What Would Happen If All Ice On Earth Melted?
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Many people have wondered what would happen if all the glacial ice on the planet melted. Some believe that it would be a water world with no land in sight, while others think that could never happen. But the Earth is changing in more ways than you might think on its own. Many might wonder how much of the Earth’s current global warming trend is affected by humans. Regardless of who is to blame, whether the planet is just going through a natural phase in its evolution, or if we are responsible, the evidence shows that the planet is getting warmer and warmer every year. But just how much of the planet could end up covered in water if all the glacial ice melted?
The Arctic isn’t the same as it was today as it was, say… 100 years ago. Temperatures there have been rising at twice the normal rate which has been sparking some very alarming changes unlike anything seen in recorded history. 87% OF Antarctica Peninsula Glaciers have melted since 1945. Now the regions sea ice is declining by 13% percent each decade. Scientific predictions that foresaw an ice-free Arctic Ocean during the summer between 2040 and 2050 may come to pass even sooner than we thought.
A lot of people will think ‘well that’s no big deal… just get everyone to move to higher ground’. Sounds like a simple solution. However, aside from the fact that billions of people would be displaced, there would be more to worry about now that all the Arctic ice has melted. What is not commonly known is that the Earths’ poles not only get less direct sunlight than lower latitudes, but the sea ice is white, and therefore reflects most of the sunlight that hits it back out into space. That reflectivity called ‘albedo’ helps keep the poles cold and limits the heat absorption from the Sun.
But that’s not all. Scientists have known for a long time that the Arctic tundra and marine sediments contain large frozen deposits of methane gas which, if released into the atmosphere, will increase greenhouse gases. So as the Arctic Sea ice melts, this source of methane will increase. Think runaway greenhouse effect which likely helped destroy the atmosphere on Mars along with the solar winds that stripped the planet of its atmosphere.
But that’s not all. During this time there could be massive Earthquakes if the ice melted fast enough. One of the more uncommonly known things is that all that ice has some serious weight and suppression to it, and it has been holding down the Earth, and global warming has already bled the frigid continent of about 2.7 trillion tons of ice with over half those losses occurring in the last 5 years.
Most climate scientists agree the main cause of the current global warming trend is human expansion of the greenhouse effect… warming that results when the atmosphere traps heat radiating from Earth toward space.
Some of the things you can do are to buy anything reusable and be conscious of garbage and waste and try to recycle everything. Saving gas by walking more or taking the bus can help, as well as planting trees. But it takes more than just a handful of people to make a change, it takes everyone to make an impact. Perhaps humanity will embrace this global threat on our planet and governments will act fast enough to possibly reverse the damage.
And for those people who procrastinate, the time for action is now…because we just may have an ally in our own Sun…
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