...People against the Earth: Cycle of melting of ice caps in the environment It is very shocking to see how many people do not have the knowledge or the interest to educate themselves about one of the biggest issues of the Earth. There are many articles about the climate change in general, but this essay will answer a question what are the effects of melting ice caps on climate change? Firstly what is global warming and what is climate change? Global warming is just the Earth’s rising surface temperature and climate change is a bigger category and global warming is one part of its category. In another words global warming is one issue of a much larger problem of human caused climate change. Both of them are a commonly talked about issue among scientists since it causes many changes in the environment including the melting of ices which has an effect on all parts of the world. Because of the sea level rising there are, even if it is not a rapid increase, many devastating effects on land habitants, and also there is a threat of the next ice age. Firstly the melting of polar ice caps can affect countries, as continents. A lot of parts of the “now known” continents would totally disappear under the ocean; which would mean that people that live there now, would lose their homes and the number of people per square foot would rise rapidly. The sunk parts of the countries would affects also the fauna and flora. It is clear that many species are dying out now and also...
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...Values Within the past century and a half concentrated greenhouse gas has had an enormous effect on the polar ice caps. The melting of these ice caps cause fresh water to be added to the north Atlantic current in large amounts triggering an ice age. When this effect takes place over time it can disrupt our warm climate and cause more frequent and more dangerous natural disasters, mostly our warm climate. Hurricane Katrina is only a glimpse of what will happen on a larger scale if nothing is done to reciprocate it. Unfortunately oil profiting is the culprit, burning large amount of fossil fuels, and pollution degenerates our fragile climate globally also. We have become so dependent on it; alternatives must be made available and educated on a world wide scale. America and China could be the automobile that puts everything in motion. Once they start it as forerunners the world will follow suit. The day After tomorrow shows evidence such as polar caps and great visual affects of ice caps the size of small states breaking off and melting into the north Atlantic current. Meetings were held at the U.N. to create awareness and begin preventative measures necessary for future generations. The results were meet with denial and financial strains it could cause. Commencing the meeting signs shortly started to become evident. At the headland the center in Scotland, were observatory research is conducted, they noticed a boy has a temperature drop of 14 degrees. At first it was assumed as a malfunction...
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...A Polar Expedition Fridjof Nansen, a Norwegian explorer, was in of the great Artic explorers of his time and made leaps in the field of Oceanography. “Nansen a well-known athlete, zoologist, and explorer was interested in the currents of the polar seas” (Sverdrup 2014 pg. 14). He was a clear headed man who didn’t let other’s opinions influence him and was willing to take risks in his work. It was his theory that the current would take him to the North Pole and then south toward Greenland (Adams 2014). While his name may never become a common household name without his brave and successful journey the world of oceanography may not be where it is today. All of these combined make him an excellent topic for an oceanography paper. Fridjof Nansen was more however then just an oceanographer. Before the Fram expedition he was already a well-recognized zoologist, and had been made the curator of zoology at eh Bergen Museum. As stated by Harald Sverdrup, “He wrote papers on zoological and histological subjects, illustrated by excellent drawings” (Sverdrup 2013). Shortly after this his interests moved to the physical side of oceanography. He became an oceanography instructor at the University of Kristina and on his two most successful artic expeditions most of the data was collected by Nansen himself (Sverdrup 2013). Before going on his famous expedition to the Arctic Ocean he had already began his work in oceanography by taking a group of five other men to Greenland’s icecaps to...
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...parts of the world will suffer. Some will even be destroyed.”— (British Prime Minister Tony Blair, September 2002) There are many environmental issues that seem to be recognized by humans in today’s society. The most important one to me is global warming because it is one of the most serious challenges facing today’s society. Throughout the world, Earth is showing several signs of climate change. Research has shown that Earth is warming rapidly than ever in the past 1000 years. Global warming is due to the substantial increase in greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuel has already raised levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to their highest for the last 20 million years. The most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shows there is clear evidence for a 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) rise in global temperatures and a 7 ¼ in (20 cm) rise is sea level during the twentieth century (Maslin, 2007, p. 7). For example, Arctic ice is decreasing leaving polar bears suffering from the ice loss. The following paper includes what is global warming, causes of global warming, possible global warming effects, what the government doing to prevent global warming, and what is being done at the international level to address global warming. What is global warming? Oil and coal are two of the main problems behind global warming. Global warming is an increase in the earth’s atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely...
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...An Interconnection of Consequences Caused by Global Warming. (A Reaction Paper on a film “An Inconvenient Truth” by “Al Gore”) Earth is a very beautiful place every human being lives in. It is so beautiful that every details of it works perfectly fine in order for us to live in a very harmonious, lovely and peaceful way. But what if it is being destroyed by “US” who lives in it and make it suffer as much as it could to work perfectly for us in order to live in? Will it ever survive? Will it keep giving us all the things that we need? Will we ever make a move to rescue it and bring it back to where it should always be? These are some questions that rise up in my mind about global warming and its effect in human kind. Greenhouse effect The "greenhouse effect" is the warming that happens when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases let in light but keep heat from escaping, like the glass walls of a greenhouse. First, sunlight shines onto the Earth's surface, where it is absorbed and then radiates back into the atmosphere as heat. In the atmosphere, “greenhouse” gases trap some of this heat, and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases are in the atmosphere, the more heat gets trapped. This greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth's climate livable. Without it, the Earth's surface would be an average of about 60 degrees Fahrenheit cooler. Causes of Global Warming Glaciers are melting, sea levels...
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...Re-advance of the last British- Irish Ice Sheet during Greenland Interstade 1 (GI-1): the Wester Ross Re-advance, NW Scotland The importance and nature of glacial records in terms of global climate and environmental situations has become apparent in recent years, and over a century’s worth of investigation has greatly aided the scientific community in their understanding, and thereafter in the reconstruction of paleoclimate, environmental influences and extent thereof (Broecker, 2002). Glacial records are commonly known as proxies: Proxy data is the indirect measure of past environmental and climatic conditions, usually gathered from natural recorders of climate variability (NGDC, 2008). Glacial Landforms such as drumlins, ribbed moraines and end moraines provide a record of the nature, scale and timing of ice-sheet oscillations. There are many uncertainties surrounding the last British-Irish Ice-Sheet (BIIS), as extensive amounts of glacial records are hidden beneath the sea. Most evidence would suggest that two dynamic ice lobes came offshore across the shelf from both Ireland and Scotland, resulting in the entire North West shelf to be extensively glaciated during the ice age. Data shows that an extensive ice sheet margin extended offshore onto the shelf, and may have reached the shelf edge at the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). The deglaciation of the Last BIIS was helped by the Minch paleo-ice stream at the Late Devensian glaciation, which drained the North-West...
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...without air/oxygen we wouldn’t be alive to this day. II. What causes Air pollution? A. Carbon dioxide 1. Gasoline burning engines 2. Power Plants B. Sulfur dioxide 1. Manmade machines 2. Natural causes III. What are the effects of Air pollution? A. Global warming 1. Changes in weather 2. Polar ice caps melting B. Health 1. Cancer 2. Low oxygen levels IV. Air pollution prevention. A. Gasoline powered engines 1. Use electric powered machines 2. Walk our bus to destination B. Power plants 1. Use low sulfur fuels 2. Use more wind turbines for electric VI. Conclusion Air pollution is shorting the life span on planet Earth. Every organism on Earth needs air and we are destroying it with the daily needs we are utilizing. We need to wake up and realize we are shorting the life expectancy for our children and their children. Explain in a brief paragraph of no fewer than 150 words why you decided to sequence your outline as you did. I used this format to make it easier for me to complete my research paper. It makes things more organized and helps me keep my ideas on track. There are other...
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...breath and without air/oxygen we wouldn’t be alive to this day. II. What causes Air pollution? A. Carbon dioxide 1. Gasoline burning engines 2. Power Plants B. Sulfur dioxide 1. Manmade machines 2. Natural causes III. What are the effects of Air pollution? A. Global warming 1. Changes in weather 2. Polar ice caps melting B. Health 1. Cancer 2. Low oxygen levels IV. Air pollution prevention. A. Gasoline powered engines 1. Use electric powered machines 2. Walk our bus to destination B. Power plants 1. Use low sulfur fuels 2. Use more wind turbines for electric VI. Conclusion Air pollution is shorting the life span on planet Earth. Every organism on Earth needs air and we are destroying it with the daily needs we are utilizing. We need to wake up and realize we are shorting the life expectancy for our children and their children. Explain in a brief paragraph of no fewer than 150 words why you decided to sequence your outline as you did. I used this format to make it easier for me to complete my research paper. It makes things more organized and helps me keep my ideas on track. There are...
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...on the other hand, is shorthand for biological diversity, and it is about the living world with which humanity not only co-exist but has evolved as a dependant part. The term biodiversity acknowledges that the natural world is a whole living system, and we are a part of it (Corlett & LaFrankie, 1998). The phase “climate change” and “global warming” are now a part of our lives and rarely does a day goes by without a mention, in the press or on the radio, of the possible causes of climate change and its consequences. This phenomenon has sneaked up on us in a somewhat short period of time and is accelerating at an alarming rate. It is perhaps the most serious problem that is threatening the civilized world today (Ninan, 2009). This paper postulates that climate change poses a serious threat on biodiversity. It will put forward evidence of how biodiversity has been affected worldwide, and will seek a solution to this problem 1.2. Biodiversity and its importance Simply put, biodiversity represents the fabric of life itself. It is comprised not only of numbers of species, but also includes the variety of all life forms and their genes as well as the communities and ecosystems of which they are a part of (Schwartz, 2007). According to Lovejoy & Hannah (2006), the consequences of climatic change for biodiversity are potentially profound considering that biodiversity provides the underpinning of the ecosystem services on which human societies are ultimately dependant...
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...GLOBAL WARMING: Energy, Fall 2005 v30 i4 p36(2) It could get a lot warmer. (GLOBAL WARMING) Full Text: COPYRIGHT 2005 Business Communications Company, Inc. If humans continue to use fossil fuels in a business as usual manner for the next few centuries, the polar ice caps will be depleted, ocean sea levels will rise by seven meters and median air temperatures will soar to 14.5 degrees warmer than current day. These are the stunning results of climate and carbon cycle model simulations conducted by scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. By using a coupled climate and carbon cycle model to look at global climate and carbon cycle changes, the scientists found that the earth would warm by 8 degrees Celsius (14.5 degrees Fahrenheit) if humans use the entire planet's available fossil fuels by the year 2300. The jump in temperature would have alarming consequences for the polar ice caps and the ocean, said lead author Govindasamy Bala of the Laboratory's Energy and Environment Directorate. In the polar regions alone, the temperature would spike more than 20 degrees Celsius, forcing the land in the region to change from ice and tundra to boreal forests. "The temperature estimate is actually conservative because the model didn't take into consideration changing land use such as deforestation and build-out of cities into outlying wilderness areas," Bala said. Today's level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is 380 parts per million (ppm). By the year 2300, the model...
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...Geography Research Response Paper What will be the environmental, sociopolitical, and economic impacts of 21st century climate change? * Environmental * A springtime “ozone hole” has developed in the last 30 years over Antarctica (Mann 30) * Without an ozone layer, unhealthy levels of UV radiation would reach Earth’s surface, making the planet largely uninhabitable (Mann 30) * Basic theoretical considerations as well as detailed climate-model simulations indicate a likely increase in the average intensity of tropical cyclones and hurricanes in all major formation basins (Mann 56) * We know that mountain glaciers over the world are disappearing, and that this disappearance is generally related to increased melting due to warmer atmospheric temperatures (Mann 58) * The combination of decreased summer precipitation and increased evaporation due to warming surface temperatures is predicted to lead to a greater tendency for drought in many regions (Mann 90) * Other likely impacts of climate change over the next century include increases in extreme weather phenomena, and rising sea levels due to melting ice and warming of the oceans (Mann 90) * Sea level is predicted to rise because water expands as it warms, and melting ice is also likely to have a major impact on the sea level (Mann 98) * Coastal regions will be subject to increased exposure to flood and storm damage, more intense coastal surges, and altered patterns...
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...Composition II Research Paper Our atmosphere doesn't act as a single unit; it is made up of hundreds of different layers. Some of the energy released from Earth is stopped in each of these layers. The energy is then re-emitted in a random direction, but on average the energy is moving either "up" or "down." The atmospheres get thinner as altitude increases, so eventually the radiation will reach a layer high enough and thin enough to escape to space. If you increase the concentrations of a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, the thin upper layers will become denser. The place where the majority of the energy finally escapes moves higher, these higher levels are much colder and so they do not radiate heat very well. The rate that radiation escapes to space is lower, and the planet will take in more than it radiates. As the higher levels emit some of the excess radiation downwards, the lower levels will warm all the way down to the surface. The imbalance will remain until the higher levels get hot enough to radiate as much energy back out as the planet is receiving. Though all natural processes, they are not always helpful. On the other side of the spectrum, we as humans are not always helpful to the processes. Because of this, we find ourselves at a time of question. What are we doing to our planet and how will it affect us? Many are attempting to take action now, others try to not believe. Eventually, however, we are all going to see what we have truly been doing. Global warming...
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...conventional fossil fuels, creating no pollution, and lasting for decades with very little maintenance. The use of a widely available and reasonably reliable fuel source—the sun—with no associated storage or transportation difficulties and no emissions makes this technology eminently practicable for powering remote scientific research platforms. Indeed, numerous examples of successfully deployed systems are already available. The completely scaleable nature of the technology also lends itself well to varying power requirements–from the smallest autonomous research platforms to infrastructure-based systems. This technology can be limited, however, by annual fluctuations in solar insolation, especially at extreme latitudes. Based on semiconductor technology, solar cells operate on the principle that electricity will flow between two semiconductors when they are put into contact with each other and exposed to light (photons). This phenomenon, known as the photovoltaic effect, was first discovered by Edmund Becquerel in 1839. Actual development of PV technology began in the 1950s and gained greater impetus through the NASA space program during the 1960s. Research continues today at national laboratories and within private industry, focusing on increasing conversion efficiencies and mass production strategies to further lower the cost of producing PV modules. For a list of some of the many online resources on PV technology visit the Links Section of http:// polarpower.org. The same web...
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...advancements causing global warming? When debating global warming the first thing to consider is what the cause of global warming is, and the answer to this basic question is greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are natural gases such as CO2, Nitrous Oxide or Methane and are created in one of two ways. The first way is, through natural cycles, for instance, CO2 is released through animal respiration or plant photosynthesis. The alternative greenhouse gas production comes from man’s use of different fuels and products; this can lead to anthropogenic climate changes. Anthropogenic Climate Changes are changes in the atmosphere brought on by human activity, and there is evidence of these kinds of changes all over. By studying the size of the polar ice caps we can see that they are shrinking and this may be due to a warmer atmosphere temperature brought on by none other than an anthropogenic climate change. An IPCC report from 2007 showing levels of some of the greenhouse gases also shows that the levels of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere has skyrocketed since the post-industrial era, this can only be attributed to man-made machines that have come to rise. So how does human activity attribute to the climate rise? Greenhouse gases are natural occurring gases that hold in some of the heat energy that comes from the sun and bounce off of the earths’ surface; it’s not that these gases are bad in nature, we actually depend on them to keep the climate of our earth at a sustainable...
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...writing is a clear-cut and comprehensive tool for those who are about to embark on one of the more difficult projects in all of academia. Thesis writing is not an art; rather, it is the product of many months of research and painstaking hard work. Whether you are writing a master’s thesis, a PhD thesis, or any other form of this venerable genre, I hope this guide will serve you well. Thesis Writing Background What is a thesis? A thesis is essentially a research report. It addresses a very specific issue and describes what is known about that issue, what work the student has done to investigate or resolve it, and how that issue may play out in the future. It is the thesis writer’s responsibility to familiarize her with the history of the issue and the different points of view that exist. The thesis writer works with a mentor who is an expert in the field that the thesis concerns, but not necessarily an expert on that exact topic. Usually thesis topics are so specific that very few people in the world except the thesis writer herself could be considered an expert on them. Your thesis writing will make a contribution to the field about which you are writing, and in a larger sense, to all of human knowledge. A thesis is distinctively different from an undergraduate research report because it is so original. How Specific Should My Thesis Get? When writing a thesis, you should get extremely specific. The intended readers of your thesis are only (1) your advisor and (2) future researchers...
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