West Antarctic Ice Sheet - Research Paper Example

of the English of the Concerned 29 June West Antarctic Ice Sheet Introduction Environmental degradation tends to bethe process that results in the comprising of the natural environment owing to varied reasons mostly of human origins, which leads to a shrinking of the biological diversity and deterioration in the general health and quality of environment. Though sometimes the processes leading to environmental deterioration tend to be of natural origins, many a times the pace of environmental degradation tends to be accelerated by activities of human origins. A plethora of organizations, institutions, NGOs and think tanks do believe that environmental degradation stands to be the most pressing and imminent challenge facing the humanity. The irony is that the human species has only one earth to live on and in case the environment of earth degrades beyond a certain level, it could positively jeopardize the very survival of the human species. The thing that needs to be understood is that environment stands to be a closely interconnected and integrated system, and it relies for its well being on a range of biological, geological, geographical and physical systems and features like animal and plant species, weather systems, water currents, atmospheric phenomena, water bodies, mountain ranges, air currents, glaciers, ice sheets, etc (Johnson 167). In that context, the West Antarctic Ice Sheet stands to be an important constituent of and a major determinant of the environmental health in the current times. Varied experts and research groups are urgently pointing to the fact that the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which is one of the Earth’s salient ice sheets, could eventually collapse going by the augmenting pace of global warming, thereby leading to drastic climatic and environmental changes (Plimer 9). What are Ice Sheets? Simply speaking, an ice sheet happens to be a large mass of glacial land ice with a span of more than fifty thousand square kilometers (Allaby 79). During the ice age, many important ice shields covered large expanses of land in North America, Europe and varied other parts of the world. However, in the current times there are only two surviving ice sheets that are the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice sheet (Allaby 79). Ice sheets are formed only in those areas where the snow accumulated during the winters does not totally melt during the summers (Allaby 79). Over a long period of time spanning across thousands of years, this snow gives way to large masses of ice which further get compressed and packed as the new snow presses the snow from previous years (Allaby 80). One important thing about ice sheets is that they tend to be perpetually on move, gradually trailing downhill by the motion initiated by their own weight (Kemp 135). At the coastline the ice sheets give way to comparatively faster moving outlets like ice shelves, glaciers and ice streams (Kemp 135). So long as an ice sheet tends to accumulate as much mass of snow during the winters, as it losses through its coastal outlets, it is considered to be stable and healthy (Kemp 135). West Antarctic Ice Sheet West Antarctica is a segment of the Antarctic ice sheet that covers the western part of Antarctica. West Antarctic ice sheet is regarded to be a marine ice sheet. In other words it means that the bed of the West Antarctic ice sheet lies much below the seal level and its edges tend to culminate into ice shelves that flow beyond the coast line (Schimdt 21). As per the scientific estimates, the West Antarctic ice sheet volumetrically comprises of 2.2 million kilometer cube of ice (Schimdt 21). As already said, the West Antarctic ice sheet, like the Greenland ice sheets tends to flow owing to the momentum driven by its own weight. The flow of the West Antarctic ice sheet tends to be non linear, a phenomena that has still not been well understood by the scientific community (Schimdt 21). The flow of the West Antarctic ice sheet has given way to a large shelf of ice floating freely in the sea. Immense parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet rest on a bedrock that is slanting, thereby making this ice sheet quiet unstable (Schimdt 21). In an environmental context it means that even a minor alteration in the volume or spread of the ice owing to environmental factors like temperature change could make the West Antarctic ice sheet collapse. Importance of West Antarctic Ice Sheet Antarctica happens to be quiet an inhospitable place on the surface of the earth. The region covered by the Antarctic ice sheet remains dark for most of the year, ruled by dangerous snow storms. Still, as per the available scientific research, the Antarctic ice sheet in particular and the West Antarctic ice sheet in general has an important role in sustaining and securing the life on earth (Johansen 125). These ice sheets play an important role in assuring the atmospheric and environmental stability on the planet earth. To a great extent the West Antarctic ice sheet plays the role of a gargantuan reflector, which keeps the earth cool be reflecting the hot rays of the sun out of the earth’s atmosphere into the space (Johansen 125). If by any chance, the West Antarctic ice sheet collapses or melts, it will leave behind less reflective ocean water, which will result in a considerable rise in the earth’s temperature (Johansen 125). This will give way to a vicious cycle, where a naked earth will absorb more heat, and a rise in earth’s temperature will lead to further melting of the ice sheets. The Antarctic ice sheet is also the reservoir of nearly ninety percent of the fresh water on the earth (Johansen 125). The normal melting of the ice sheet gives way to varied benign geographical features like glaciers and icebergs, which play a crucial role in sustaining and replenishing the stock of fresh water on earth (Johansen 125). There is no denying the fact that the West Antarctic ice sheet plays a pivotal and central role in influencing the weather on the planet earth, the extent and magnitude of which has still not been totally grasped by the years of scientific studies and research. West Antarctic Ice Sheet- Unstable In the light of the past researches and studies, the scientific community had been able to establish that the West Antarctic ice sheet has been losing ice. However, the reasons as to why the West Antarctic ice sheet has been losing ice had remained unclear to a large extent. The most recent observations made through airborne science missions and the earth observing satellites have established beyond doubt that the West Antarctic ice sheet is losing ice both above and below its surface (Smith 21). The fresh insights gained by NASA led studies have shown that some major ice shelves attached to the West Antarctic ice sheet have already melted. A direct consequence of this has been that the glaciers that were earlier kept in bound by these ice shelves have now started to lose ice at a faster pace. One plausible hypothesis that has been contrived to explain the melting of the West Antarctic ice sheet is that the global warming caused by human activities has resulted in a rise in the temperature of atmospheric air and ocean waters. The new breakthroughs being made by the scientists in this context are amply corroborating to the assertions made by this hypothesis. One more NASA study has shown that the hot underwater channels flowing below the ice shelves attached to the West Antarctic ice sheet are leading to a fast melting of these ice shelves from below (Rowe 22). However, much research is being conducted to understand the reasons as to what is causing a rise in the temperature of these underwater channels that are making the ice shelves to melt at a speed that is way beyond the rate at which the West Antarctic ice sheet could replenish its snow? The rise in the atmospheric temperature is also a major culprit responsible for the instability initiated in the West Antarctic ice sheet. A team of scientists affiliated to NASA, after correlating a series of images gathered through satellites and airborne science missions have also identified varied undulations on the surface of the West Antarctic ice sheet (Rowe 22). Going by these findings, these scientists have been able to establish a close link between the rate of ice loss and the speed and temperature of the winds blowing over the West Antarctic ice sheet (Rowe 22). Yet, there is no denying the fact that the models being followed by the scientists to study the West Antarctic ice sheet are still in a nascent stage. More conclusive data and information are expected to be culled in the times to come. Consequences of a Possible Collapsing of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Scientists are now predicting a correlation between the global warming and the possible melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. The melting and collapse of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is replete with varied serious consequences. As a result of a possible collapsing of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, with the hindering of the reflecting back of sun’s rays back into the space, the earth’s temperature may raise manifold. This will not only result in a further melting of the other existing ice sheet and ice shelves, but might also cause an unpredictable change in the ocean circulation (Rowe 21). The melting of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet and the associated ice shelves may cause an unprecedented rise in the ocean water levels (Rowe 22). It is the ocean shelves that sustain the ice sheets over land. With the collapsing of these ocean shelves, the hitherto existing parts of the ice sheets may also collapse into the ocean. The rising of the ocean water levels may not only make the existing coast lines around the world recede back, but may also lead to the submersion of many islands and land masses (Rowe 22). The consequent rise of the earth’s temperature and ocean water levels will possibly lead to the extinction of many plant and animal species (Rowe 22). Although the full impact of a possible collapsing of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is still being estimated on a hypothetical basis, there is no denying the fact that such an event will certainly have many foreboding consequences for the survival of the humanity on earth. Conclusion The possible collapsing of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet is just one consequence of the continual environmental degradation being caused by unchecked human activities and unprecedented levels of consumption of finite natural resources. Global warming, depletion of the ozone layer, species extinction and an unchecked polluting of the water bodies and atmosphere are many other associated phenomena. It is time that the humanity stops treating earth as an infinite external resource to fuel its dubious economic growth and development and opt for a model of growth and consumption that is environment friendly and sustainable. Works Cited Allaby, Michael. The Basics of Environmental Science. London: Routledge, 2005. Print. Johansen, Bruce E. The Global Warming Desk Reference. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2002. Print. Johnson, Huey D. Green Plans: Blueprint for a Sustainable Earth. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2008. Print. Kemp, David D. The Environment Dictionary. London: Routledge, 1998. Print. Plimer, Ian. “The Past is the Key to the Present: Greenhouse and Icehouse over Time”. Review- Institute of Public Affairs March 2003: 9. Print Rowe, Mark. “Shock and Thaw: The Arctic and the Antarctic are the World’s Freezers, together Storing More than 90 Percent of the World’s Fresh Water as Ice. But Global Climate Change has Wedged Open the Freezer Door, Defrosting the Colossal Polar Ice Masses at an Alarming Rate. The Warnings from Scientists are Loud and Stark- But just what is the State of the Poles, and how much Worse is it Going to get?”. Geographical 81.11 (2009): 22-23. Schimdt, Charles W. “Out of Equilibrium? The World’s Changing Ice Cover”. Environmental Health Perspectives 119.1 (2011): 20-22. Print. Smith, Kenneth. “Just Stop Breathing: Climate Change Conferees Pollute”. The Washington Times 4 November, 1999, 21: Print. Read More