DanielLC comments on Stupid Questions December 2014 - Less Wrong

16 Post author: Gondolinian 08 December 2014 03:39PM

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Comment author: knb 08 December 2014 11:29:52PM 9 points [-]

Would it be possible to slow down or stop the rise of sea level (due to global warming) by pumping water out of the oceans and onto the continents?

Comment author: DanielLC 09 December 2014 06:07:14PM *  2 points [-]

One possibility would be to replace the ice caps by hand. Run a heated pipeline from the ocean to the icecaps, pump water there, and let it freeze on its own. I don't know how well that would work, and I suspect you're better off just letting sea levels rise. If you need the land that bad, just make floating platforms.

Edit: Replace "ice caps" with "Antartica". Adding ice to the northern icecap, or even the southern one out where it's floating, won't alter the sea level since floating objects displace their mass in water.