The Melting Glaciers

Chris Petz

10/15/09

6^th hour

Melting Glaciers

According to the “Big Melt” news story found on the New York Times http://video.nytimes.com/video/playlist/the-big-melt/1194811622279/index.html, the glaciers are melting more and more each year. It is melting earlier each year and refreezing later each year. This has three serious effects.

The first effect relates to the ecosystem. There are micro-organisms that live in the ice. These organisms feed the algae. As the ice decreases so does the amount of algae. The fish that are native to that part of the ocean feed off the algae. Less ice means less algae. Less algae means less fish. When the fish die or move to other areas to feed the seals that need the fish for food are unable to feed. So now the seals will start to become short on food. When the seals are forced to move to other areas the polar bears will no longer have their food source. So the ice melting causes this big chain reaction in the ecosystem. Polar bears also need the ice to rest, hunt and breed. Other animals that use the ice include herds of caribou that use the ice the walk across from one piece of land to another.

The second effect is that the ice that is melting is turning to water and raising the sea level. Many people think that if ice melt somewhere else if won’t effect us here in the United States, but water has to move and even out. If the sea level continues to rise then some of the land that is well known and populated such as the Florida Keys, will be covered with water. It is predicated that many of the small islands throughout the world that are popular tourist attractions will no longer exist. Both the land and the people will be gone.

The third problem effects the native people that live in the Antarctic. The people actually live on the ice and permafrost. They need the ice for transport of goods and materials to live. It was noted in the news story that because the ice is melting sooner in the year, the people have a harder time getting their supplies. The people also did not have sunburns in the past because the ice acted as a reflector of the UV rays. Now that the ice is smaller in size, the native people are being treated more for sun burns because the sun rays have nothing to reflect them upward.