if the ice caps melting how long befor the sea level rise to being seen?

You want proof Jim?

http://climate.nasa.gov/keyIndicators/index.cfm#gl...

Under 'land ice' you have Greenland Mass Variation since 2002.

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/rec...

http://arctic.atmos.uiuc.edu/cryosphere/IMAGES/rec...

Graph for Greenland Sea Ice area and Baffin/Newfoundland Sea Ice Area

As for the original question sea level is currently increasing at a rate of approximately 3mm per year. The elevation of Los Angeles is 71m. If sea levels continue to rise at the rate they are currently it will take 23666 years for it to reach 71m. Currently, however, the rate of rise in sea levels is increasing.

http://sealevel.colorado.edu/

http://www.cmar.csiro.au/sealevel/

As you can see from the following page that shows sea level rise and fall at specific locations The trend near Los Angeles is between 0 and 3mm per year. Galveston is rising at a rate of 6mm - 9mm per year. And though half of New Orleans is above sea level the mean elevation is actually 0.5m below sea level which is why they use levees and dikes.

http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/sltrends/sltrends...

As stated in a previous answer though, New Orleans is sinking.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=...

Threemilepingree: That says 3.1mm plus or minus 0.4mm not that the ocean are rising at a rate of 0.4mm per year.

JimZ: How about if you pay attention to actual science for once? Perhaps you should also learn how to read and stop being so illiterate. Where in the world did you get "Greenland has already melted." from? I certainly didn't say it. The graphs I posted certainly don;t state that. You seem to be arguing against something that was never stated, common with deniers. Learn to read a graph and use YOUR head for once. Seriously man it's like talking to a brick wall.

http://ess.uci.edu/researchgrp/velicogna/files/inc...

And if you are claiming that the article last week stated that the Greenland glaciers have 'melted' as opposed to are currently 'melting', as you stated, perhaps you need to learn the difference between the two words.

The artic ice pack, that is floating sea ice, will add X amount of liquid water to the oceans. Thermal expansion will increase the physical volume by X amount. I suppose someone could fill in the X variables to come to a number to describe the overall ocean rise from that ice melt alone.

Then of course the total liquid water from defrosting glaciers and its maximum thermal expansion should be added in as well. I suspect some math maven in the audience could do this in their head.

Sea level could rise considerably if and when all of this plays out. Let's not forget that a large part of the area of what is now North America has been underwater a hundred times over the last X millions of years.

These were call empiric seas...shallow, warm and extensive. Could it happen again? Probably not in our lifetimes, but given the trend....sure.....Water World? Possible and probably probable.

The sea levels have been rising steadily for over 100 years. There is no dramatic rise in the rate over the last 30 years. The arctic could melt completely and it would have no effect on sea level. The antarctic ice is mostly at high altitude and 50 degrees below freezing, so even the most outlandish claim on the left will not cause any of the antarctic ice to melt. Only the Greenland Ice sheet is in play, and so far it is not melting in a significant way.

It's too late already.

There is a cottage in Cornwall called Tidereach, because the sea used to reach it. Guess where it is now in relation to the ocean?

About 200 metres inland.

If the Maldives are so worried, why are they building so many new airports?

the current predictions are for less than 10 feet rise over the next 100 years. The rise has been occuring for some time already.

ice caps float on water, they do not contribute substantially to sea levels. Its the glaciers on land, Greenland and Antarctica that contribute.

You don't need to put the city underwater to incur major costs from sealevel rise.

Jim Z - " David's place is obviously way too close to the ocean if it is endangered by a one foot rise"

Yeah, so is Boston's Logan airport. Where do you suggest they move it, and who's going to pay?

The ocean experts at the University of Colorado

http://sealevel.colorado.edu/

(ocean experts don't need to be seaside) say that there is a .4 mm increase per year. At that rate, the oceans will be 40 mm (about 16 inches) higher in 2112.

New Orleans is already partially underwater but it isn't due to sea level rise. It is due to land subsidence. It is a good question. I saw a supposed news article last week about Greenland glaciers melting yet where is the sea level rise? Alarmists will believe whatever they are spoon fed. The rest of us require proof and part of the proof that Greenland isn't melting that significantly is lack of sea level rise.

The vast majority of the rise in the last several decades (maybe a foot rise) has been due to thermal expansion of the ocean. David's place is obviously way too close to the ocean if it is endangered by a one foot rise. Society as a whole should not have to help pay for those who build in places that shouldn't be built in.

Jeff, thanks for the proof that you will believe whatever you are told. I know they showed you pretty little maps with lots of glitter and sparkly things but why don't you ask yourself why those maps of Greenland glacial melt don't translate into significant increased sea level rise. In other words, they easily fooled you into believing there was a crisis by simply providing you with a map that seemed to indicate that Greenland had already melted. Use you head. They are fooling you again.

It already has risen noticeably outside my beach house. When my grandparents lived here the tide went out further and did not rise as high as it does. I am hoping that the worst case scenarios that are being offered are overstated, so that my own grandchildren can live here in fifty years.

in the indian ocean maldives in a few year will be under water