Does anyone belive that the polar ice caps will melt and cause our costal cities to be flooded?

Answer 1

Well yes. It is a measurable fact that the Polar ice caps are melting to some degree and several large antarctic ice shelfs have broken off and have begun melting. That much is a fact. Any measurable effect on our land masses will take decades or centuries though.

As for the other answer below from Amy....don't forget that most of the world's ice is ABOVE sea level so when it melts the runoff goes into the sea and raises the sea level.

Answer 2

Yes, OF COURSE there is a possibility that the polar ice caps will melt enough to cause enough flooding to inundate our coastal cities! There are many scientific reports out in the last few months, showing how the rate of melting has been speeded up dramatically. There was something on "60 Minutes" not long ago, in which a scientist and an interviewer from that program went in a boat to an area of the Arctic, observing polar ice fields and a huge iceberg that the scientist had taken data on about 2-5 years ago. Now, taking new data, he showed that the area that WAS completely covered by something like 500-ft.-thick ice is bare, and the two men were walking over it, and the huge iceberg was shrinking visibly. Large chunks of it were falling into the sea, as they filmed it. The calculations made by scientists studying the probable effect of melting ice caps are pretty much unanimous that major floods will sweep over the coasts of many countries in the next 20 to 50 years.

Answer 3

Its very unlikely the ice caps would melt enough to entirely flood coastal areas. The danger from this aspect of global warming has to do with selected areas that are low-lying and that would require an unrealistic amount of levees, dikes, etc to protect. The most vulnerable ares are the following (US only): New York City and environs, Cheasapeake Bay, Florida (except north central), southern Mississsippi, Alabama, and most of Louisiana, San francisco environs, port area of Seattle. There are some other points as well, but not heabily built up--or such that they can be readily protected.

Now think about the fact that that the degree of vulnerability of the US is comparable to the rest of the world. This is NOT a trivial problem--especially since these regions produce a large pat of the food in most parts of the world.

That's based on a 5-10 foot (1.5-3.0 meter) rise in sea level--in the range of what is currently predicted within this century. But the rate of melting appears to be accelerating.

Answer 4

Believe it - it is fact. In 2005 a piece of the polar ice cap the size of Rhode Island broke off and is melting into the sea. It is the largest chunk to have ever broken off at one time. Scientists have also said that the caps over Greenland are speeding up in the melting process and are melting at "triple speed" (when measured from April 2002 to Nov 2005 as opposed to the prior 18 month measurement). Pictures taken from the space shuttle show dramatic differences between 1999 and 2005 and shocked scientist by the alarming rate of melting. You can got to www.ask.com and type in polar ice caps and find numerous articles and pictures about this.

Answer 5

The polar ice caps are melting and it is a serious concern but the rate of melting is such that the Arctic will be around for more than 100 years and Antarctica will be around for many thousands of years - it's that big and cold in the interior that it will require serious long term global warming to melt all of it.

Coastal cities will be flooded but not for a long time yet.

The Arctic is melting comparatively fast but this is a huge block of floating ice and it's already displacing it's own mass of water, it could melt completely and sea levels would be unaffected.

Meltwater runoff from Antarctica and the Greenland Ice Sheet is causing sea levels to rise - very slightly.

An overall warmer climate causes the oceans to warm and expand. The cold meltwater runoff has a cooling effect on the oceans but overall it's the warming that wins. It's further complicated by the strange physical property that water has in that below 4 degrees C it expands as it cools.

Overall the effect is one of rising sea levels which are currently averaging 3mm per year around the world, locally up to 30mm in some places. This rising is expected to accelerate in the coming years but all the same, it's unlikely to reach more than 10mm a year even in the worst case scenario, the reality will probably be 5 or 6mm a year.

We can expect to see sea levels rise by about 500mm (20 inches) by the end of the century. In some paces we can construct flood defences against rising tides and protect vulnerable towns and cities but in some places this won't be feasible.

The richer nations have the ability to protect their cities (at a cost) but it's the poorer nations that will be most significantly affected.

Answer 6

Go have a look they are melting .
use Google Earth

what used to be permanent arms of Ice (they even had names)have disapeared in Antarctica .
And polar bears are swimming around the north pole
looking for a home
trying to find a home

The ice from the North pole will not make any difference to water lavels ,but the water from the meling Glaziers ,Antarctica and Greenland will,because it is ice on the land .

The biggest disaster is the loss of potable water

Here you can see why

25% of the planets surface is land
75%of the surface is water and it is rising

------------------------------...

97%of the Earths water is salt

fresh water is only 3% of all the Earths water
most of it is beyond out reach

now much ice is melting and running into the seas fresh water lost for ever.

STORAGE or Location of % of the fresh water
ice and glaziers 74%
groundwater 800 meters + 13.5 %
groundwater less than 800meters 11.o%
Lakes 0.3%
soils 0.006%
Atmospheric in circulation 0.0035%
rivers 0.03%


frozen land or permafrost is not included and represent an unavailable storage of 40%

so of the 3% about 11.6 ,is easily available to us ,in rivers, lakes and ground water surface aquifers,more and more of this is becoming contaminated

Answer 7

Sure they can. During most of earth's history (not man's), there have been no polar ice caps. The current ice caps formed during the last ice age 10,000 years ago, and have been melting ever since. As for coastal flooding, it is possible. And you could say we even caused it, but not because we have any effect on the climate, but because we like to live right near the ocean. We have even built coastal cities below sea level (New Orleans).

If you look at history, Raleigh, NC (currently about 135 miles from ocean), used to be right on the shores. Wilmington, NC (currently a coastal town), used to be 100 miles from the ocean. And there were no SUV's driving around then.

Answer 8

The polar ice caps will shirnk but I don't believe it will disappear completely. I do believe that the ice around Greenland will completely melt because of GW. The oceans will rise and the coastal cities will flood. The scientific evidwence is all there. Government does not want to believe it.

Answer 9

In this case, yes there is a possibility if they melt[ice caps] mainly because we will just get getting warmer and warmer unless we do something, we will all suffer the consqunces with cities being gone and floods all over, and becaue we caused this.

Answer 10

If the polar ice caps and the Greenland ice sheet all melt, lower Manhattan will have to do something, other than that we're pretty cool.