Today, polar ice caps are melting six times faster than they did in the 1990s. Paired with the 2019 Arctic heatwave, this melting rate may produce disastrous outcomes. Notably, the disappearing polar ice caps will accelerate global warming, cause widespread coastal flooding, and contribute to rising sea levels.
How Fast Are Polar Ice Caps Melting?
Scientists have confirmed that polar ice caps are melting at unprecedented and dangerous rates. Since the 1990s, the speed of ice loss as increased sixfold — with a sevenfold increase in Greenland.
In a more proximate scale, ice loss has tripled in speed in the past five years alone.
Attributed in part to rising average temperatures, the poles are experiencing the brunt of global warming. Known as polar amplification, the effects of increased solar radiation are most pronounced in polar regions. Where the average global temperature may increase slightly over time, the poles oftentimes experience steeper temperature spikes.
Due to rising average temperatures, the poles are experiencing the brunt of global warming. The Antarctic Circle is being disproportionately affected.
This is certainly the case for the Antarctic Circle. Recent temperatures have reached records in the region, amounting to 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18.33 °C) this winter.
And the headline-making 2019 Arctic heatwave certainly did not help. But these heatwaves are only becoming more intense and frequent as global warming continues.
“What was highly unusual in the recent past is becoming the new normal. The Arctic is far more sensitive to warming now than even a few decades ago,” said geography professor Luke Trusel of Pennsylvania State University.
The Danger of Melting Ice on Coastal Towns
With recent data finding that 2019 broke a record for ice loss, time is running out for coastal communities. Already, many cities and towns have explored alternatives to diffuse rising sea levels — many to no avail.
Yet regardless of how you spin it, polar ice caps are melting much too fast for communities to adjust. In the 1990s, towns became accustomed to a much slower rising sea level rate. In this decade, the globe lost about 81 billion tons of ice each year.
But now, that number averages around 475 billion tons, 60% of which stemming from Greenland’s ice mass. Accordingly, coasts spanning the Atlantic Ocean face a unique challenge. How will they adapt to rising sea levels?
Communities Should Actively Prepare for Melting Polar Ice Caps
The answer is not readily available, but nonetheless, communities should prepare for the worst.
“These are not unlikely events or small impacts,” professor Andrew Shepherd at the University of Leeds stated. Rather, he anticipates that these impacts “are happening and will be devastating for coastal communities.”
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Coastal communities like those in Miami and London are starting to see the ramifications of rising sea levels. Photo Credit: BenGrantham
The first step for front-line, coastal communities may be to recognize that the fast pace at which polar ice caps melt present a crisis beyond the arctic and Antarctic circles. Rising sea levels will threaten coastal communities across the globe, where even minute changes in sea level can flood or engulf entire cities.
Already, cities such as Miami and London have experienced preemptive flooding. Scientists expect this flooding to worsen over time, becoming both more frequent and more encompassing. And as climate change may also lengthen hurricane season, coastal towns may experience even more deadly flooding every year.
The IPCC is Worried About Arctic Ice Loss
The current rate of polar ice cap loss is tracking as a worst-case scenario according to the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change (IPCC). In essence, the polar ice caps are depleting at an irreversible pace. At this rate, governments may not be able to prevent the complete loss of arctic ice.
What’s worse, scientists have already observed that melting ice will cause a dramatic rise in global sea levels. And according to the IPCC, rising sea levels may be the culprit of the most dangerous symptoms of climate change.
Coastal communities are disproportionately at risk as polar ice caps continue to melt.
The scientists behind the IPCC’s recent statement attest that the future may be grave for coastal communities. Currently, the organization predicts that, without immediate action on carbon emissions, 400 million people will be exposed to coastal flooding every year by 2100.
Luckily, this number can be offset to a degree. The key is to shut down the culprit behind ice loss: global warming. But in order to achieve that, we must also scale down on carbon emissions — very, very soon.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
