A. What happens if the polar ice caps melt?
At this time, I don't feel there will be significant wide spread globle flooding. I do think there will be some coastal areas of our world that will be impacted, but I feel the impact will be from coastal storms, not the immediate flooding concerns (example, hurricanes or tsunami). Those experiences seem to create the most damaging concerns due to storm surges that bring ocean water levels above coast lines, and create signifcant damage to coastal areas and cities.
I feel that the southern part of the world will be more impacted than the northern part, due to the size, amount, and thickness of the ice at the South Pole Ice Cap in comparison to the North Pole Ice Cap.
I am interested to address this question with my class, as we are embarked in a weather and water unit at this time, and this would be a great tie-in conversation about water, density, temperature, evaporation, and condensation.
B. What other questions do you have about this Science Inquiry Experience?
1. How soon, or when would a place like Greenland be concerned about melting ice caps and what kind of impact would it have?
2. Just how far would the water level rise in the oceans?
3. Just how long will it take for these ice caps to melt?
4. What effect does evaporation and condensation have on these ice caps? (being that we are learning about these concepts in class)
Jared,
ReplyDeleteI live in a coastal area. We have had enourmous amounts of damage as a result of storm surges. As sea levels rise, I can't stop wondering if our engineered structures or man made structures will be able to withstand mother natures forces and the extra water.
As sea levels rise, I think the water temperature will rise as well. Warm waters off the east coast fuel hurricans. Most huricans would reach colder northern waters and would turn into tropical storms. As they move up the eastern sea board, if they don't hit cold water, they make landfall. The results could be devastating for these areas.