Canadian and World Issues Culminating paper on global warming and rising sea levels/ice caps - Essay Example

They have found that these polar regions of the world have been adding as much as 300% more ice on the sea as they were 2 decades ago. This implies that it has contributed towards an increase in 11 millimeters of sea levels over this time; one should note that other factors also cause increases in sea levels but ice caps account for approximately 20% of that change. Over the past century, it has been found that sea levels have increased by as much as 8 inches as reported by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

It is estimated that if the current rate of melting continues, then sea levels will have increased by as much as 20 inches in 2100. Evidence of where the sea level rise has taken place can be seen in the Antarctica, especially during 2002 when a huge block of ice about the size of some nations collapsed and disintegrated. In 1992, ice shelf areas in that part have reduced by as much as 40%. Over the last 3 decades as well, the National Snow and Ice Data Center has found that Arctic ice is at its lowest, which is 500,000 square miles less than what was available about 30 years ago.

It is predicted that if this rate continues, then the Arctic region may lack ice by as early as 2070. Some controversy has arisen over the issue of global warming in general and rising sea levels in particular because some parts of the Polar Regions appear to be recording increased ice accumulation, but the last report has put to bed these doubts. It was established that in the Greenland region, ice caps are contributing 100% more ice to the sea than before, yet in the Antarctic, a complex picture has been presented.

Analysts settled these discrepancies by separating the West and East regions of the Antarctica and asserting that the East seems not to be recording any reduction because most of it is above sea level (Quaile, 2013).