Republican lawmaker: Rocks tumbling into ocean causing sea level rise

[Benton]

(05-18-2018, 11:56 PM)TheLeonardLeap Wrote: Not saying this guy is right, but it does bring up an interesting question....

China is making a bunch of man-made islands for naval/air bases. That combined with ever-increasing naval shipping for the global economy, and I am a little curious as to what, if any, difference that makes.

If the fake China islands and all the naval shipping/warships/etc were all magically removed from the world's oceans all at once, how much would it drop? Would it be a measurable amount? I don't think that's the difference, but it is interesting to think about.

Probably not measurably. If the math in the story Holldero pasted is right, and if my math is close, it would take a surface area of about 3/4 the size of Australia (3 million square miles) to displace the water. 

We've had ships in the water for as long as we've had tools. Granted, never as many as now. It's unlikely there would be so sudden an influx of ships (or man-made islands) as to increase water levels very much.