The acceleration of the heat in the Polar Regions has their powerful influence on global warming and the overall heat balance on a global basis. Furthermore, the warming of the climate is directly connected to the overall heat characters of seasons and the periodical difference between them. Such circumstance of course is and going to have its consequences on the globe and the environment on a crucial level. This brief essay primarily aims to explore and discuss the warming procedure that the Arctic is going through, regarding its implication on the global balance of the climate.
The Polar Regions are well-known for their role in controlling the Earth’s balance of heat . The whole world’s heating and cooling balance depends on the temperature of the pole regions. During one's research, we have noticed that such dependence is crucial for life in Earth and the environment, since any change in temperature is quite capable of affecting the overall weather movements on Earth, which is also capable of affecting the life of each singular living entity. The main reason for such dependence could primarily be explained with the atmospheric cover layer over the poles. This layer is capable of conserving the heat in the poles at the optimum level and thus, controlling the shifts in the overall temperature on Earth. Therefore, any harm given to this layer can result with substantial changes, firstly on the Polar Regions, than the climate and seasons on Earth. In other words,
“The Polar Regions control the earth’s heat balance and if the cover begins to melt and shrink, it will reflect less sunlight, and the Arctic will become a poorer repository, eventually warming the climate of the entire planet.”1
...
... middle of paper ...
..., it will reflect less sunlight, and the Arctic will become a poorer repository, eventually warming the climate of the entire planet.”1
“Scientists attribute the change partly to greater winter precipitation and partly to a warmingof the permafrost and active layer, which they believe is now transporting more groundwater.”
“Warmer winters have driven some of the shift. When the air is warmer, more precipitation falls from the sky, in which some of it becomes snow. The thicker snow holds more warmth in the earth, resulting in a longer period during which the tundra is releasing carbon dioxide. However, as the tundra becomes shrubbier, and as the soil becomes drier in the summer as a result of higher temperatures, the balance could sway the other way, because plants, particularly woody ones, will fix more carbon and lock it back into the Arctic ecosystem.”
Permafrost is permanently frozen soil which hasn’t melted in 2 years or more, it also makes up 24% of the land in the Northern Hemisphere and it stores massive amounts of carbon inside of it (Insert Citation). Permafrost contains large amounts of frozen organic matter and if this organic matter thaws out and starts to decay it will release carbon into the air. As a result of global warming and climate change, permafrost is at risk of melting, releasing the carbon trapped inside, it has been estimated that the permafrost contains 1700 gigatonnes of carbon inside of it (Insert Citation), which is double the amount of carbon in the atmosphere already and there is no way to stop the permafrost melting besides slowing it down by reducing our emissions. Figure 1 shows the northern hemisphere and how much of the land contains permafrost. It can be seen that there is a significant amount of permafrost in the northern hemisphere and if this were to melt there would be a dramatic increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Various glaciers in Alaska and other parts of the United States have shrunk dramatically. If temperatures continue to rise, the ice will continue to melt, and some glaciers could disappear completely, which causes sea levels to rise. There are many animals, birds, and seafood that depend solely on glaciers for survival. With an increase in sea water temperature, and increasing sea levels, sea-plants that these fish thrive on will be lost, lowering the number of seafood, which in-turn will make survival of many species difficult. The arctic is source region for cold ocean currents and with no ice it will have no density and temperature distinctions, which pushes the ocean currents. If the ocean current heat transfer mechanism powers down,
First, global warming has an immense impact on Arctic Sovereignty as the rise of greenhouse gases thrive in Canada along with other countries. Within 20 years, the polar ice caps of the Arctic have melted twice as fast compared to before. The loss of Arctic ice can furthermore pose a threat to shipping, as navigating the Arctic becomes increasingly challenging. Finally, climate change threatens the extinction of numerous animal species, namely the polar bear. Hence, global warming poses a major challenge to Arctic Sovereignty and Canada along with other members in the Arctic Council must prevent it.
The book by David Archer (2009) includes details that will make the readers understand the future of climate change as well as past events that have changed the present climate, as we know it. David Archer is a professor of geophysical sciences at the University of Chicago and has done many public presentations on the earth’s climate change before releasing his book, the long Thaw.
Global warming is the greatest challenge facing our planet. It is one of the widely discussed topics because global warming is a threat to all living things on Earth. The animals and people in the arctic are already experiencing this. The earth’s temperature dramatically increased during the past 50 years and now, ice caps are melting w...
People are responsible for higher carbon dioxide atmosphere emissions, while the Earth is now into the Little Ice Age, or just behind it. These factors together cause many years discussions of the main sources of climate changes and the temperature increasing as a result of human been or natural changes and its consequences; even if its lead to the global warming, or to the Earth’s cooling. In their articles, “Global Warming Is Eroding Glacial Ice” by Andrew C. Revkin and “Global Warming Is Not a Threat to Polar Ice” by Philip Stott, both authors discuss these two theories (Revkin 340; Stott 344). Revkin is right that global warming is taking place. Significant increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is due to human activities combined with natural factors such as volcanic emissions and solar radiation – all together they lead to climate changes and temperatures rising. At the same time, other factors such as deforestation contribute to environmental changes for some glaciers not less than air pollution. However, during global warming not all regions of the planet are affected in the same way, local warming and cooling are both possible during these changes.
Scientists are currently having a great debate; are the arctic storms at lower latitudes normal weather patterns? Or are they happening due to human activity? The effects of climate change are reshaping weather patterns all over the g...
Earth has experienced many episodes of dramatic climate changes with different periods in earth history. There have been periods during which the entire planet has been covered in ice and at another time it has been scorchingly hot and dry. In this regards, earth has experienced at least three major periods of long- term frigid climate and ice ages interspersed with periods of warm climate. The last glacial period which current glaciers are the result of it, occurring during the last years of Pleistocene, from approximately 110,000 to 10,000 years age (Clayton, 1997). Indeed, glaciers present sensitive indicators of climate change and global warming and by estimating and monitoring the dynamic evolution of these ice masses, several aspect of climate change impact on environmental phenomena can be revealed.
There have been negative biosphere impacts especially in the Arctic because “greenhouse gas concentrations are driving ocean systems towards conditions not seen for millions of years (Shah 5). Conditions such as sea levels are rising which cause polar caps to melt much faster. These polar caps are important to our artic species the thought of having “ice-free summers in the Artic imply loss of an entire biome” (Shah 2). For example, animals like polar bears that have adapted life on top of ice are in danger of extinction. The melting of ice caps and glaciers are causing polar bears to lose their homes. The extinction of one species can spell trouble for other life in the ecosystem. However, polar bears are not the only species in danger.
The Earth has been experiencing a warming period for the past 30 years indicating that a cooling period is about to occur. There are several factors that contribute to climate change including a rise in the temperature such as the Earth’s tilt, tectonic plate changes and volcanic activity. A shi...
Throughout history climates have drastically changed. There have been shifts from warm climates to the Ice Ages (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.204). Evidence suggests there have been at least a dozen abrupt climate changes throughout the history of the earth. There are a few suspected reasons for these past climate changes. One reason may be that asteroids hitting the earth and volcanic eruptions caused some of them. A further assumption is that 22-year solar magnetic cycles and 11-year sunspot cycles played a part in the changes. A further possibility is that a regular shifting in the angle of the moon orbiting earth causing changing tides and atmospheric circulation affects the global climate (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.205). Scientific studies suggest that all these played a role in past global warming and cooling periods. Today, however, there is a lot of conflict on whether humans are causing a global warming that could be disastrous to humans and all species of plants and animals on this earth. This paper will first explain the greenhouse effect, then take a look at both sides argument, and, finally, analyze the effect of global warming on world-wide sustainability
The negative side of global warming is that it leads to melting of ice. The world's glaciers, especially Arctic glaciers are melting faster than new snow and ice can supplement them. During the melting of Arctic ice opens over the dark surface of the water or soil and balance change reflects less and absorb a greater amount of heat, therefore, large areas of ice melt rapidly (News, global warming). There is evidence, which will support this argument: scientists from the University of California in San Diego investigated satellite observation data for the Arctic for 1979-2011 years. Since the 1970s, the area covering of the ice has decreased by 40 % and the region has warmed up to 2 degrees (News global warming).It means, that global warming affects to the wildli...
September Arctic sea ice is now declining at a rate of 13.2 percent per decade, relative to the 1981 to 2010 average. According to NASA, it states, ¨Carbon dioxide (CO2) is an important heat-trapping (greenhouse) gas, which is released through human activities such as deforestation and burning fossil fuels, as well as natural processes such as respiration and volcanic eruptions. Data from NASA's GRACE satellites show that the land ice sheets in both Antarctica (upper chart) and Greenland (lower) have been losing mass since 2002. Both ice sheets have seen an acceleration of ice mass loss since 2009. ¨ 3. The ice is melting a lot at a
It is an unquestioned fact that the climate is changing. There is abundant evidence that the world is becoming warmer and warmer. The temperature of the global land average temperature has increased by about 8.5 degrees centigrade from 1880 to 2012 (Karr, et al 406). The one or two degrees increase in temperature can cause dramatic and serious consequences to the earth as well as humans. More extreme weather occurs, such as heat waves and droughts. The Arctic Region is especially sensitive to global climate change. According to the data in recent decades, the temperature in the Arctic has increased by more than 2 degrees centigrade in the recent half century (Przybylak 316). Climate change has led to a series of environmental and ecological negative
In the past thirty-five years climate change has been a dilemma around the world, Earth’s surfaces temperatures are at an all-time high and continue to rise, thus triggering us to endure more problems further down the line. Due to the rise in earths temperatures sea ice in the arctic has thinned out and melted over the last several decades, since 1870 seal levels have risen by eight inches due to this crisis. Arctic sea ice is essential to the environment, it forms and grows white ice on top of the ocean reflecting the sun back to space. Polar regions depend on sea ice to keep cool throughout the year, it helps moderates global climate, and it influences the ocean circulation (Song 2012, 4074). Sea ice is vital for animal habitats in the Arctic,