Melting Ice Caps Research Paper

There are many areas in Tampa that will be unfortunately underwater. As we saw with the heavy rains in late 2015, the most vital areas such as Westshore Ave, South Tampa, Bayshore Ave, and even Downtown had major flooding causing delays in traffic and safety anxieties. While the flooding only lasted a few days, the event brought attention to the Tampa’s faulty infrastructure and drainage systems. An alarming thought is how Tampa will be able to protect itself from a storm or the rising sea levels if the drainage systems are inadequate. The Tampa Bay area is due for a natural disaster any day now; the coastal area is highly vulnerable. According to Sara Kerr, “One place that we have to look carefully at is Tampa where there is a huge concentration at risk from a storm surge, but there hasn’t been an event for 150 years and so the city is fairly complacent about its risk” (2015). A possible catastrophe can pose as an environmental challenge in Tampa Bay as the highly populous areas will not be able to withstand rising sea levels that will occur.

People living in Miami are in the face of danger, and for the most part they are not aware of it. Due to high population, Miami is the fourth largest city to become affected by sea level rise. (Ankum et al.) In the next 32-50 years, sea level is expected to rise by as much as two feet. (Ankum et al.) This two-foot rise will have detrimental effects on the urban settings of Miami. The amount of soil erosion that is undergoing at our beaches will greatly increase if a two-foot rise occurs. At a four-foot rise, road connectivity would begin to become affected. At a six-foot rise, Southern Florida would no longer be habitable as it would, for the most part, be underwater. Not much is being invested in mitigation efforts, most of what is being done are short term solutions. Instead of coming up with ideas to prevent and try to slow down the effects of climate change on our environment, we are focusing on ideas such as building up a sea wall, relocating power plants, and redesigning structures.

Besides the direct effect of sea level rise, coastal flooding may also be a more prevalent and severe issue. For example, “sea level rise of two feet, without any changes in storms, would more than triple the frequency of dangerous coastal flooding throughout most of the Northeast” (Horton 374). The higher seas would increase the initial level, so that the flooding level would be much greater, especially during hurricanes. Recent hurricanes have become a good example of how much damage can occur to both humans and animals. For example, much of the coastal infrastructure is in danger of damage, which can affect commerce and the public’s health and safety: “In New York State, two feet of sea level rise is estimated...To flood or render unusable 212 miles of road, 77 miles of rail, 3,647 acres of airport facilities, and 539 acres of runways” (Horton 379). This loss of infrastructure may occur in every coastal Northeast state, especially in the south. In these southern Northeast states, the land is flat, which makes them easier to inundate with water. In addition to infrastructure, transportation is also at risk, with much of the major highways (I-95) and trains (Amtrak) at risk of coastal damage (Horton 380). More affected by sea level rise, ecosystems near water may be permanently damaged in upcoming years, and according to Rob Deconto, a climate scientist at University of

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, almost 40% of the population lives in high population-dense coastal areas. Around the world, eight of the world’s ten largest cities are situated near a coast, with about 250 million people living by a coast line less than 5 feet above sea level. It is projected that all of these people will be directly affected in some way by seawater rising in the future (Siegert, 2017). For the county of Orleans Parish, the rapid loss of coastal land is not a future scenario, but a current reality. Due to our unique geography, Louisiana loses about 16 square miles a year; the rapid erosion of Louisiana’s cost is only expected to accelerate over time. (Wernick, 2014).

Dutch expert Henk Ovink once told New Times that “Miami will no longer be a land city, but a city in the sea.” (Weiss, 2015). There has been a rise of 10 inches in sea levels in the 19th century. As of today, the East Coast and Gulf of Mexico of the United States are the two areas that are more prone to sea level rises (Infographic, n.d.). Miami is the fourth-largest population in the world that is susceptible to this predicament. On top of that, it seems that floods are becoming more frequent and more damaging than ever. It is estimated by the end of the century, Miami can get another rise of 6 to 10 feet of water (McKie, 2014). There are clear signs of the tides taking effect in the city. Homes and shops are being surrounded by water in

Kusnetz, N. (2017, December 28). Sea Level Rise Is Creeping into Coastal Cities. Saving Them Won't Be Cheap. Retrieved April 13, 2018, from https://insideclimatenews.org/news/28122017/sea-level-rise-coastal-cities-flooding-2017-year-review-miami-norfolk-seawall-cost

Since 1900, according to James Gerken, New York City’s average annual temperatures, measured from Central Park, have increased by over 3 degrees Fahrenheit, and the sea levels surrounding the city have risen by over a foot. Resultantly, more extreme precipitation events are expected to occur in the future, such as hurricanes and flooding. The mayor of the city, Bill de Blaiso, announced a sweeping plan to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2050, allegedly making neighborhoods safer from disaster. Unfortunately, projections based on current trends suggest that the sea level could rise by an additional 6 feet by 2100 (Gerken, 2015). Thus, nearly 20% of New York’s 469-square-mile land area could have a 1% chance of flooding in any given year.

Economic growth is vital to sustain human life; however, the unsustainable consumption of natural resources to attain this demand is leading to self-destruction. The Earth is facing environmental changes, including climate changes, which are altering the Earth system. Significantly higher thermal expansion is inescapable if the increasing pollution by carbon dioxide emission continues relentlessly. One evidence of this change is global warming and its impact in the Arctic Ice. The critical role of the Arctic in the global climate system implies that Arctic Ice changes will have far-reaching connotations for, and feedbacks to, the entire Earth. Currently, the warning signs include: rapid diminishing of sea ice, increased mass

The Sea Level has increased over the past 200 years as average global temperatures have increased. The rise is due to two factors, the freshwater being added to the oceans from ice melt in the cryosphere, and the thermal expansion of the oceans due to rises in sea temperature. The sea level has risen 6 to 8 inches in the past 100 years. It is predicted to rise another 50 to 90 centimeters in the next century. As the sea level rises it’s jeopardizing rapidly growing coastal communities, which causes evacuation in some areas causing people to lose their homes. Sea level is the effect

New York City will be my home for the next two years whilst I attend The City College. I believe that climate change will put coastal areas at risk. With the sea levels rising due to the melting of the ice sheets, extreme storm surges due to changes in weather patterns, and flooding they’ll threaten coastal infrastructure (buildings, transport, energy and water supply).

Climate change is occurring and the impacts are already being felt in many regions. Studies conducted are typically done at the global, national or state level. The need to assess the threat associated with sea level rise at local level is important because local governments and private citizens are likely to be the first to deal with this potential problem.

According to the American Bar Association, "The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has concluded that during the 20th century, sea levels rose some 5-9 inches throughout the world."(Gresham, Imwalle). This not only puts costal communities at risk of losing their homes, but also cause damage to infrastructures worth millions of dollars. The rise of sea level due to climate change has put Bay Area officials hard at work to come up with different plans on how to deal with this in the future.

The rising sea level in Miami has giving bad impacts to the people of the city mainly during the coming of high spring and autumn tides. When there is very strong wind, the storm surge will be produced as the wind push water to the inland. This occurrence causes the tidal surges overflow the Florida coast and hit the Miami Beach’s west coast. Then, it went

Attention Getting Device: On November 21, 2017 NASA published an article on the issue of global climate change which quoted this, ''NASA tool link port-city seal levels to regional ice melts''. NASA has been working to minimize the effect of global climate change and recently it has developed 'NASA tools'. This particular tool links changes in sea level of around 293 global port cities. Most specifically, the tool links changes seen in vulnerable regions, such as Greenland and the Antarctic Peninsula, where ice lands are melting rapidly. Such development will allow coastal planners to be aware and prepare for rising seas level for years to come.

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.”