Polar Melting * Higher temperatures have caused the polar ice sheets to melt at an accelerating rate, contributing to an almost half-inch rise in global sea levels. This is called polar melting. * The Arctic is a highly sensitive region, and it's being profoundly affected by the changing climate * Higher temperature may be causing some floating icebergs to melt, but this will not make the oceans rise. * The rising temperature may be causing more icebergs to form by weakening the glaciers, causing more cracks and making ice mo­re likely to break off. As soon as the ice falls into the ocean, the ocean rises a little * The Polar Regions are important drivers of the world's climate. When the "everlasting ice" melts at an increasing rate, the rest of the world is affected. * Global sea levels are rising; dark melt water pools absorb warmth from the sun which white ice would reflect back into space. * Fresh water flows into the sea, changing ocean currents and the living conditions for marine organisms causing range shifts.Animals become endangered due to range shifts and are not able to live * Sea levels are rising because warmer temperatures cause water to expand. * Melting ice from both poles has been responsible for a fifth of the global rise in sea levels since 1992, 11 millimeters in all. The rest was caused by the thermal expansion of the warming ocean, the melting of mountain glaciers, small Arctic ice caps and groundwater mining. The share of the polar ice melt, however, is rising. * Summer ice is melting 10 times faster in the Antarctic than it was 600 years ago, with the most rapid melt occurring in the past 50 years. * The effects of Arctic climate change include a marked decrease in Arctic sea ice; thawing permafrost, leading to the release of methane, a potent greenhouse gas * The polar ice caps have melted faster in last 20 years than in the last 10,000. A comprehensive satellite study confirms that the melting ice caps are raising sea levels at an accelerating rate. * Sea ice loss has melting effects on permafrost, both in the sea, and on land and consequential effects on methane release, and wildlife. This warm air carries heat to the permafrost around the Arctic, and melts it. * When the temperature warms sufficiently to cause the deep layers of ice underground (the permafrost) to melt, ground water will start seeping into the underlying strata and aquifer and thereby reduce the level of moisture. * It may also become farmland after it is drained by canals as was done in the northern American Midwest region so wheat and corn could be farmed in what was previously swampland. * Greenland experienced extreme melting in nearly every region. * Although the Greenland ice sheet is only about one tenth the size of Antarctica, today it is contributing twice as much ice to sea levels * Polar melting could lead to more natural disasters like tsunamis, causing a loss of organisms. This is cause by climate change, which is caused by humans. Humans output too much carbon dioxide and other harmful gases into the atmosphere
Ways to stop polar melting: * Controlling the soot created by burning fossil fuels, like oil and coal, and from burning wood and dung “may help to reduce Arctic ice loss and global warming faster than any other control option available * Oceanic poisonous gases and chemicals, reduce the usage and stop pouring them into the ocean * Green our commute, Transportation causes about 25 per cent of Canada's greenhouse gas emissions, so walk, cycle or take transit whenever you can. Try the reduce our carbon footprint
Questions:
* Do you think that earth is going through a cycle or phase, in which, enhances it abilities and life or is it just a stage within its