Australia, Antarctica Linked By Climate
Beradelli, P. “Australia, Antarctica Linked By Climate”. ScienceNow Daily News. February 8, 2010. Retrieved February 10, 2010 From http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2010/208/1
There is an adverse weather conditions between Australia and Antarctica. Climate researchers have seen that when one continent experiences drought, the other experiences precipitation. The southwestern corner of Australia is suffering a drought whereas the eastern Antarctica is consistently getting a barrage of snowstorms. This scientific finding needed further investigation so they took ice core samples from an ice field directly south of Australia’s southwestern tip. According to climate scientist Tas van Ommen and Vin Morgan, researchers of the Australian Antarctic Division in Tasmania, they have found evidence that the area of Antarctica has been experiencing an unusual amount of snowfalls for few decades. In fact, this anomaly is similar to the droughts that have occurred in Australia.
The researchers are convinced that these weather anomalies are linked together and may have been intensified by human/environment interactions. They monitored precipitations, atmospheric circulation patterns as well as measuring particles in ice cores. The evidence for human causes are strong because of human-made carbon dioxide as well as reduction in ozone had created a drier air in the southwestern regions of Australia. Inversely, Antarctica experiences wetter and snowier conditions. Researching this is crucial for the farming regions of Australia because without rainfalls, the farming industry will receive a devastating blow. This is a fine example of global warming in the works.
Showing posts with label ANTARCTICA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ANTARCTICA. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Monday, February 8, 2010
#4 Refine Your Research Topic/Question/Problem (freewrite, 10 minutes)
1. How much of the sea level will rise if all the ice in Greenland and Antarctica melts?
The concern of global warming is that the surface, air, and ocean temperature will continue to rise as the percentage of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases, therefore melts ice sheets, ice shelves, glaciers off Greenland and Antarctica. The reason for this concern is that if the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) builds up in the atmosphere, it will cause the temperature to rise. The gases absorb the heat and emit its energy in all directions, rather than heat radiating outward away from the surface. If the melting does occur, how much of the world’s sea level will rise? Taken into account that Antarctica and Greenland holds almost 90% and 10% of world’s total ice masses, respectively.
My hypothesis is that the melting of both Antarctica and Greenland will be responsible for worldwide sea level rising, flooding coastal areas and other regions at or near sea level. These regions may include the state of Florida, the Amazon Basin, and parts of Europe maybe be submerged under water. The melting of the ice masses will cause approximately a rise of 200 ft above current sea level. That is why prominent scientists and respectable scientific community is racing against time to understand global warming and its consequences before it is too late. Unfortunately, this process may or may not be stopped because at a global scale, one cannot foresee any solution to reverse the process – in other words – you cannot really stop Mother Nature.
The concern of global warming is that the surface, air, and ocean temperature will continue to rise as the percentage of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases, therefore melts ice sheets, ice shelves, glaciers off Greenland and Antarctica. The reason for this concern is that if the greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) builds up in the atmosphere, it will cause the temperature to rise. The gases absorb the heat and emit its energy in all directions, rather than heat radiating outward away from the surface. If the melting does occur, how much of the world’s sea level will rise? Taken into account that Antarctica and Greenland holds almost 90% and 10% of world’s total ice masses, respectively.
My hypothesis is that the melting of both Antarctica and Greenland will be responsible for worldwide sea level rising, flooding coastal areas and other regions at or near sea level. These regions may include the state of Florida, the Amazon Basin, and parts of Europe maybe be submerged under water. The melting of the ice masses will cause approximately a rise of 200 ft above current sea level. That is why prominent scientists and respectable scientific community is racing against time to understand global warming and its consequences before it is too late. Unfortunately, this process may or may not be stopped because at a global scale, one cannot foresee any solution to reverse the process – in other words – you cannot really stop Mother Nature.
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