Melting Ice and Rising Sea Levels

This experiment shows the difference between melting sea ice and melting land ice. Sea ice melts without raising water levels, while land ice melting adds extra water and raises sea levels.

1. Fill a clear container halfway with water.
2. Add floating ice cubes to represent sea ice. Mark the water level and wait for the ice to melt. Record the water level again.
3. In a separate setup, place ice cubes in a smaller cup or container above the water, so melting ice drips in like land ice. Mark the starting water level. When the ice melts, measure again.

Melting Ice Experiment: Discover How Ice Impacts Sea Levels - TheDadLab:

Evidence for Climate Change: Melting Ice Demonstration - Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics:

📄 See ice melting! - Scitech: https://www.scitech.org.au/experiment/what-is-causing-sea-levels-to-rise/

📄 How Melting Ice Causes Sea Level Rise - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory: https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/resources/project/how-melting-ice-causes-sea-level-rise/

• Add food coloring to help see the water level more clearly.
• Place small rocks or toys on “land” ice to represent glaciers melting.

• Handle water carefully to avoid spills.
• If using glass containers, place them on a sturdy surface.

• Why doesn’t melting sea ice raise sea levels? (Because it’s already floating, so it displaces the same volume of water.)
• Why does melting land ice raise sea levels? (It adds new water to the ocean that wasn’t there before.)
• How does this help explain global sea level rise? (Warming causes glaciers and ice sheets on land to melt, adding more water to the oceans.)