Melting Polar Glaciers

Melting glaciers is one of the most dangerous effects in the 21st century. Humans releasing dangerous pollutant like carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide etc not only create problems in cities but their effects are shown in our polar caps also. The decrease in ozone level has accelerated the melting of these polar glaciers. Some of you might think why these ice caps are so important. Yes, they are indeed very special to us.

            These polar glaciers and ice caps act as a protective cover and reflects most of the excess heat of the Sun. Hence glacier plays an important role in maintaining the temperature of the Earth. Only 10% of Earth's surface is covered with glaciers. 90% of the glacier is found in Antarctica and the remaining 10% in Greenland. 

Photo by Mèng Jiǎ on Unsplash

What are the problems created by melting glaciers?  

(1) Global warming has accelerated the melting of glaciers, as a result, a large amount of fresh, cold water is entering the warmer, salty oceans. The increase in freshwater in our oceans might damage the pattern of the Arctic current. The Arctic ocean current is the pattern in which ocean water moves.

    The warmer water near the equator move towards the northern hemisphere (Arctic regions) and eventually becomes cold. As cold water is denser the warm water, it sinks deep into the ocean and travel again to the south and finally becomes warmer. This pattern continues and this results in currents in various countries. 

    If this Arctic current pattern is disturbed or stopped then the temperature of ocean water in Europe will dramatically fall by 5 to 10-degree celsius. This will affect the marine life and fishing there. It might also result in an increase in the frequency of hurricanes in these countries. It is not the first time when the temperature of oceans will fall. A similar event happened 12,500 years ago (when the temperature of the ocean falls by 5-degree Celcius), called the Younger Drays Event. 

(2) Another important effect of melting glaciers is the increase in sea level. An increase in sea level will create unchangeable circumstances. The sea level is risen by 9.2 inches in the last 140 years. That's much faster than the last 3000 years. 

    Increasing sea level will sink at least 8 of the world's largest coastal cities. In fact, Jakarta has started sinking. Jakarta is the world's fastest sinking city. It is sinking at a rate of 10 centimetres per year. Jakarta has sunk 2.5 meters in past 10 years! Τhe reason behind this is excessive groundwater pumping and increasing sea level. 

Here are some of the predictions for the future:

1. In the next 10 to 12 years, sea level will flood about 4000 miles of optical fibre cables, damaging the internet and telephone services. 

2. More than 221 million citizens of Asian countries like India, China, Thailand, Indonesia etc will be affected in the next few decades due to the increasing sea level.

3. Cities like Alexandria, Rio de Janeiro, Osaka, Miami and Shanghai will also be affected and possibly sink in future.

4. Islands like Tuvalu, Maldives, Marshall Islands, Solomon Islands are at the highest risk of sinking. If not sinking then their coastal habitations are sure to get damaged.

(3) Melting glaciers also affect marine life. Industries that depend only on fisheries will have to face a high capital loss. Fishes that are used to living in warmer ocean water cannot bear a sudden decrease in the temperature. This will result in a decrease in the number of species of many fishes. This also affects their migration pattern. 

Photo by Gilles Desjardins on Unsplash

            There are still many effects of melting glaciers. If not controlled now then it will create a very serious series of problems for future generations. Its consequences might not be seen today but it will damage a lot of human and marine lives in future.