What effect will Arctic Ice disappearing have?

Question

The Arctic ice has nearly halved since 1980, soon it will be gone. Will this effect sea levels or weather/climate or anything? Thanks for info.
Peace

it's not disappearing, it's melting...hmmm

Answer 1

The list of effects are pretty simple.

1. The surface Albedo (reflectivity) of the Arctic pole would go from being nearly perfectly reflective (white/shiny/silvery), to nearly dark - so more of the arctic would absorb solar heat more effectively (making it warmer still).

2. The Taiga/Tundra will not stay permanently frozen - during a larger percentage of the year (perhaps most of the year), the tundra will not be frozen and will outgas Methane, which can cause catastrophic global warming (+ 5-15 degrees).

3. Sea Levels in the Arctic will cause the average oceans to rise.

4. Increased direct warming will cause the oceans of the tropics to expand , this expansion in addition to the icemelt will cause higher sea-levels which will be measurable.

5. Over 60% of all mankind lives within 50 miles of a shoreline, most of those areas will be effected.

6. Many major cities (especially in the US and Europe) are along the coastlines, these cities will all need to either re-engineered to protect them from increased tides/storms etc.

7. A set of cities will have to be abandoned, eventually massive economic inputs to keep cities "viable" will either have to be maintained as a "cost of doing business" or the cities will have to be abandoned, some cities will be deemed "worth it" , others will not.

8. The deep sea currents, evidence from the geological record suggests that when natural climate change occurs if glacier systems in Greenland melt, they do so catastrophically, that the "sudden" massive inputs of fresh water "shut down" the Gulf stream which would have massive planetary effects on weather.

Under the consensus view of climatologists, the Americas would become both colder and much much drier, Europe becomes colder and wetter, Africa's Sahara receives more rainfall (enough to become a grassland in theory).

9. Ironically "global warming" may result in a situation where the main temperate belt of the northern hemisphere becomes distinctly inhospitable and notably colder.

This creates a feedback to cause more snow , and cause glaciers and start the cycle for another ice-age, and so the cycle repeats every 10-20 thousand years or so over hundreds of thousands of years - at least.

The problem is that there are 7 billion people absolutely dependent on farms and cities and such remaining exactly as they are - where Kansas always receives enough warmth and rain to produce corn and New York consistently keeps from being flooded.

Answer 2

First of all, let's distinguish between the sea ice, and the land ice such as that covering Greenland.
If the sea ice melts, there will be absolutely NO rise in sea level whatsoever - the ice is already in the sea, and turning it liquid ain't going to do anything to sea levels. However, it will open up the Arctic area to warmer currents it may not previously have been exposed to. This may have an effect on both the temperature (and hence movement) of the warmer current and the Arctic sea temp.
If the Greenland ice melts, there may well be a rise in sea level and disruption of current flow.
There will also be the usual impact on wildlife, most seriously felt by those animals adapted to the cold. If the coldest area on their part of the planet warms up, there is nowhere else for them to go, and they will die out.

Answer 3

The sea levels will rise. That's going to be the most noticeable effect on the coasts. It's already causing a change in weather patterns. We have stronger hurricanes and a lot of flooding in the coastal states and the interior of the continents is getting dryer and hotter.

They just updated the forecast on the ice melt. The radical forecast before was there would be open water at the North Pole by 2040 and sea levels would rise 22 feet.

The new forecast (not so radical) is 2012. If you own land within twenty feet of sea level, now would be a good time to sell.

Oh, at least one island nation will disappear soon. Their highest point is just 7 feet above sea level. They have already made agreements with the Australian government for evacuation of their citizens.

Note to Missingo: None of this information is from Al Gore.

Answer 4

Either
A) We will find a way to do something about it.

B) This is unfounded silliness and we will find the Earth in the same state (or nealry so) 100 years from now.

C) We will adapt and then build a city over it (like in 50s comics...lack of scientific knowledge rocks). Or...

D) We will be the second Ice Age. Or whatever the opposite would be. We wouldn't be the first species to die out.

We've been losing ice forever. Recorded evidence from 1956 to 2006 was about 7.8% a decade during summer months. What I find amusing is that the researchers are "surprised" that there is a higher loss of ice during September than in March...hmm.

It is "mostly" agreed on by actual researchers that no one knows 100% what is going to happen from the Arctic Ice melts except in hindsight when whatever happens happens. Since the truth always lies between two arguments, there is "potential" for bad things to happen but it is not a certainty as some gloom and doom drivers will insist.

Answer 5

Yes this will effect the sea levels because the fresh water and salt water will be off balance. Also some places below sea level might be effected by this because it might cause flooding . It might cause the climate to change too because of the cold and warm water mixing together .

Answer 6

yes the arctic ice melting will effect the sea level, thus there will be lot of water evaporation thus heavy and unexpected rain, due to increased water vapour the reflecting sunlight will not be able to escape the earth atmosphere.. so increase in the earth temperature, thus accelerating the artic ice melting.. so ultimately increased temperature, increase in rain.. change in weather end of the world..

Answer 7

Manhattan, Venice, England, Japan will disappear under the sea.

Answer 8

I don't think you have to worry too much. Did you know that warming and cooling trends are a normal part of nature? Ice ages wax and wane and we will have another one. I'm sure we will have the technology to deal with it when it arrives.

Answer 9

It's not disappearing, it's melting. That means it will be less solid and more wet.

Answer 10

where did the first half go..???
It is not the first time of a melt off...