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It is predicted that the effect of permafrost melting will be that the ocean levels will rise and will significantly increase the temperature and accelerate the rate at which global warming occurs. Permafrost covers 24% of the land in the Northern Hemisphere (Insert Citation), if this was to melt 1700 gigatonnes of methane and carbon dioxide (Insert Citation), powerful heat trapping gases, would be released into the atmosphere increasing the amount of greenhouse gases by 200%.
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.
Figure 1: Map of the Northern Hemisphere showing permafrost
Obtained from: (What is permafrost? 2013)
Permafrost contains a great quantity of carbon, when it melts it releases the carbon in the form of carbon dioxide and methane, potent greenh...
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Agency, E. P. (n.d.). Melting Permafrost. Retrieved from epa: http://www.epa.gov/climatestudents/impacts/signs/permafrost.html
Inc., W. U. (n.d.). Permafrost. Retrieved from wunderground: http://www.wunderground.com/climate/permafrost.asp?MR=1
Nave, R. (n.d.). The Expansion of Water Upon Freezing. Retrieved from hyperphysics: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/chemical/waterdens.html
Takver. (2012, 11 30). Climate Change: Methane and CO2 in thawing Arctic permafrost a climate tipping point. Retrieved from indybay: http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2012/11/30/18726866.php
What is permafrost? (2013, 7 6). Retrieved from Defrosting the Freezer: http://www.defrostingthefreezer.co.uk/what-is-permafrost
Kevin S. (2012, 28 11). Combating Climate Change. Retrieved from youtube:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=too4nQqomJk
In his essay, “Global Warming is Eroding Glacial Ice,” Revkin is arguing that global warming is constantly changing the ...
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
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.
The emission of carbon dioxide has contributed to 80% to the heating of the earth atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is produced due the burning of fossil fuels such as natural gas, coal and oil. The burning of fossil fuel is very important in our society today, because it is used for cooking, used to produce electricity, for heating, for cooling and also for transportation. The industrialization has led to the use of fossil fuel for running machines and driving cars. The building of fossil fuel contributes towards 80-90% of the carbon dioxide we find in our atmosphere today. When the ecosystems are altered and vegetation is either burned or took out, the carbon stored in them is relinquished to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide (What causes global climate change, 2005). Methane is another gas being produced in the process which all have served to increase the greenhouse effect in our atmosphere. Methane is produced from the cultivation of rice, from the burning of coal and from cattle, it has increased by 145% due to human
The use of fossil fuels has greatly increased the amount of atmospheric and oceanic CO2 to a point where it’s ruining the natural flow of the world; the earth’s temperature is rising. As a result, the polar ice caps are melting causing the seas to rise. With only a 1 meter increase in sea level the United States alone could lose over 10,000 square miles of land, and thousands of houses will be destroyed. The effects will be just as prominent around the world: many islands will become submerged, 17% of Bangladesh will be underwater, and tens of thousands of people will be displaced (“Global Warming” 3).
Polar ice is sea ice created from the freezing of sea water, ice sheets and glaciers. These in turn are formed from the build up and compaction of fallen snow. Both the ice sheets and glaciers cover vast areas of the Polar Regions. This polar ice is hugely important to our globe and takes up a large part of it. Global sea-ice coverage averages about 25 million kilometers square; this is the area of the entire North America continent. The ice sheets, which cover the land, with the glaciers cover about 15 million kilometers square; this is almost 10% of the Earth’s land area, with the majority on Antarctica (Earthobservatory.nasa.gov, 2013).
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,
Earth’s climate is determined by the physics and chemistry of its atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere consists of four layers; troposphere which is closest to earth, stratosphere, mesosphere, and thermosphere. Hardy says, “During the past 100 years we humans, as a result of burning coal, oil, and gas and clearing forests, have greatly changed the chemical composition of the thin atmospheric layer.” There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere due to burning fossil fuels. The atmosphere is made up of many gases such as nitrogen, oxygen, and argon. It also consists of trace gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, chlorofluorocarbons and, ozone. The trace gases have the greatest effect on our climate (Hardy 5). Up to a certain level, these gases help to keep the planet warm by absorbing certain infrared wavelengths, so that there can be life on the planet. Thus, they trap heat in the troposphere and stop it from escaping to space (Hardy 7). Therefore, the greater amount of greenhouse gases, the more heat trapped in the atmosphere. Earth’s temperature is increasing due to increased levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide released into the air from burning fossil fuels. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) 2001 report projects “global average surface temperature increases ranging from 1.4 to 5.8 degrees
The emission of green house gasses due to human activity contributes the most in increasing global warming. Today, fossil fuels are used as a source of energy for transportation, electricity, industrial process and to increase human comfort in this era. Over the last decade humans have created mass amount of industries. These industries have been burning fossil fuels such as coal, which release carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide; carbon dioxide absorbs heat that raises the temperature of the earth. More than 80% of carbon dioxide comes from tr...
Hansen, J., Ruedy, R., Sato, M., & Lo, K. (2002). "Global Warming Continues." Science, 295, 275.
Mastrandrea, Michael D. "Global warming." World Book Advanced. World Book, 2013. Web. 8 Nov. 2015.
can cause a lot of carbon dioxide to be released. Every time we burn fossil fuels, we release more
The burning of fossil fuels has greatly harmed our environment and is a leading cause as to why climate change has become such a threat to our way of living. In May of 2013, the carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere reached 400 parts per million, an increase of more than 40 percent since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. This could cause the Arctic Ocean to be nearly ice-free during the summer by 2020(Overland and Wang, 2013).
The problem of climate change and global warming is real and rife in the 21st century. While debates about its effects started raging in the late 70s, the problem has gradually evolved to reach unprecedented levels and portend crippling and devastating danger on the global economy, not to mention people’s livelihood. The world’s geography is rapidly changing, as well as the chemical balances in life, for humans, plants and animals’ too. Although the discussion about climate change has remained largely academic, the effects thereof are practically observable. For instance, the global temperatures increased by an average 1 degree Celsius in the past century. Furthermore, the methane reserves that exist in frozen forms are now being released into the atmosphere due to the increasing global temperatures. Methane has a higher destructive potential than carbon dioxide due to its contribution to the greenhouse gases bank. The weather patterns are now no longer predictable with erratic rains being experienced even in formerly stable ecosystems resulting to regular floods. Addressing the danger to carbon dioxide sinks is part of the solution to this somewhat global disaster, and the methods to do so differ. The natural sinks such as forests are, so far, the most effective, although Solar Radiation Management and Carbon Dioxide Removal geo-engineering techniques are being considered. This paper provides advice to the Ministry of Forests in British Columbia regarding the issue of climate change and the role of the ministry in mitigating its effects in the area. The initial focus is on the effects of climate change.
Global warming is a serious problem with two major effects: increasing sea level and degradation of wildlife. Increase in sea level affects the entire landmass of the earth. According to NASA, the polar ice cap is melting at the alarming rate of nine percent per decade. Arctic ice thickness has decreased 40 percent since the 1960s (Oskin). The amount of water is more than the land on our planet.