Probably a really dumb question but: If ice and water both displace the same relative amount of liquid, then isn't the idea of climate change causing the polar ice caps to melt and therefore putting the Empire State Building suddenly underwater (because that's the landmark they always like to use in these scenarios, for some reason...) totally bunk? I'm not disputing climate change here, more asking a (probably silly!) question about physics....,(reply>), Yeah, you're basically correct. Sea ice won't change sea levels. It's the ice that's on land that will. Lage continental glaciers (Greenland, parts of Antarctica) will melt, and that's what will cause sea level rise.