10. Today we are seeing a dramatic decrease in the amount of summer sea ice in t
ID: 289449 • Letter: 1
Question
10.
Today we are seeing a dramatic decrease in the amount of summer sea ice in the Arctic. How will this influence people and ecosystems?
(2 points)
less summer sea ice will cause less reflection of incoming solar radiation and so further increase global temperatures
less summer sea ice will mean that there is less habitat for species adapted to sea ice cover such as seals and polar bears
less summer sea ice will allow access to reserves of oil and gas under the Arctic Ocean worth trillions of dollars
all of the above
Explanation / Answer
All of the above.
The melting of the summer sea ice in the Arctic causes the Arctic to be almost ice-free and huge amounts of heat-absorbing, darker ocean waters replace and take the space occupied by the bright white heat reflecting sea ice previously. Thus, less heat is reflected away from the Earth and due to an increase in absorption and decrease in reflection of the incoming solar radiation, the global temperatures will increase rapidly.
Next, the sea ice of Arctic is home to manty species of animals such as ivory gulls, polar bears, seals etc who have adapted themselves to those conditions of climate. Loss of the ice cover will have a direct impact on the lives of these animals and they will have less habitat than before.
Finally, according to some scientists, there may be more than about 90billion barrels of recoverable oil buried down below in the Arctic which makes up nearly 13% of the world's undiscovered reserves. Thus the melting of Arctic ice makes it easier for the oil companies to find the reserves which allows them the access to reserves of oil and gas under the Arctic ocean.
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