The melting of glaciers

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The melting of glaciers

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Michel Darche

Global warming causes the expansion of oceans and the melting of glaciers.

Simulation software like ”Flood map”, based on elevation data coming from satellite radars allows to compute the potential consequences of the rising of the sea level on coastal regions and populations, including large cities like Rio de Janeiro, New York, Tokyo, Shanghai, etc.

How high can the sea level rise?

At the South Pole, the volume of the Antarctica glaciers is at least 22 millions km3. In the North, the volume of Greenland glaciers is approximately 2,8 millions km3. The total area of oceans is 335 millions km2. If all glaciers were to melt instantaneously, this could lead to a uniform rise of the sea level of 75 meters!
Taking into account the limits of models, the scientists are presently less pessimistic, and forecast a rise of the sea level somewhere between 20 cm and 60 cm till 2100, including the dilatation of the seawater.

This module is part of the MPE exhibition. You can rent this module for a lumpsum fee. A detailed manual how to rebuild this module will be shared.

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