Are the Polar ice caps really going to melt by 2080?

Question

Or is this just scare mongering by environmental journalists. I saw a report on this on TV the other day and it struck me that if they can come up with an exact time scale shouldn't we all have a huge party to send the world off in style?

Answer 1

The best estimates I've seen call for a 1 meter rise in sea level over the next century, due to ice sheet melting and thermal expansion. Recent measurments from WAIS (West Antarctic Ice Sheet) suggest that it is less stable than assumed. WAIS and Greenland ice might melt a lot in the next hundred years giving a new estimate of 6m. Even if the entire WAIS melted, it would only raise sea levels by about 5-7m. The same is true for Greenland, 5-7m. The biggee is the East Antarctic Ice sheet, which holds the bulk of the world's ice and would raise sea levels by 60-70m if it melted.

It's unlikely that all that ice would melt in 74 years. It probably would not happen in 740 years. However, I could see some melting that would raise sea levels by 5-15 feet by 2080.

A worst-case total-melt scenario (barring asteroid impact) might be increased volcanic activity in Antarctica, possibly caused by a recently detected mantle plume that has not yet reached the surface. This could raise sea levels by 200-250 feet.

Answer 2

"An Inconvenient Truth" : Read it and weep.

The Polar ice is melting at an alarming rate.
If there is a chance of saving the Planet Earth
from winding up as a big ball of dirt, like Mars,
then we had better Plant Trees as fast as we can.
We also must stop Clear Cutting and Burning of
our forests.

The time scale is not as important as is people
believing that Global Warming must be stopped.

Auto emissions do emit gasses that harm our
atmosphere and do not produce necessary Oxygen.

Trees use Carbon Dioxide to survive and produce
Oxygen in doing so. This is the process we need to
Keep a Chemical Balance in our Atmosphere.

Read the book or see the movie "An Inconvenient Truth"

Answer 3

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Answer 4

I heard something recently about how this was the hottest the world has ever been in 2000 years unofficially, but hottest in 400 years officially since scientist began keeping records of such things. There is also research that indicates heat waves like this have happened before (perhaps not in this magnitude) but were immediately followed by an ice age. The example I heard of was the 16th century was hot and believe you it was not because of factoization...on our current global scale....and then that heat wave was proceeded by a miniice age that lasted until 1860 or so.

Answer 5

Melting was so severe on the Greenland ice sheet in June that field researcher Konrad Steffen wondered just how he would get off the continent. [Natural variability] can't explain everything. Dr Mark Serreze.

"We had come in with a fixed-wing aircraft landing on skis," said the University of Colorado climatologist. "If that snow is melting then you cannot leave. As it was, we had to charter a helicopter." Greenland's unusual summer slush was part of a record-breaking year of northern polar ice loss, reported by Dr Steffen and other scientists this weekend at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) conference in San Francisco.
According to scientists, surface melt on Greenland was the highest in recorded history - and extended to elevations previously untouched by melt - while the amount of Arctic sea ice also reached a record low.

While some of the accelerated melting appears to be linked to natural atmospheric oscillations, human influence could not be ruled out, said the scientists. Greenland glacier and sea ice melt, combined with disappearing permafrost, the northern expansion of vegetation, and increased fresh water run-off present a "compelling case that something is going on," said Larry Hinzman, of the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

Meltwater flows into a large moulin on Greenland and down to the bedrock to "lubricate" the sheet. Measurements of the Greenland ice sheet taken from passive microwave satellite sensors show 685,000 square kilometres of melt, an area more than double that of 1992. Such melting encourages further ice loss. The excess water weight pushes down on the glacier at the same time that water seeps through cracks to the underside. The combination accelerates the glacier's flow to the sea. Dr Steffen attributes the increased melt to an unusual low-pressure system that "came earlier and stayed longer" on the island to create unseasonable warm temperatures.

Using periodic Global Positioning Satellite measurements from 1996 to 1999, the team found that the ice flow accelerated from 31.3 centimetres (12.3 inches) a day in winter to a peak of 40 cm (15.7 in) in the summer, when surface melting was greatest.

Answer 6

well, that's a long time from now, and i don't think it will happen, technology develops so fast I'm sure they come up with a solution, but one thing i know for sure, by 2080 there will be no oil gas, or petrol or anything like it, so there will be no global warming, the thinning of the ozone layer etc.
after all these news sound like this "if the current rhythm of consuming petrol or energy or whatever goes on by the year blablabla what will happen. but there's a relay serious IF in the sentence!

Answer 7

In order for the poles to melt, it would mean a whole change in the moon and solar system... When was the last time it happened?

Unless some unatural event happens, like all the nuclear bombs
blowing up because of rust... which will happend for sure...

Otherwise, nature will hold on and poles do not change so easily..

Nuclear weapons should be all forbidden to exist. If not, men
is setting his own destruction.... Poles will melt, but no one left
to see the result.....

Answer 8

Some people says that it will not melt and create another duluged world. but it will just shift in polarity, that canada and australia will be the next poles. the ice will melt first, then the water will re-freeze at those points! Change is the only constant thing! We are due for another major cataclysm!

Answer 9

they are melting right now

we actually dont all have to die ,if everybody got it together,we could save the world,

RISING SEAS
The northpole is melting ,and we will know it without ice in our life times.
this does not affect the sea level because it is ice that is already in the water.but the melting ice from Green land and the south pole ,are another matter.

Global warming is in theory reversable,but it will mean global co operation between all countries ,and taking into account human nature and the world politics ,it is unlikely that this will happen,

At least not untill we are all in the middle of planetary disastres and it becomes a battle for the survival of humanity every where.

SOLUTIONS
if you want to help the planet ,plant a tree every week ,if everyone on the planet did we we would be able to reverse the destructive processes

reduce carbon emisions,and they are already working on that by alternative forms of energy and regulations on carbon producing materials,aerosol cans,burning rubbish,industrial chimneys,powerplants etc.

the capture of carbon and the production of water and assist the aquiferous manta.

the world bank pays large subsidies for reforrestation to capture carbon and the best tree for this is the Pawlonia

Waterharvesting projects ,such as millions of small dams.to redirect over ground waterflows from the rains into the ground to supply subteranian water supplies.

the protection of existing forrests.

stop building more highways,urban planning to include vegetation stop building cities encourage people to return to the land to conduct their business from there which now has become possible thanks to the internet.

education to motivate people to auto sufficiency by building more home food gardens.

education on environmental awareness
education on family planning to curb over´populaion

Agricultural education and improvements to follow the principals or sustainability and soil management.

more environmental or land ,design to prevent bush fires,such as--fire breaks

,more dams.regulations and control for public behaviour

alternative effeciant public transport to discourage the use of the internal conbustion engine

recicling wastes,limit water use

i am a Permaculture Consultant for the department of Ecology for the regional government in Guerrero Mexico
http://spaces.msn.com/byderule

Answer 10

Nobody knows for sure. All we do know is that they are melting now, carbon dioxide levels in the air are high and going higher and that would be expected to speed the melting process. But nobody knows if all the polar ice will really melt or how long it would take if it did.