The article states that a loss of 100,000 cubic kilometers of ice would result in a half-meter rise in sea level. That means that if the 32 million km3 polar ice pack melts, sea levels will rise 160 meters. But I have always heard a figure of around 50 feet. Being on a small island in the South Pacific makes the matter less than academic.
D. Eric Hanson
American Samoa Community College Pago Pago, American Samoa
In fact, researcher Roger B. Barry says that global sea level would rise closer to a quarter of a meter if all the world’s glaciers were to melt, and 70 meters (250 feet) if Greenland and Antarctica went, too
.–S. Perkins
Log in
Subscribers, enter your e-mail address for full access to the Science News archives and digital editions.