Why are the icecaps melting?

Answer 1

VERY SHORT ANSWER

Global warming.


MORE DETAILED ANSWER

Our planet is kept at a habitable temperature because of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, if there weren't any Earth would be so cold that life would never have evolved.

The temperature of the Earth is governed, in part, by the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere. Since the Industrial Revolution we've been emiting huge quantities of GHGs, many times more than nature can handle. This has led to a substantial increase in the amount of GHGs in the atmosphere and consequently a rise in global temperatures.

It's this rise in temperatures which is causing parts of the icecaps to melt. These temperature rises are not consistent across the whole planet. For example, in some parts of Antarctica temperatures in the last 20 years have fallen by about one degree Celsius, whereas in parts of Arctic Siberia temperatures in recent years have been rising by 1 degree per year.

There are two main causes for the melting of the ice caps...

1) Warmer air temperatures around much of the periphery causing the land ice to melt.

2) Warmer seas and oceans causing the sea-ice to melt and eroding the edges of the ice pack.

Effectively, the icecaps are being eroded and eaten away from the edges inwards.

The Arctic is the most threatened and for decades it has been shrinking. The most recent and detailed studies show it is melting faster than had been thought possible, at the current rate it will be gone completely in 30 to 40 years.

Answer 2

The Earth has been warming since 1700 prior to that it cooled and the icecaps and glaciers grew. The icecaps are in the process of retreating to the pre 1100 levels. They could go further, no one knows. The process appears to be natural.
Animals like Polar Bears have survived such changes before they will be OK! Try not to sweat it!

Answer 3

The ice caps aren't melting just yet but the sea ice is due to climate change. While it's only sea ice melting , sea levels will remain the same. It's the same when you put ice cubes in a glass of water. As the ice melts it doesn't flow over the sides of the glass. While there seems be evidence of climate change , global warming is just a myth.

Answer 4

icecaps are melting due to global warming, which is caused by the emission of carbon dioxide and CFC's that destroys the ozone layer, thus more heat from the sun reaches the earth. Carbon dioxide also prevents heat from escaping the earth, thus increasing the heat trapped in the earth.

Answer 5

The fact that the earth has warmed by less than 1 degree over the past 100 years in itself isn't going to melt any ice caps. Climate is cyclic, areas of the earth go through hot and cold periods due to weather patterns.

Answer 6

They are warming because it is getting warmer. This is due to global warming. The shown controversy is whether this change is man-made or not. The scientific community, and most of the political community, pretty much agrees that it is man-made. Recently, the politicians in Australia, the only other industrialized country in the world, besides the U.S., that has not ratified the Kyoto protocol, have turned in the issue and now admits that the severe weather there, that is costing them 1% of their annual growth.
The NASA site is relatively short and comprehensible.

Answer 7

global warming...the earth's temperatures are increasing and melting the ice caps eventually causing a giant flood that will put places like Florida and parts of New York underwater.

Answer 8

it is due to Global Warming that the ice caps are melting...

Answer 9

If you believe in Global warming, that is the answer. If you don't believe in that (so that you need not take any corrective action), it is just the vagaries of planet earth.