Melting ice glaciers due to global warming - Term Paper Example

The increase in carbon content in the air has increased the global temperature which has caused glaciers to melt (Kayne). The resulting increase in the sea level is the main cause of hurricanes and cyclones which have endangered life on Earth. The enormous increase of temperature can greatly affect many ecosystems. Most importantly, ice is melting away. The following figure depicts fluctuations in the sea level along with the temperature variations over the last 450,000 years: From the figure, it can be seen that the content of carbon dioxide in the Miocene caused the sea levels to become 25 ft higher as compared to the present day level.

The increase in the content of carbon dioxide in the air in the recent years has been so enormous that the global temperature and sea levels did not get sufficient time to increase, and so they could not increase as much as they would have, had the increase of carbon dioxide taken longer. It is noteworthy here that it is not the phenomenon of melting away of the pack ice that causes any rise in the level of sea. Ice that floats in an ocean is lesser in density as compared to water. When it melts, the additional water that goes into the sea is no more than the volume of ice that was originally above the water line.

Nonetheless, ice which is on the land does play a big role in adding to the sea level upon melting. Many researches in the past have spoken of a consistent rise in the level of sea. Presently, rate of increase of sea level is about 1.8 ± 0.3 mm per annum which makes about 7.4 inches per 100 years (White et al. cited in Deem). The present rate of increase of sea level is dangerous and if the trend sustains over some period of time, sea levels would increase enough to cause damage to the life on land.

Many islands particularly the ones which are in the Pacific are greatly endangered by the