Sunday, April 14, 2013

Melting glaciers

One of the most substantial things that climate change causes is the melting of the world’s glaciers. Climate change increases the temperature in the areas where glaciers are located, and that will lead to the melting of the glaciers. Glaciologists have studied this matter since 1850, so it has been around for quite a while now. Most of the melting is industrialism’s fault. Obviously there are all kinds of problems that will occur because of this situation.

First thing that would happen if the melting continues on its path is the rise of sea level. Ice is water in solid state so when it melts it will turn to water and thus mix into the sea and raise sea level. The consequences of this are massive. Even though we would barely see a minor change in sea level, the people who live in low areas could lose their homes if the water came that high. These kinds of areas are found, for instance, in the Netherlands which is a very densely populated country. Millions of people would be in danger, and even today some of them struggle to keep their properties dry.

There are a lot of glaciers that have already retreated significant amounts and some glaciers have vanished completely. It’s estimated that if all the ice from polar areas were to melt, sea level would rise up to 70 meters.

1 comment:

  1. This is indeed tragic. Maybe we here in Finland would be a little safer when the sea level rises, but the cities located on the coast might not be so lucky. I think that the rising of sea level would cause a lot of problems in Bangladesh, since most of the country is only a little higher than the sea. The country is poor as it is, and they're already suffering from floods every year. I hope that we would be able to reduce the amount of those emissions that cause melting of the glaciers.

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