Originally Posted by Pleasurepays

water expands when it freezes. when a piece of ice is floating the a cup and melts, the result would be a very slight decrease in the level of water in the cup assuming a significant portion was not floating above the ice (determined by its own density).

what genius boy is trying to say in his own cute, but sadly pathetic and morbidly entertaining way, is that ice floating in the sea and then melting does not raise sea overall levels. this is true for two reasons. 1) fresh water is less dense than salt water 2) ice is less dense than water

what his thick head can't seem to grasp is that no one argues thats the case (not talking about rare exceptions of extremists). the melting ice, ice shelves breaking apart etc are generally seen as warning signs that the polar ice caps might begin melting at an accellerated pace as well.. which would then result in an overall increase in sea levels as that water ends up in the sea.

hope this brings the class up to speed!