And, bingo…that is a crude example of what generally takes place in the above event.

So, what are the greatest influences of rising ocean water levels? I am so glad you asked.

  1. The retreat (melting) of land ice (glaciers) and
  2. Thermal Expansion (water takes up more space as it gets warmer).

P.S. the impact this has on changing the ocean’s salinity is a good topic for another time.