# Antarctic impact that causes sea level rise, but not "asteroid winter" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 5, 2019, 3:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411 "2019-12-05T15:47:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2019, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/21 "2019-12-07T15:08:26Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > The “small rogue star” idea is pure Velikovskism. (Note–not a compliment.) Actually it’s magic, which I twice explicitly referred to. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2019, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/22 "2019-12-07T16:21:21Z")
> [@](#): > > To raise the sea level 10 m, you need to melt 3.6x10[sup]19[/sup] kg of ice. No you don’t. You need to dump that much ice into the ocean. Whether it melts or not is irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2019, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/23 "2019-12-07T17:10:48Z")
I’m not sure a giant tractor capable of pushing a 1-mile thick ice shelf into the ocean is more realistic than spontaneous fusion. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2019, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/24 "2019-12-07T17:41:05Z")
> [@jharvey963](#): > > Look at the most recent data about how Greenland is melting. The original model was that the ice would just gradually melt “all over”. What appears to actually be happening (at least, from my naive and not really well researched understanding) is that the ice is melting and forming small ponds, the water absorbs more solar energy (since it is darker than ice) and warms up, tunnels to the bottom of the ice and is pushed along the bottom of the ice and the land. This acts as a lubricant and speeds up the movement of the ice towards the ocean. > > Your story could reasonably postulate something along these lines (though faster or more intense than in reality) for either or both Greenland or the Antarctic. > > J. I don’t want to risk this kind of review. “It’s a cool book, but for me as a glaciologist it is fairly obvious the sea level rise explanation is cribbed from specific hypotheses from 2019 that didn’t hold up, which is a bit jarring when this is supposed to happen in 2150.” The catastrophic event gets rid of that issue. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2019, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/25 "2019-12-07T23:05:25Z")
The easy way out: hand-waving. Describe the results without detailing the cause. The MC (main character) is near Montevideo when Something Happens and waves scour the _Rio de la Plata_ as far as Asunción. Various survivors expound their WAG theories of What Happened. Throw out enough hypotheses and one may be correct. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2019, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/26 "2019-12-08T07:08:33Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > The easy way out: hand-waving. Describe the results without detailing the cause. I mean, he could…but look to criticisms of The Road. Readers really don’t like not knowing what the “it” that ruined everything was. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2019, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/27 "2019-12-14T04:19:01Z")
Somewhat related, there is [a cool new map of Antarctica](https://www.livescience.com/new-anatarctica-map-climate-change.html). ---
**Author:** ![bigdog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/46a35a/32.png) [@bigdog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bigdog)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/28 "2019-12-18T16:24:14Z")
In the past there have been natural Nuclear reactors on earth! > **[Nature's Nuclear Reactors: The 2-Billion-Year-Old Natural Fission Reactors in...](https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/natures-nuclear-reactors-the-2-billion-year-old-natural-fission-reactors-in-gabon-western-africa/)** You could have a modestly sized meteorite that was Uranium rich impact in Antartica. The water would act as a moderator and could start a natural reactor. The heat from the reactor would melt the ice and not the force of the impact. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2019, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411/29 "2019-12-18T16:39:36Z")
A major volcanic event blocks the Drake Passage. This would connect Tierra del Fuego to the Antarctic peninsula, preventing the circular flow of the southern ocean. The melting/calving would take a few decades, but once it got going, I think it would accelerate. The change in flow would bring large amounts of warm ocean water south, raising the temperature of Antarctica to the point that it would lose its ice mantle. Note, also, that the weight of the ice presses down on the continent, so losing it would allow Antarctica to rise up, thus maintaining the blockage of 5he Drake Passage even in light of the increase in sea level. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/antarctic-impact-that-causes-sea-level-rise-but-not-asteroid-winter/844411.md?page=1)