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The Pros And Cons Of Climate Change

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One of the world science community’s most debated upon topics is Climate Change (formally called “Global Warming”), and it’s effect on Earth’s Arctic and Antarctic ice caps. This topic has two main points of view, one majority of scientists believe that the Polar Ice Caps have been melting and will continue to melt as a result of humanities careless use of Fossil Fuels and intense production of Greenhouse Gasses, the other majority of scientists see climate change as a naturally occurring event that can be seen dating back millions of years. Only one thing is certain though, according to the NRDC “If this trend continues, summers in the Arctic could be ice free by the end of the century”.
Ice Caps History Earth’s current Polar Ice Caps are …show more content…

The AMSR-E provided scientists for the first time with the ability to observe and record the size of the Arctic Ice Cap. This paved the way for current Climate Change theories, without the ability to accurately measure the size of the Ice Caps, scientists would be almost completely un aware of the possible effects our everyday actions may have on them. From 1976-2006 scientist were able to observe a 30 year period of growth in the Ice Caps, where both the Arctic and Antarctic Ice Caps grew nearly 30%. In 2007, scientists were unable to observe any change in the size of both Ice Caps due to extensive snow coverage. After 2007, scientists began to notice a dramatic reduction in the size of the Ice Caps (more easily observed in the Arctic Ice Cap). In 2012, scientists observed the lowest minimum that the Arctic Ice Cap has ever receded. The reason that the Arctic Ice Cap is used for studying the effects of climate change rather than the Antarctic is due to their surroundings. The Antarctic Ice Cap is surrounded by water, which acts as a shield from other climates (although prominent melting has been observed in the portion of the Antarctic closest to the southern-most tip of South America). The Arctic Ice Cap is surrounded by land, meaning it has a large effect on local climates, and that the local climates have a large effect …show more content…

Open oceans absorb approximately 90% of the sunlight that reaches it, which means that the waters increase in temperature. This reduction in Sea Ice during the melting season has a huge impact on the Arctic Energy Distribution. Instead of having a large amount of energy reflected outwards, the growing ocean in the arctic absorbs a larger portion of sunlight which in turn heats up the waters and continues to accelerate the melting of the Ice

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If so, how might it affect global sea levels? The collapse of massive ice shelves have become more common with the changes in climate.

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The continent holds the record for coldest temperature, which was a bone clinching -89.2 Celsius (Discovering Antarctica). When we think of Antarctica, we think of blizzard, cold winds and endless amounts of snow falling from the sky. In contrast, it is a very dry, cold place that receives less than 50 mm a year of precipitation, making it an artic desert (Discovering Antarctica). As the Artic is surrounded by landmasses the heat transfer is greater than as Antarctica, which is surround by the southern oceans.

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We see the evidence every day, for example the unpredictable weather patterns like milder winters, severe snow storms, the polar vortex, torrential rains, severe droughts, hotter than normal summers, an increase in tropical storms, and the rising sea levels. Also, the glaciers and polar ice caps are melting at an increased rate. Policymakers were given summary reports that were completed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Working Group I (Solomon, et al., 2007). These reports have supporting evidence that climate change is very real and affecting all

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There is also development of the scanning microwave radiometers that can keep accurate records of sea ice extent. Apart from detecting climate trend, the United States needs to know more about the interactions between the

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The approved project will release dangerous amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere and by the time the thirty-year project is finished, the Arctic may be ice-free. Overall, as more carbon emissions are being released into the atmosphere the Arctic is melting rapidly and increasing global

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Religion is one main focus in Voltaire’s writing. Voltaire constantly ridicules different religions in his writing. His attacks were shrewd and effective. Voltaire was an effective writer of the time because he was able to talk about religion in a subliminal way. Because he was such a controversial writer, he used his writing to navigate around censorship and still get his point across.

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This problem is made worse by the fact that Arctic and Antarctic oceans tend to be warming at a faster rate than more tropical and subtropical waters. This is also not a problem that we will likely to be able to make significant progress in fixing easily or quickly. Also, we still have much to learn about how it works and what it means for the globes ecosystems. What we do know is that the global levels of CO2 now reach over 400ppm and have continued to show a sharp increase since they have been accurately measured in the 1950s. This is also higher than any ice core samples taken all the way back to 350 thousand years ago.

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“Seeing” climate change in the film “Chasing Ice” through the story of glaciers is different than learning about climate change through a book or a news story. It is different because you can not only actually see the melting of the glaciers, but you can also see what happens above the Earth’s surface when below, the tectonic plates are

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The purpose of this documentary is to inform viewers of the climate changes on Earth due to ice. Throughout the film I see pictures and videos of mountains, ice sheets, and even the geography of Earth in colder climates. The filmmakers of this documentary are trying to inform us about how the ice on Earth affects our living conditions and can eventually do damage. We as people are the audience because these are basic things we need to know about our Earth to survive. The film states that “four billion years from now, the increase in the Earth's surface temperature will cause a runaway greenhouse effect.

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Examinations conclude that a great number of ice shelves are due to disintegrate caused by ocean warming alone. Ocean levels continue to increase at an alarming rate. Glacial melting in Antarctica will have a global impact. Therefore, this is a matter that should be handled by everyone globally. Currently, there appears to be clear control over the climate of Antarctica, assisting in determining what path the continent is on and the direct it leans towards.

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Arctic ice reflects 80 percent of the sunlight back into space. As sea ice melts there will be more sunlight hit the ocean which increase the temperature of the ocean and cause raise of sea level. Satellite observations show that Arctic sea ice concentrations have significantly decreased over the last 25 years. Submarine observations also suggest that the Arctic ice pack has thinned dramatically in the last 20 to 30 years. As the sea ice melts the sea level increase.

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1262 Words | 6 Pages

Earth’s climate has been changing over the last few decades, with the global temperatures rising at a high rate (Corell, 2006). Some of these climate changes are due to natural causes, although the strength at which temperatures are rising indicates human influences, such as increased carbon dioxide emission, as well as other greenhouse gases. Climate change particularly affects the Arctic region, where warmer temperatures are causing decrease in sea ice extent and thickness, permafrost thawing, coastal erosion, changes in ice sheets and shelves, and consequently, changes in the distribution and reproduction rates of Arctic species (Corell, 2006). Warmer temperatures have led to increased melting of glaciers and sea ice, and shortening of

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The annual mean of the air temperature is about -9 ℃ isotherm has moved southwards, makes the result in ice-shelf collapse and glacier recession. Ice core provides a longer-period of perspective on climate over the past of four global cycles or longer. Methane and carbon dioxide atmospheric concentration are higher which recorded in ice core in the last 650 000 years. The ice cores also records that carbon dioxide and temperature is cross-linking with each other over the last 400 thousand years, which have strong connection between ‘greenhouse gases’ and temperature. According to Dyurgerov & Meier (2000), the rise in air temperature suggested by the temperature sensitivities of glaciers in cold regions is somewhat greater than the global average temperature rise derived largely from low altitude gauges, and the warming is

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1421 Words | 6 Pages

Exploiting workers is a very common phenomenon these days. It happens on every continent. European and US corporations have especially mastered the feat (Eichler, 2012). However, the workers struck back and set up unions to defend themselves from such exploitation. Because of these unions, it is usually much harder for the largest corporations to exploit the local labor.

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Climate change is an issue that is relevant in today 's world. There is a vast amount of evidence suggesting that climate change is real, and could potentially have a drastic impact on our planet if the necessary measures aren’t taken to stop and reverse its effects. Human decisions have led to global warming, and those choices are what will potentially harm not only us, but also our planet. One evidence for global warming can be seen in the significant change in the record of high and low temperatures on this planet “The number of record high temperatures have been increasing and the record of low temperatures have been decreasing since the 1950”(NASA). Regions that are already vulnerable to extreme temperatures can be further affected by a downward

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