In message 1, the IrishRockhound wrote
"Creationists (namely riverrat, in mike's "Judge not least
ye be judged" thread) have said that the water needed for
the Flood was frozen in the polar ice caps. The question
is, how much water is there actually in the ice caps, and
how much of an effect would their melting have on the
global sea level?"
This question is answered in "Estimated Present-Day Area* and Volume* of Glaciers and Maximum Sea Level Rise Potential", which is the introduction to U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1386-A, by Richard S. Williams, Jr., and Jane G. Ferrigno at:
USGS URL Resolution Error Page
The above article provides a detailed listing of the area and volume of and estimated maximum sea level rise that the melting of the different ice caps would cause. according to them;
1.melting of the inland and local ice caps of Greenland would cause sea level to rise 6.55 meters (21.48 ft),
2. melting of all of the ice in Antarctica would cause sea level to rise 73.44 meters (240.88 ft),
and 3. melting of all other glaciers and ice caps, and ice fields in the world would cause sea level to rise 0.45 meters (1.47 ft).
Total sea level rise from the melting of all of the above would be 80.44 meters (263.83 ft).
Although such sea level rise would be a catastrophe relative to many coastal countries, it falls far short of a global Noachian Flood.
For a second opinion, a person can look at "Sea Level and Climate" at:
Fact Sheet fs002-00: Sea Level and Climate
They estimated that the melting of all the Earth's ice caps, ice fields, glaciers, etc. would raise sea level by 80.32 meters (263.44 ft), of which 73.32 meters (240.49 ft) of sea level rise would come from Antarctica.
Yours,
Bill
™ Version 4.2
