Polar Ice Caps Are Melting; So Are The Glaciers World Over
What If All Ice Melts?
Ice covers almost 10% of our planet’s surface. It mainly consists of Polar Regions and glaciers found at the largest mountain ranges throughout the world.
The major ice cap sits at Greenland and Antarctica. These two areas contain more than 99% of the planet’s freshwater ice.
The Antarctic ice sheet covers more than 14 million square kilometers which makes almost 26.5 million cubic kilometers of ice. It is considered the largest block of ice on Earth.
Due to their white snow and ice surface, polar regions are called the world’s refrigerators since they reflect heat into space, neutralizing the effects of other parts of the world that absorb it. As ice melts, heat is less reflected, which means more intense heat waves around the world.
It is said that if all of the polar ice caps melt, the global sea level would rise approximately 70 meters, flooding every coastal city on the planet.
As NASA reports, the polar ice caps are melting at an alarming rate of 9% every decade. There has been a 40% reduction in Arctic ice thickness since the 1960s.
What Causes The Ice Cap Melt?
