Calculating the rise in sea level from the melting of Antartica

Rich Galen:

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In any event the popular press got a another case of Global Warming vapors over the weekend when NASA reported that over the past three years, Antarctica has been melting "at the rate of 152 cubic kilometers (plus or minus 80 cubic kilometers) per year over the past three years."

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For instance: According to the government of Australia, Antarctica is about 13,661,000 square kilometers in area. The Aussies further inform us that the ice is about 4 km thick so - counting on our fingers and toes - we multiply the surface area (13,661,000), times the depth (4) and we get a pretty big number: 54,664,000 cubic kilometers. That's over 54 MILLION cubic kilometers.

With me so far?

Ok, now let's divide the total amount of ice (54,664,000) by the amount which is melting each year (152) to see how long it will take for the last ice cube to disappear into the sea.

Assuming we are still counting years the same way, it will be Frozen Margaritaville for the continent sometime in the year 361,506.

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Ok, the big deal with this calamitous melting is the amount of ice which is being released into the ocean equaling, as we have seen, the volume of Lake Tahoe.

The actual number is .4 millimeters per year. Four-tenths of a millimeter.

Four-tenths of a millimeter equals just a hair - a very, very thin hair - over .015 inches - fifteen thousandths of an inch.

Each and every year.

So, in a thousand years, the melting of the Antarctic snow cone will raise sea levels by … fifteen inches.

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There is more including the name of the King of England in 1006.