What if glaciers melted

Glacial melting has contributed to raising sea levels by 2. Furthermore, the world's glaciers contain enough ice — about , cubic kilometres — to raise sea levels by nearly half a metre. Glacial thawing at the poles is slowing the oceanic currents, a phenomenon related to altering the global climate and a succession of increasingly extreme weather events throughout the globe.

Glacial melting will also cause the extinction of numerous species , as glaciers are the natural habitat of a number of animals, both terrestrial and aquatic. The disappearance of glaciers also means less water for consumption by the population, a lower hydroelectric energy generation capacity, and less water available for irrigation.

Glaciologists believe that, despite the massive ice loss, we do still have time to save the glaciers from their predicted disappearance. Here are some ideas and proposals for how we can help achieve this goal:.

The scientific journal Nature suggested building a metre-long dam in front of the Jakobshavn glacier Greenland , the worst affected by Arctic melting, to contain its erosion. Indonesian architect Faris Rajak Kotahatuhaha won an award for his project Refreeze the Arctic, which consists of collecting water from melted glaciers, desalinating it and refreezing it to create large hexagonal ice blocks. Thanks to their shape, these icebergs could then be combined to create frozen masses.

The University of Arizona proposed a seemingly simple solution: manufacture more ice. Their proposal consists of collecting ice from below the glacier through pumps driven by wind power to spread it over the upper ice caps, so that it will freeze, thus strengthening the consistency.

It is going to be exposed, and we don't know what's going to happen. It may actually change how long a day is. The ice sheets are close to the axis of rotation of the Earth — they are around the poles.

You melt this ice, and where this water will go is around the Earth, so further away from the axis of rotation. So the Earth is going to spin at a slower rate. Inverse asked a series of experts about five different scenarios for our planet by Read the rest: a supervolcano explodes , an asteroid impact , a pandemic wipes out 10 percent of humanity , and humans stop global warming. Future Earth What would happen if the polar ice caps melted? Land now inhabited by million Chinese would flood, as would all of Bangladesh, population million, and much of coastal India.

Predominantly desert, the continent would gain a new inland sea—but it would lose much of the narrow coastal strip where four out of five Australians now live. East Antarctica: The East Antarctica ice sheet is so large—it contains four-fifths of all the ice on Earth—that it might seem unmeltable.

It survived earlier warm periods intact. Lately it seems to be thickening slightly—because of global warming. The warmer atmosphere holds more water vapor, which falls as snow on East Antarctica. But even this behemoth is unlikely to survive a return to an Eocene Climate. West Antarctica: Like the Greenland ice sheet, the West Antarctic one was apparently much smaller during earlier warm periods. It's vulnerable because most of it sits on bedrock that's below sea level.

The warming ocean is melting the floating ice sheet itself from below, causing it to collapse. Since it has averaged a net loss of 65 million metric tons of ice a year. All rights reserved. This story appears in the September issue of National Geographic magazine. Share Tweet Email. Permafrost is organic matter that's been frozen in the ground for two-plus years.

Now, one of the most immediate problems with thawing permafrost would be mercury poisoning. That's right: There are an estimated 15 million gallons of mercury stored up in the Arctic permafrost. That's almost equal to the amount of mercury everywhere else on Earth. On top of that, the organic matter in permafrost is a tasty meal for microorganisms. After they digest it all, they fart out two of the most potent greenhouse gases out there, carbon dioxide and methane.

Scientists estimate this could double the current levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and potentially cause global temperatures to rise by 3.

That might not sound like much, but say goodbye to that mini European ice age, and even rivers and lakes around the world. They'd evaporate from the higher temperatures and cause mass droughts and desert-like climates.

And all that extra water vapor in the atmosphere would fuel more frequent and stronger storms, floods, and hurricanes. So all of that newly established coastline on the eastern US would be one of the last places you'd want to live.

Instead, there would be mass migrations to Canada, Alaska, the Arctic, and even what's left of the Antarctic.