• Question: how does "landfast sea ice" effect the human race?

    Asked by sharandhruv to Davie, Gemma, James P, James V, Nuala on 2 Jul 2012.
    • Photo: James Pope

      James Pope answered on 2 Jul 2012:


      Hi sharandhruv,

      More a question of Nuala to go into the details off, but sea ice will play a massive role in climate change. We are very concerned by a theory called “Polar Amplification” which is that as sea ice melts, we go from reflecting most of the suns energy to absorbing it (Ice refeclts and sea water absorbs sun energy) so the world get’s a lot hotter at the poles which could filter back and increase the rate of global warming.

      So for people like me, we need people like Nuala to help us get a better idea of how sea ice should respond in our big climate models and so we can better predict what will happen in the nextf ew decades as sea ice is and will continue to be the first big change we see from climate change!

    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 2 Jul 2012:


      hey sharandhruv,

      Landfast sea ice affects the human race in a number of different ways. Firstly it helps to regulate the temperature of the earth by reflecting the suns rays back out to space. This keeps the earth temperature is a suitable range for us to be able to live in.

      More specifically landfast sea ice is important for shipping, oil and gas exploration in the Arctic. People use the landfast ice to drill for oil and gas. Native inhabitants of the Arctic also use it to hunt for whales off. The camp on the landfast sea ice and hunt off the edge. It is important for them to understand the landfast ice movement because it can start to move unexpectedly and they can become trapped and dragged offshore!

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