The ice is melting…

Glaciers, ice sheets, and sea ice are part of the Earth’s cryosphere, the part of the planet where water exists in solid form. It’s a good thing that glaciers cover about 10 percent of Earth’s land and water surface – as climate change relentlessly reminds us, these frozen landscapes play a critical role in global climate. Although today’s glaciers have existed since the last ice age when ice covered about 32 percent of the land and 30 percent of the oceans, they have declined significantly since then, and this ice is now limited to areas with high winter snowfall and cooler summer temperatures, such as Alaska, the Canadian Arctic, Antarctica, and Greenland.

The melting of glaciers and ice sheets can cause many problems. For example, penguins can lose their habitat, and sea levels rise. Because the water they contain is usually stored on land, glacial runoff and melting are significantly increasing the amount of water in the world’s oceans. Similar to a bathtub full of water, when too much water is added to a tub that is too small, the water floods the surroundings.

Once all the glaciers melt, ocean hurricanes will occur more frequently and cause more flooding as seawater will absorb more radiation due to the lack of ice to reflect the sun’s rays. Changes in ocean currents will also mean dramatic weather changes, and massive climate change will alter seasonal rainfall, causing otherwise fertile land to become barren, which will destroy agriculture and lead to a reduction in human food supplies, global famine, and the destruction of industry, manufacturing, and farmland as homes are lost. The good news is that heavy rains will hit the deserts and much of Africa will become habitable.