If the icecaps melted what Empire State Building story would be sea level?

Answer 1

It should be first noted there is a technical definition of an icecap and the colloquial one; a true icecap is a mass of ice less than 50 thousand square kilometres, while the polar icecaps are much larger than this. However, one will assume the question refers to the total ice mass on the surface of Earth, as melting of the polar caps would necessitate melting of all others.

To begin with, there are currently 30 million cubic kilometres of ice mass on Earth; from using density values, this is equivalent to 27 million cubic kilometres of liquid water.

Earth currently has 361 million square kilometres of surface area in oceans, and 149 million square kilometres in 'land' area, for a total of 510 square kilometres. The source is not clear whether this is the equivalent flat area (i.e. if Earth were a perfect spheroid) or if this is the true area, including raised and uneven terrain.

So, if we only consider the ocean and consider the rise this would present, we are working out the depth 27 million km3 would make over 361 million km2.

From these numbers, simple division tells us the sea level would rise by 27/361 = 74.8 metres beyond its current value.

No information could be obtained regarding the elevation of the Empire State Building; however, assuming it stands at 50 metres above sea level and a 4 metre average storey height, we end up with the sixth floor being new sea level.
The twentieth level.