Polar ice caps melting even faster

6 June, 2007:

Countries around the world observed World Environment Day on June 5, 2007. The campaign theme for 2007 is ‘Melting ice – A hot topic?’ to complement International Polar Year 2007. According to experts, temperature of the earth’s surface and water level of sea will rise because of climate change. As a result, low-lying areas will go under water, flow of river waters will be reduced and salinity in water and land will increase.

Deforestation, filling of water-bodies, hindrance in flow of rivers, industrial wastes, noise pollution and various contexts are destroying the ecological balance.

Global warming, the melting of ice in Polar areas and mountain peaks, shortage of sweet water, drought, salinity have become challenges for a safe and livable world.

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in his message on the World Environment Day, said the greenhouse gas emission from human activities is causing our world to get warmer. Concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are higher than at any time for the past 600,000 years and the rate of increase is accelerating.

The most dramatic evidence of climate change is found in the Polar regions. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the global average. The extent and thickness of permanent ice in the Arctic sea – permafrost, frozen for centuries – are getting reduced. Ice caps in Greenland and the Antarctic are melting faster than anyone had anticipated, Ban Ki-moon warned in his message.

Developed countries in particular, he said, can do more to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and encourage energy efficiency. They can also support clean development in fast-growing economies such as Brazil, China, and India.

The United Nations Environment Program lists the following five facts on the threat from melting ice:

Parts of the Polar regions – Antarctica and the Arctic – are already warming two to three times faster than the global average, which is predicted to be between 1.4 degrees and 5.8 degrees Celsius this century. More heat is absorbed by the sea than by ice and this promotes faster melting because less sunlight is being reflected back into space.

Climate models predict that global warming will be most acute in polar regions. Some predict an almost complete loss of summer sea-ice in the Arctic before the end of the century. This means that polar bears, which depend on the sea ice to hunt seals and move around, are unlikely to survive.

The Greenland Ice Sheet, the Arctic’s largest glacial mass, constitutes 10% of the world’s freshwater reserves. It is currently melting faster than new ice is being formed. If all Greenland ice melted, the world’s oceans would rise by 7 metres (23 feet).

Polar regions act as natural ‘sinks’ for the world’s toxic chemicals. Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are carried to the Arctic by air and ocean currents and enter the food chain of marine mammals and seabirds.

The Arctic is a partially frozen ocean. Its snow-covered tundra and forests has few native species but is home to four million people, of whom 10% are indigenous. In the southern hemisphere, Antarctica is a continent surrounded by ocean. About 99% of Antarctica is covered by ice and is home to large populations of marine birds and seals.