Polar ice caps and global warming
Essay
ENA7
3rd of May 2017
Lotta Hiljanen, Aino Salmi, Katariina Viitamäki ja Siiri Ylipekkala
What is global warming?
Humans have caused the most of the global warming which is one of the biggest international crisis. Atmosphere works like a greenhouse. Greenhouse gases, for example carbon dioxide, trap some of the solar radiation and that way stop the heat from escaping to the space. The amount of these gases in the atmosphere is grown in the last century and it is caused by human activities. For example the most of the carbon dioxide is from the fossil fuels that humans use for getting energy.
There is many bad consequences for earth caused by global warming. Glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising. Fog and rain forests are dying, wildlife and biodiversity are suffering. Global warming increases thermal expansion on earth. Even a small temperature rise is enough to cause a dramatic transformation of our planet. The global warming has gone too far and climate changes too fast all the time, it is too late to come back in time.
Ice caps
Glaciers cover about 10% of the Earth surface. An ice cap is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers above sea or ground. Ice caps are constantly in motion, slowly flowing down hill under their own weight. In the Earth there is glaciers in these places: Greenland, Antarctica, Arctic, Iceland, the Alps and Himalayas. They are important water reserve and living environment for many species. For example in the Arctic there is no ground and the ice cap is only above the sea. Therefore ice caps are extremely important to the mammals in that area. Polar bears and seals need the ice caps to maintain their population.
Ice caps are really important because they influence the weather and climate. In addition, the layers of ice contain a unique record of Earth’s climate history. Ice caps are made of layers of snow and ice and because of that they contain information collected over millions of years. The Arctic and Antarctic seas keep the polar regions cool and help slow the global climate.
How does global warming affect to polar ice caps?
Ice covers about 5% of the earth’s seas. Most of the ice is polar ice. The ice has been melting a little bit for a long time, but now the ice melts faster than ever because of the global warming. The ice in the north sea have decreased. The ice caps are partly very thin, a little warming melts those.
For example in the Arctic, the temperatures are rising twice as fast as the temperatures are in anywhere else in the world. When the temperatures are rising in the polar ice caps, the ice sheets are melting really fast. It is said that because of the global warming our oceans will be 1-4 feet higher and temperature will rise 2-3 degrees in Antarctica by 2100. Because of the global warming the rains are increasing in Antarctica, especially in winter. Some of the rains are snow, which slows the melting of glaciers, but the raining snow isn’t enough to stop the melting.
It seems like there will be an unfrozen Arctic ocean in the future. It will be like the Baltic sea, which is unfrozen in summer and has a little ice in the winter. Antarctic ocean will be unfrozen too in the future, but it takes longer than in the Arctic ocean. According to the climate model, the change is coming but it is really slow. But if the evolution continues as fast as now, the Arctic ocean might lose its ice caps in the next few decades.
How to stop global warming?
Everyone can influence to global warming with their own choices. If people want to end global warming or slow it down, they have to make differences in their lives. For example people should save energy, if they want to slow the warming down.
For example we can use less cars and planes and use more public transport. When we use public transport instead of our own cars it reduces gases, which are harmful for the atmosphere. We can also eat less meat and not to waste food. Spending less time in the shower saves water, energy and money. People should build more wind turbines and hydroelectric power plants, because they don’t pollute climate.
Sources
National Geographic. “What Is Global Warming?”. Read: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-overview/ Read: 3rd of May 2017.
Ilmasto-opas. “Jäätiköt ja valtameret”. Ilmatieteenlaitos. Read:
Read: 4th of May 2017
WWF. 10th of March 2017. “Ilmastonmuutos”. Read:
https://wwf.fi/uhat/ilmastonmuutos/
Read: 3rd of May 2017
NSIDC. “Quick Facts on Ice Sheets”. Read:
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html
Read: 11th of May 2017
Wikipedia. 12th of April 2017. “Jäätikkö”. Read:
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4%C3%A4tikk%C3%B6
Read: 11th of May 2017
MARKED VERSION
Polar ice caps and global warming
Essay
ENA7
3rd of May 2017
Lotta Hiljanen, Aino Salmi, Katariina Viitamäki ja Siiri Ylipekkala
What is global warming?
Humans have caused the most of the global warming which is one of the biggest international crisis. Atmosphere works like a greenhouse. Greenhouse gases, for example, carbon dioxide, trap some of the solar radiation and that way stop the heat from escaping to the space. The amount of these gases in the atmosphere is grown in the last century, and it is caused by human activities. For example, the most of the carbon dioxide is from the fossil fuels that humans use for getting energy.
There is many bad consequences for earth caused by global warming. Glaciers are melting and sea levels are rising. Fog and rain forests are dying, wildlife and biodiversity are suffering. Global warming increases thermal expansion on earth. Even a small temperature rise is enough to cause a dramatic transformation of our planet. The global warming has gone too far and climate changes too fast all the time: it is too late to come back in time.
Ice caps
Glaciers cover about 10% of the Earth surface. An ice cap is a mass of glacial land ice extending more than 50,000 square kilometers above sea or ground. Ice caps are constantly in motion, slowly flowing down hill under their own weight. In the Earth there is glaciers in these places: Greenland, Antarctica, P Arctic, Iceland, the Alps and P Himalayas. They are important water reserve and living environment for many species. For example, in the Arctic there is no ground, and the ice cap is only above the sea P. Therefore ice caps are extremely important to the mammals in that area. Polar bears and seals need the ice caps to maintain their population.
Ice caps are really important because they influence the weather and climate. In addition, the layers of ice contain a unique record of Earth’s climate history. Ice caps are made of layers of snow and ice, and because of that they contain information collected over millions of years. The Arctic and Antarctic seas keep the polar regions cool and help slow the global climate.
How does global warming affect to polar ice caps?
Ice covers about 5% of the earth’s seas. Most of the ice is polar ice. The ice has been melting a little bit for a long time, but now the ice melts faster than ever because of the global warming. The ice in the north sea have decreased. The ice caps are partly very thin, P a little warming P melts those.
For example, in the Arctic the temperatures are rising twice as fast as the temperatures are in anywhere else in the world. When the temperatures are rising in the polar ice caps, the ice sheets are melting really fast. It is said that because of the global warming, our oceans will be 1-4 feet higher and temperature will rise 2-3 degrees in Antarctica by 2100. Because of the global warming, the rains are increasing in Antarctica, especially in winter. Some of the rains are snow, which slows the melting of glaciers, but the raining snow isn’t enough to stop the melting.
It seems like there will be an unfrozen Arctic ocean in the future. It will be like the Baltic sea, which is unfrozen in summer and has a little ice in the winter. P Antarctic ocean will be unfrozen too in the future, but it takes longer than in the Arctic ocean. According to the climate model, the change is coming but it is really slow. But if the evolution continues as fast as now, the Arctic ocean might lose its ice caps in the next few decades.
How to stop global warming?
Everyone can influence to global warming with their own choices. If people want to end global warming or slow it down, they have to make differences in their lives. For example, people should save energy if they want to slow the warming down.
For example, we can use less cars and planes and use more public transport. When we use public transport instead of our own cars, it P reduces gases which are harmful for the atmosphere. We can also eat less meat and not to waste food. Spending less time in the shower saves water, energy and money. People should build more wind turbines and hydroelectric power plants because they don’t pollute P climate.
Sources
National Geographic. “What Is Global Warming?”. Read: http://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-warming/global-warming-overview/ Read: 3rd of May 2017.
Ilmasto-opas. “Jäätiköt ja valtameret”. Ilmatieteenlaitos. Read:
Read: 4th of May 2017
WWF. 10th of March 2017. “Ilmastonmuutos”. Read:
https://wwf.fi/uhat/ilmastonmuutos/
Read: 3rd of May 2017
NSIDC. “Quick Facts on Ice Sheets”. Read:
https://nsidc.org/cryosphere/quickfacts/icesheets.html
Read: 11th of May 2017
Wikipedia. 12th of April 2017. “Jäätikkö”. Read:
https://fi.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%A4%C3%A4tikk%C3%B6
Read: 11th of May 2017