What Would Happen to Earth If All The Ice Will Melt?

The continuous burning of fossil fuels will definitely accelerate global warming and eventually melt all the ice at the poles and on mountaintops, according to National Geographic. If that happens, the sea level will rise by 216 feet, drowning many areas of the Earth.

Some scientists say that it would take at least 5,000 years for all of the ice in the world to melt given that it is more than five million cubic miles. With the increasing temperature brought by global warming that is accelerated by the continuous use of fossil fuels, the Earth will likely become an iceless planet with an average temperature of 80 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of the current 58.

Significant Areas Will Drown

According to National Geographic, Florida, the Gulf Coast, and the entire Atlantic seaboard would vanish. Likewise, in California, the hills of San Francisco would become a cluster of islands, and the Central Valley would become a giant bay. The gulf of San Francisco would stretch north past San Diego, which will vanish as well.

Moving on to South America, Buenos Aires, coastal Uruguay, and the majority of Paraguay will also be wiped out of the map as the Amazon Basin in the north, and the Paraguay Basin in the south would become Atlantic inlets. But not all will be drowned by water as the mountainous stretches along the Caribbean Coast, and those in Central America would survive.

Meanwhile, in Africa, the continent would lose less of its lands to the rising sea levels, but the Earth's rising heat would make Africa uninhabitable. Intruding the Mediterranean would swamp Egypt, Alexandria, and Cairo.

In Europe, the cities of London and Venice would become history as it will be drowned by the Adriatic Sea. Also, the Netherlands would no longer exist, while the majority of Denmark will also be underwater. The expanding waters of the Mediterranean will have swelled the Black and Caspian Sea.

Then in Asia, much of China, which is inhabited by over 600 million people, would be flooded. While Bangladesh and the coastal area of India would also meet the same fate. Cambodia's Cardamon Mountains would be stranded as an island as the Mekong Delta would overflow from the rising water levels.

Australia would be left devastated when all the ice on Earth will melt as it would lose most of its narrow coastal strip where 80% of Australians now live, although it would gain a new inland area.

The eastern part of Antarctica, which contains four-fifths of the world's ice seemed to be unmeltable as it has survived earlier warm periods, but experts suggest that even this part would also melt.

Impact of Ice Melting on Earth's Rotation

According to NASA, the melting of ice in places like Greenland, Antarctic ice sheets would change the Earth's rotation if the meltwater would flow into the oceans. They said that if the water from the melted ice would be trapped in a glacier lake, then there would be no effect on the movement of mass away from the glacier or ice sheet, therefore the Earth's rotation would stay the same.

However, if the meltwater does enter the oceans and is dispersed, then there is a net movement of mass, and the world's rotation would be affected.

For instance, if the ice on Greenland would melt, the global sea level would rise by about 23 feet, which would cause Earth to turn slowly. That means the hours of the day would be longer by about two milliseconds. But in the case of the Arctic ice caps, the meltwater will not change the sea level because its volume displaces, therefore not changing the Earth's rotation.