Related to this increase in ocean temperatures, global-mean sea level rose by an
ID: 231387 • Letter: R
Question
Related to this increase in ocean temperatures, global-mean sea level rose by an estimated 33 ± 12 mm during 1972–2008 due to thermal expansion.2 Now imagine that, rather than being applied to the oceans, this 193.0 × 1021 J of heat had instead been applied to the land ice on Earth (e.g., glaciers and ice caps, etc.). What mass of land ice would have melted and how much would sea levels have risen in this case? (You can assume that all of the land ice begins at a temperature of 0C.)
Useful Values • Mass of ocean = 1.4 × 1021 kg. • Mass of ice on Earth = 2.2 × 1019 kg. • Area of ocean = 3.61 × 1014 m2 . • Representative salinity of seawater = 35‰. • Representative density of seawater = 1035 kg m3 . • Representative density of fresh water = 1000 kg m3 . • Specific heat of seawater = 3.994 J g1 C 1 . • Latent heat of fusion of water/ice = 334 J g1 .
Explanation / Answer
Land ice would have melted to a larger extent.