Ice Melting and Global Temperatures – The Two-Fold Relationship

Global climate change appears to have entered a new ecological relationship with respect to melting of polar ice and the potential effects for life on earth. Scientists studying the change in polar ice are predicting that, for the first time in the history of human existence on this planet, ice covering the North Pole may disappear entirely as a result of global warming by as soon as this summer. The US National Snow and Ice Data Center has expressed its concern over the rapidity with which the arctic sea ice is melting away; the reasons for concern are many fold but two important effects are quite easy to infer.

First, the natural shelter of ice covers huge deposits of oil and minerals beneath it which, in case of the disappearance of ice, will be left ‘open’ for exploitation by humans. While this may sound a cheerful prospect, the efforts of environmentalists toward energy conservation and sustainable growth will certainly be affected adversely. More fuel consumption will also further elevate global temperatures and make the atmosphere harder for life forms on earth. Much of the thick Artic ice cover has been replaced by thin swathes of ice and scientists believe there are more than 50% chances of Arctic ice disappearing altogether from the region by the summer. This is likely to affect the ecological balance in another way too – increase in local temperatures since ocean water absorbs a greater amount of solar heat than ice. Arctic species may need migration and other forms of adjustment to the sudden change in their habitat’s temperature.

However, another study conducted by a team of British scientists, working on board the Royal navy’s HMS Endurance, off the coast of Antarctica, has found that melting of ice has the potential of delaying or even ending the threat of global warming. This effect of the melt owes to the discovery of tiny iron particles that are set free from the ice masses into the water. These iron particles serve as nutrients for marine green algae, resulting in algal blooms. Since algae have the characteristic of absorbing large quantities of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, and thus cooling the environment, large-scale melting of ice is likely to serve as a major control on global temperature through sinking of atmospheric carbon dioxide. The UN has allowed the scientists for creating an experimental algal bloom by pouring iron sulphate into the waters so as to assess the role of iron in supporting algal blooms. In the words of Rob Raisewell, Professor at the Leeds University, ‘the earth itself seems to want to save us.’

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