The answers to [this question][1] say that the sea level will rise 66m if all the polar ice, etc, melts.

How long will this take?

Transporting incredible amounts of heat energy to the poles and injecting it into the ice, a good insulator, so that it melts must be very, very slow. The Netherlands, London, and all the rest will be long gone for other reasons, I imagine, long before it could be completed.

We need some numbers.

* How much ice is there?

 Antarctica contains  26.5 million cubic km of ice (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antarctic_ice_sheet)

  So: $2 \times 10 ^{14}\,\mathrm{kg}$ )

* How much heat energy is needed to melt a unit of ice?

 $333\, \mathrm{kJ/kg}$. (http://www.ask.com/question/how-many-joules-of-heat-are-required-to-melt-40-kg-of-ice-at-0-degress-c )

  So we need $6 \times 10^{16}\,\mathrm{kJ}$

 I reckon that this is the amount of energy striking the entire Earth from the sun every two minutes.  However, getting this energy from the top of the atmosphere into the ice sheet will take a little longer.

* How good an insulator is ice?  

 $2\,\mathrm{W/mK}$ (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_thermal_conductivities)


Antarctic ice is about $2\,\mathrm{km}$ thick.  Let's replace this with a $1\,\mathrm{km}$ blanket of ice equivalent insulator.  In this case, if the air temperature rises $10\,^{\circ}\mathrm{C}$, then energy arrives at the bottom of the blanket at the rate of ... $0.02\,\mathrm{W/m^2}$.

Antarctica is  $14 \times 10 ^{6} \,\mathrm{km}^2$ so we are able to deliver energy at $3\times 10 ^7\,\mathrm{W}$

$$\frac{6 \times 10 ^ {16}}{3 \times 10 ^ 7} = 2 \times 10^9\,\mathrm{s} \approx 63\ \mathrm{years}$$

That seems way too fast to me.  Can anyone do a better estimate?

  [1]: http://earthscience.stackexchange.com/q/608/357