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Is global warming a threat to polar and glacier ice? Global warming is a phenomenon whereby the earth’s average temperature increases. Global warming has a devastating effect on the Earth’s climate. Scientists are still studying global warming effects, and have not reached a consensus about what will happen in the future. The melting of the polar ice caps and global warming are getting more and more attention lately. If melting glaciers caused by global warming, or it is a natural process – at this moment opinion of scientists and experts is diverge.
There are many causes of the melting of the polar ice caps and global warming, some of which are natural. However, the activities of man are responsible for much of the rapid change that scientists are seeing. Andrew S. Revving in his article “Global Warming is Eroding Glacial Ice ” raises the Issue of global warming its causes and effects. According to Revving the most serious consequence of global warming is melting glaciers. He argues that global warming is largely a result of human activity.
He states that the melting of glaciers up North could cause n increase in flash floods, endangering the lives of many people and damaging the homes. He writes that according to studies an icecap atop Mount Kilimanjaro, which is more than a thousand years old, will be gone in 15 years or less due to the side effects of global warming. Revving reports that “Kilimanjaro is one of the clearest signs that global warming trend in the last 50 year may have exceeded typical climate shifts” (414). Other icecaps such as Mount Everest and Swiss Alps are slowly melting as well. He quotes research done by Dry.
Lonnie G. Thompson who proved glacier erosion and showed some of the effects it was causing to the North Pole. Dry. Thomson said that “other changes could also be contributing to the glacial shrinkage, but the rising warm zone is probably the biggest influence” (415). Revving in his article provides statistics, which show that in recent decades global warming has increased and to continuing in the years to come. Kilimanjaro has pulled back five-hundred feet a year from 1998 to 2000, which is 33 times faster than the rate from 1963 to 1 978 (416). Philipp Sotto in his article “Gold
Comfort for Global warming” considers that the temperature change as a perfectly natural event. He argues that climate change is part of Earth’s cycle, and that it right on schedule. He believes that people do not have much control over nature. He talks about the collapse of Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica, the largest single event in a series of retreats by ice shelves in the Antarctica over the last 30 years. He considers this crash “perfect natural disaster” for journalists who are of the view that global warming is a result of greenhouse gas emissions and human activity in the modern world.
According to P. Sotto, the collapse Of ice is a natural process Of nature, and icebreakers are falling after a hot summer and high winds. He finds it impossible the North Pole is disappearing and neither is the South Pole. He writes about studies, which have shown that West Antarctic Ice Sheet may be getting thicker, not thinner. He describes the Antarctica as unusual continent with many “climates”, and many geomorphology and glaciological regimes. Researchers of University of Illinois have reported that the temperature in Antarctica have been falling in the last decade.
And it is not surprising, according to him, when parts of the continent are cooling to see some of the ice melts such as Larsen 8. And at the time as people concerned about global warming, he said, the planet may be moving in the opposite direction. Moron Monte in her article “Science file” argues that climate change, such as global warming leads to natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, and volcanic eruptions. Due to increased temperature on the earth, ice begins to melt. She describes that Arctic ice are crucial to Earth’s climate system.
Ice cap reflects the sun’s rays, and thus does not heat up the planet. Global warming reduces the amount of ice in the Arctic, which is dangerous for humanity. The melting of glaciers, can lead to global disasters on the planet, such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis and floods, adds Moron. Global warming is indeed a serious issue in the world and is not just a myth. The planet is warming and this has a catastrophic effect on the ice caps of the Earth; with an increase in temperature glaciers worldwide, are melting faster than the time taken for new ice layers to form.
The clearest example of the effect of global warming on glaciers is rapid erosion of the ice cover on the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Melting glaciers are so fast that they can’t be explained only typical climatic shifts. The Mount Kilimanjaro, which has existed for thousands years, is now at risk of disappearing by 2020 if present rates of melting occur (416). It is critical that people take action to stem the tide of the melting of the polar ice caps and global warming. According to some scientists, the human race has a limited time to turn the tide and avoid engine the most catastrophic effects of polar ice caps melting.