• Question: what effect would it have on nature if all of the sea ice moved?

    Asked by thegreenapple98 to Nuala on 26 Jun 2012.
    • Photo: Nuala Carson

      Nuala Carson answered on 26 Jun 2012:

      Hey thegreenapple98,

      I suppose this is the question that we are all trying to answer and to be honest we don’t know! If it all disappeared then we think the world would get warmer. Because the ice is white it has a high albedo ( this means that it reflects a large amount of the suns rays back into the atmosphere). If the ice disappeared then the water would be the first thing the suns rays meet. the water has a lower albedo and so absorbs more of the rays. This means that the water heats up. We think this will lead to the whole world heating.

      Another important impact is rising sea level. Quite a lot of England, and lots of other places, could be under the sea if we don’t stop the ice melting!

      But it is more complicated than that simple view so we cant definitely say one way or the other ( but hopefully we will be able to soon!)_

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