How Does Global Warming Affect Polar Icecaps

Goal

To investigate the effects of increasing temperatures on polar icecaps and how this will affect the rate of global warming.

Abstract

Polar ice caps are dome-shaped sheets of ice that cover less than 50,000 square kilometres and usually feed a series of glaciers around its edges. Polar icecaps are usually formed in high latitude regions where the surface temperature is lower, such as the poles. Consequently this results in lower energy concentration absorbed from solar radiation then equatorial religions.

Global Warming is the gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere caused by the greenhouse effect1. This occurs when thermal radiation that would otherwise be reflected back into space, bounces between the earth’s surface and greenhouses gases like carbon dioxide, CFCs, and other pollutants in the atmosphere that act like a mirror. The higher the concentration of

This is due to the fact that the increasing temperature has caused the polar icecaps to warm up and melt. This is because ice has a melting point of 0.555556 degrees Celsius, therefore when ice is heated, the energy from the heat is transferred and absorbed by the particles, causing them to vibrate faster. When the particles vibrate faster, the bonds between them begin to weaken, causing the ice to change state from a solid to a liquid3, which is in this case water (H20).

The contraction of the Arctic ice caps by 9% each decade is accelerating global warming. Since sunlight provides the energy needed for the Earth’s climate system, with 70% of the sunlight being absorbed while the other 30% is reflected back into space. The poles have a protective cooling layer, formed by snow and ice as they cover larger areas, hiding dark underlying surfaces that like to absorb sunlight. When the covering melts, the earth absorbs more sunlight as the dark surfaces are exposed4, leading to further