Arctic Ice Caps Impact

unusual flow of warm air from the south has caused the ice to melt at an alarming rate, so

This decrease has been not only increasing the sea level at an unnatural rate, but also endangering many arctic species. As these species are forced to change their hunting habits, the native villages are starving themselves, knowing only how to hunt the animals in the pattern they moved before. While the polar ice caps melt more and more, the purity of the water is negatively affected which, in turn, directly affects the air purity, too. According to experts from the Environmental Protection Agency, greenhouse gases are emitted mostly from electricity, industry, and transportation (epa.gov/climatechange). Even though the amount of greenhouse gases have been rising very unsteadily the past 100 years, these gases have been and always will be crucial to our survival on this planet, as long as there is a steady balance between greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide. When we emit carbon dioxide into the air, the atmosphere becomes more acidic; this causes the greenhouse gases to become further amplified and more likely to break down the ozone layer, which in turn pollutes the air even further, creating an endless

Humans have been interacting with the Arctic tundra for centuries now. They have used the land to explore and race, for example, the infamous race between Admunsen and Scott to the South pole. However, the human civilisation on the Arctic tundra have had their implications, both severe and light. Humans have slaughtered whales and seals since very early days, for food as well as commercial and self-profiting purposes. The most recent and paramount problem is global warming and pollution, which is harming the Arctic Tundra far more than the sealing and whaling ever did.

Greenland has lost 250 cubic kilometers of ice in a 4 year period, and Antarctica has lost 150 cubic kilometers. Sea ice in the Arctic is also significantly decreasing, melting at a rate of 13 percent per decade, according to NASA. On March 19, 2015 the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDA) reported that the Arctic sea ice has reached the lowest on record. These two ice forms melting at such rapid rates it contributing to the raise in volume of the oceans that we looked at in the previous paragraph. In addition, the snow cover in many of the world's mountains is decreasing. Snow is highly reflective, and very often light is reflected back into space instead of warming our atmosphere. As the snow melts in the summer, more heat is absorbed; and satellites have captured that snow is melting sooner that it usually does. The effect of our carbon emissions are very widespread, and it is killing our planet at an increasing

A recent study has shown that Arctic Sea ice could disappear entirely by the summer of 2045.[4] Less than 30 years away, this date is far sooner than other models have predicted, which places our planet in dire need of reform. The reason this date is closer than previously thought is because of a breakthrough in how CO2 and sea ice loss relate to each other.

Sea ice has significant importance in the northern Arctic. The sea ice is extremely vital for the marine animals that live in this ecosystem. In particular the sea ice allows them to hunt, mate, and travel. The sea ice allows animals such as polar bears to hunt and search for their prey that lives underwater. It helps females and males find mates to grow their population, and lastly the sea ice allows for polar bears to travel from different locations. Another reason for the importance of sea ice is that it helps keep our planet cool particularly through the albedo effect (Kaitlin, 2016). Potential consequences of the melting of the sea ice could have devastating effects of marine animals in the north, and also for our entire planet because

There are ideas to restore arctic ice. A researcher who studies outer icy moons came up with an out-there scheme to restore vanishing sea ice. Steven Desch, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University in Tempe came up with the idea.

This article talks about how the Arctic Ocean is being affected by climate change. Because of greenhouse gas emissions, the PH of the water is lowering, its glaciers are melting which is causing a rise sea levels, and many species are becoming vulnerable. A mineral called aragonite, which is a form of calcium carbonate, is found in the water and helps organisms build their exoskeletons. As the Arctic’s water becomes more acidic, it loses more and more of this mineral, which threatens the lives of plankton, coral reefs, and shell-fish. The Artic is most vulnerable to acidification because northern ocean currents push the Pacific’s water into the Artic, which contains certain chemical properties that lead to lower pH. After much research, scientists

At the first step, we find that the water of ice in the glacier about 60 meters in in the Arctic Pole content more salt than the ice of the Antarctic Pole, which meant that the warm ocean circulation coming from the Atlantic are accelerating the melting of the glacial bottom. And it would make glacier collapsing faster than we are expecting. The impacts of melting ice extend well beyond polar bears (which are one step away from endangered on the Conservation Scale). Birds, seals, and whales also use the ice for hunting. Birds nest in the sea ice and use it for protection while raising their young in the potentially deadly environment of the Arctic. Also the global fishing industry are influenced, and threaten human life. In addition, in the

The Arctic has huge oil and gas reserves. Most are located in Russia: oil in the Pechora Basin, gas in the lower Ob Basin, and other potential oil and gas fields along the Siberian coast. Canadian oil and gas fields are concentrated in two main basins in the Mackenzie Delta/ Beaufort Sea region and in the Arctic Islands. In Alaska, Prudhoe Bay is the largest oil field in North America 16 Arctic Climate Impact Assessment and other fields have been discovered or remain to be discovered along the Beaufort Sea coast. Oil and gas fields also exist on Greenland’s west coast and in Norway’s arctic territories.

A natural process or event, which becomes a potential threat to human life and property, is known as a natural hazard (Keller and DeVecchio 2012). Sea ice covers about 7.3% of Earth’s surface, or about 11.8% of the surface of the World Ocean (Weeks 2010). During the summer it reflects sunlight back into the space and during winter it radiates heat into the space. Sea ice acts as a large lid on the polar oceans controlling the exchange of heat and mass across the ocean-sea ice-atmosphere interface, thus playing a significant role in the Earth’s climate system. The accelerated melting of Arctic sea ice in recent decades may have long-term impact on the Earth’s climate likely to affect the lives and property of billions of humans (Stroeve et

The world warmed by about 0.7°C in the 20th century. Every year in this century has been warmer than all but one in the last century (1998). If carbon-dioxide levels were magically to stabilize where they are now (almost 390 parts per million, 40% more than before the industrial revolution) the world would probably warm by a further half a degree or so as the ocean, which is slow to change its temperature, caught up. But CO2 levels continue to rise. All this affect the ice pack in the Arctic. As temperature rises, ice melts. This causes many problems.

One of the effects of global warming is the polar ice caps’ melting. Scientists have been researching and examining the polar ice caps for a long time and they have come to the conclusion that the thin ice sheets are slowly wasting away. They have also found out that Greenland’s glaciers are getting smaller and smaller. Places around the globe that use to be covered in ice and snow are now showing more green terrain as the years go on and as the winter months grow warmer. The polar ice caps are melting more and more due to higher global temperatures. This is really bad because the ice caps “reflect and help regulate the Earth’s temperatures.”

Ice is one of the first indicators of global warming actually occuring and it is important for research to be done on these layers of before they disappear. The recession of glaciers and the fragmentation of ice caps has been a clear sign to many that rising temperatures are having an impact, even on our very lives.

Arctic sea ice has responsibility for stopping the rise of temperature on the earth; however, the expanse of the ice has been decreasing. Arctic sea ice has a significant element on the earth. The ice plays a role of lowering the sea and air temperature like “air conditioner” (Stevens, F. 2016) by reflecting the heat of the sun back to the universe. This means the ice has the ability of regulating heat. However, the “air conditioner” has not been working as much as people expect. According to Science Daily, the amount of the Arctic sea ice in 2017 has gotten smaller, 7 million square kilometers in 1970s and 1980s to 4.7 million square kilometers, and the ice thickness has decreased thirty percent compared to between 2001 and 2004 (Alfred Wegener Institute, September 15, 2017). The reduction of the ice extent causes not to fulfill a function as the “air conditioner” In