Global Warming : Disastrous Effects By Joseph Yacomine

Melting of Ice Caps - Global As the sun’s radiation hits the ice, 90% of the radiation bounces off the ice. However, when the radiation hits the surrounding water, 90% of the radiation is absorbed, and the water gets hotter. As the water gets hotter, the ice melts faster, which raises the sea levels. Also, since CO 2 is trapped inside the ice, when the ice melts the CO 2 is released into the atmosphere, adding to the heat and continuing the vicious cycle.

Melting of Ice Caps - Regional Antarctica is a good example of melting ice caps. Antarctica’s ice is approximately two miles thick. However, due to global warming increasing the heat of the water, the ice is melting. A scientist said a warning in 1978 stating that when the ice shelves of Antarctica break up, a dangerous warming trend would be underway.

Melting of Ice Caps - Local Greenland is a North American country which is layered with thick ice, and resembles Antarctica. If Greenland’s ice was to melt, than the Earth’s sea levels would rise by approximately 20 feet.

Graph showing the Amount of Sea Ice in the Northern Hemisphere from

Rising Sea Levels - Global Sea levels rise mainly from ice caps melting due to the warm waters that are heated from global warming. As sea levels rise, more and more land goes underwater, which leads to more people having to abandon their homes in order to seek shelter elsewhere. Also, this also means that there are less habitats for certain animals.

Rising Sea Levels - Regional Antarctica is home to many different species, including emperor penguins, seals, krill and polar bears. With sea levels rising, there is even less of the icy desert, as it is slowly falling apart already. In order to survive, these creatures are going to be forced to emigrate somewhere else.

Rising Sea Levels - Local Miami is one of the many countries that are in danger due to sea level rise. It is estimated that at the rate that the sea level is rising, all of Miami will be completely underwater.

Graph showing Sea Level Rise from

Biological Impacts - Global Animals all over the world are affected by global warming. Their habitats are changing due to rising sea levels, and changes in temperature may affect their eating habits. Many species are forced to migrate to other areas in order to survive the change in climate.

Biological Impacts - Regional Antarctica is a rapidly changing environment. With the ice melting, emperor penguins are unable to catch krill, which is the main part of their diet. Also, blocks of ice break off, and sometimes carry off baby emperor penguins out to sea. These offspring usually die from starvation or drowning, as they are too young to swim. Also, as ice melts, there is less ice for polar bears to live on, and they are forced to swim in search of more ice. Many polar bears drown due to exhaustion as there is less and less ice to live on.

Biological Impacts - Local In the Netherlands, there are two species that live together: pied fly-catchers and caterpillars. A quarter of a century ago, the peak arrival date of pied fly-catchers was the 25 th of April. Approximately a month and a half later, their chicks hatch, and peak on the 3 rd of June. Caterpillars also peak around that date, which is beneficial for the chicks, as caterpillars are their main source of food. However, more than 20 years later, due to global warming the peak date of caterpillars and chicks have changed: the caterpillars now peak on the 15 th of May, about a fortnight sooner, while the chicks have their new peak date as the 25 th of May, 9 days earlier. However, there is a 10 day gap inbetween the two species, which limits the number of caterpillars that can be found and caught by pied fly-catchers to be fed to their young.

Effects on Coral Coral reefs are important to ocean-based creatures, as equally as rainforests are to us. However, coral reefs are dying out. The reason is lack of zooxanthellae (zooks). Zooks are algae and live in coral. They provide nutrients to the coral. However, when it is warm, the coral expels the zooks, and therefore stop receiving nutrients. The lack of nutrients kills the coral. 16% of the world’s coral reefs died in 1998, which is the 2 nd hottest year in history.

Bibliography “an inconvenient truth: the crisis of global warming” by Al Gore