Ocean Ice Research Paper

The Arctic Sea Ice is melting or slowly disappearing and it is said to be one of the reasons of global warming. What is happens is that the Arctic Ice it melts a little and gets smaller during the summer season and than during the winter season the ice gets bigger and expands over the Arctic Ocean, “a freeze-thaw cycle that in the Arctic has been dramatically altered by global warming (Global Warming Effects).” The Arctic Sea Ice in the past could grow up to 3 meters, which is around 10 feet, but now the average thick ness is becoming much less, and some scientist are afraid that in a few decades there might not be any sea ice during the summer (Global Warming Effects). Another major thing that has been discovered is that the amount of ice

atmosphere is warm enough to sustain human life. When there is a large increase in the proportion of carbon dioxide in the air, the quantity of heat caught by the carbon dioxide also increases. This in turn contributes to the total rise in the surface temperature of the earth. Due to this rise in temperature in ice in the Arctic is melting, which is causing the sea level to rise.

As more of the sun’s energy is retained by increasing greenhouse gases, the earth’s oceans are heating up. This can be seen by an increase in average water temperature and warm water anomalies (water temperature over the average).

The Arctic Ocean is of little depth. It is the smallest ocean compared to the world's 5 major oceans. Although, we consider it as an ocean, some oceanographers would simply state it as a sea. Since The Arctic Ocean is small and shallow you would understand why some would recognize it more as a sea instead of an ocean. Its is obviously cold, freezing if you would prefer to describe it that way. It is moderately covered by sea ice throughout the year. In winter it is almost completely filled with sea ice. Did you know the Arctic ocean surrounds the North Pole.

Throughout history, Arctic Ocean has been explored by many nations that put its attention to discover the particular unknown areas. The first explorations of the Arctic started on 330 BC by European marine explorer named Pytheas of Massalia. Pytheas was the first person that recorded the existence of Polar Ice . Since the 12th century, with the increasing of the population and the increment of trade-related activities, commercial routes have had a growing importance and the overseas search for alternative routes has become crucial . On 1594-1960,the driving force for the exploration of the Arctic was the desire of European monarchs to find an alternate route to India and China, either a Northwest Passage along the coast of North America or

The cryosphere refers to the frozen water part of the Earth system including the frozen parts of the ocean, such as waters surrounding the Arctic. Recent studies show that the cryosphere is generally in a poor state, and scientific agreement stated that average global temperatures will continues to increase over the next century. This means that the existing risk to these climatically sensitive areas is increasing. In the past 20 years, the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic has decreased dramatically, and could even disappear completely within the next hundred years. Evidence shows that some of these depletions in the cryosphere are human-induced, specifically the fragmentation of sea ice when oil tankers break through the frozen waters to make a passageway. This fragmentation leads to global sea rise and habitat destruction for large predators such as polar bears and seals, in addition to other Arctic wildlife.

Why don’t Oceans freeze. In many parts of the world , winter temperatures drop low enough to make rivers and lakes freeze. In these parts of the world, the ocean will not freeze even though other water sources does. In the Arctic region, most of it is a tundra, which include frozen soil and animals such as polar bears and penguins. The ocean however is not frozen.

Warming seas and melting ice are the consequences of global warming which is the heating of Earth caused by greenhouse gasses trapped in Earth’s atmosphere. Global warming causes the heating of Earth’s seas, and when the water molecules in these bodies increase in temperature, they thermally expand which causes the sea to rise. The heat is also causing the melting of Earth’s ice sheets, and when the ice turns to water, it causes the sea to rise as well. Note that the water does not rise evenly. The sea level may increase in some areas as it may decrease in other areas. Sea level rise is inevitable because of the greenhouse gasses that are trapped in the atmosphere, they will always increase sea level to some degree. However, the decisions we

Antarctica is covered in ice that is two miles thick in some places. Thousands of years ago, there was thick ice that covered this area, that moved back hundreds of miles to where it is now. Using maps, scientists at Rice University were able to show how ice had moved during a time of global warming during the earth’s last ice age. These maps also showed where ancient water courses, like rivers and lakes, once were.

The Arctic Ocean is some five million square miles of barren ice and frigid water roughly the size of Russia that lies at northernmost point of our planet. However this portion of the planet is soon to be one of conflict, to be fought with words and lengthy jurisdictional claims, as the Arctic contains portions of Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States. But who would want this megalithic ice flow and swath of ocean? Due to climate change the Arctic has begun to reveal its potential as a vast petroleum and natural gas source (estimated to be an eighth of the world’s untapped oil and a quarter of its gas by the USGS) and the location of valuable shipping routes between China and Europe. However there

Arctic sea ice has receded dramatically as a result of rising temperatures, and this will continue (Johannessen, Miles). As sea ice melts natural resources, sea life, and trade routes will become more accessible to humans. While conflict over Arctic regions remains confined to terms set in international agreements, countries with access to the Arctic are increasing their military presence in the region to control trade, extract natural resources, and secure their nations. Expect these trends to continue, as countries with Arctic access cement their claims with international treaties rather than military might.

Rising sea levels can also erode shorelines, which will in turn make flooding more severe. Another severe effect of rising sea levels is saltwater intrusion. Saltwater intrusion occurs when saltwater intrudes into groundwater, contaminating drinking supplies, irrigation supplies, and agricultural fields (“Sea Level”). As the ocean temperatures continue to rise, sea level rises with it as seen in Figure 1. This graph shows the rate at which sea levels are rising as ocean temperatures rise. Rising sea level can be contributed to two factors, thermal expansion and melting of sea ice. Since the 1970’s, the sea ice in the Arctic Ocean around the North Pole has been shrinking, and getting thinner. The warmer water and atmosphere causes the Arctic sea ice to melt more than usual during the summer months. Not only will the melting of sea ice have

Unfortunately, the melting ice caps are another result of solar warming. Over many years, “the vast ice cover around the North Pole has shrunk due to global warming. This has led to rise in sea levels, which ultimately affects coastal regions” (“Melting Ice Caps Affect Coastal Regions”). In this article, the author goes into depth on the results of the melting ice caps. Another effect of global warming is the fact that it has led to the shrinking of the “vast ice cover around the North Pole.” Consequently, when the ice melts it adds more water into the sea, leading to higher water levels. Adding to this, the “melting glaciers add new water to the ocean, raising sea levels” (“Sea Level Rise”). The author states that the “melting glaciers add new water” to show that when the water stored in the frozen glaciers melts, it releases water that was not originally in the ocean. A factor of these increased rates of melting ice sheets has been termed dynamic thinning. In this process, “warmer ocean temperatures melt the underside of ice shelves, just as warmer atmospheric temperatures increase surface melting” (“Sea Level Rise”). This comes as another result of solar warming, as that is what causes the seawater temperatures to increase in the first place, which in turn “melts the underside of ice shelves.” This solar warming does not only affect ice caps through the

As snow and ice melt, ocean surfaces absorb Sun’s energy, increasing warming. Ice normally would reflect light.

According to Dr. Parmentier and his team, regional differences are of colossal importance in this particular study due to the massive spatial variability in both sea ice concentrations and methane emissions (Parmentier el at., 2015). If sea ice departure occurs near a region with vast wetlands, it is preferably likely that methane emissions are altered as opposed to melt occurring far off. Therefore, sea ice concentration was measured to the isolated grid cells of models representing methane. The grid used by Dr. Parmentier and his team was a grid-specific index of sea ice cover that represented a weighted average of sea ice concentration that is dominated by close by ice, with a less impact from remote changes in the ice. This grid being closely