- In the past decade, Arctic sea ice volumes have declined 36% during autumn and 9% during the winter, according to findings to be published in Geophysical Research Letters.
- The primary role that sea ice plays in global climate its ability to efficiently reflect the Sun's radiation. This property is called "albedo," the measure of the reflecting power of a surface. The albedo of snow-covered sea ice is 0.90, meaning it reflects 90% of the Sun's radiation. Just like wearing a white shirt will keep you cool when you're out in the Sun, the sea ice covering the Arctic keeps the thermostat low.
- Temperature in the Arctic has increased at twice the rate as the rest of the globe, and the region is expected to increase an additional 8°C (14°F) in the 21st century
It's ok.. How our India will be affected due to global warming...
India has a vast coastal line and the rising sea levels caused by global warming will cause an ecological disaster.
Bengal will suffer
The Himalayan glaciers have started to melt and the average rate of retreat is almost twice (34 metres) per year as compared to the 1971 levels of 19 metres. The melting glaciers will cause temperatures and sea-levels to rise and there will be a cascading effect on the crops and the monsoons. Worse – whole islands are expected to vanish! In fact two have already gone under – two islands in the Sunderbans, an area which India shares with Bangladesh. Temperatures in the group of islands has already gone up by one degree centigrade.
“Rising sea levels have submerged two islands in the Sunderbans, where tigers roam through mangrove forests in the Ganges River delta, and a dozen more islands are under threat…official records list 102 islands on the Indian side of the vast Sunderbans…but scientists found that two have been swallowed up.”
Orissa will suffer too
Orissa is another state which is already being hit hard by global warming. Whole villages in the coastal regions are disappearing.
“As village after village in Orissa’s coastal Kendrapara district vanishes into the Bay of Bengal, one thing is clear: sea levels are rising …the state’s geographical location at the head of the Bay of Bengal, with a landlocked sea and a deltaic plain, makes the state extremely vulnerable to rises in sea level caused by global warming.”
Rising sea-levels will be a disaster
While some climatologists say that sea levels will increase by just 4-35 inches from 1990 levels in another hundred years…some feel that the range could be higher – 20-55 inches. Thats a lot and will affect human habitat in a big way.
In fact, as far back as 1993 a study to evaluate the impact of rising sea levels on India was carried out by JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University). They calculated what would happen if the sea-levels rose by just 1 metre…and they found that as many as 7 million people would be displaced and 5,764 sq km of land and 4,200 km of roads would be lost!
This is according to a 1989 United Nations Environment Programme study.
India has a vast coastal line and the rising sea levels caused by global warming will cause an ecological disaster.
Bengal will suffer
The Himalayan glaciers have started to melt and the average rate of retreat is almost twice (34 metres) per year as compared to the 1971 levels of 19 metres. The melting glaciers will cause temperatures and sea-levels to rise and there will be a cascading effect on the crops and the monsoons. Worse – whole islands are expected to vanish! In fact two have already gone under – two islands in the Sunderbans, an area which India shares with Bangladesh. Temperatures in the group of islands has already gone up by one degree centigrade.
“Rising sea levels have submerged two islands in the Sunderbans, where tigers roam through mangrove forests in the Ganges River delta, and a dozen more islands are under threat…official records list 102 islands on the Indian side of the vast Sunderbans…but scientists found that two have been swallowed up.”
Orissa will suffer too
Orissa is another state which is already being hit hard by global warming. Whole villages in the coastal regions are disappearing.
“As village after village in Orissa’s coastal Kendrapara district vanishes into the Bay of Bengal, one thing is clear: sea levels are rising …the state’s geographical location at the head of the Bay of Bengal, with a landlocked sea and a deltaic plain, makes the state extremely vulnerable to rises in sea level caused by global warming.”
Rising sea-levels will be a disaster
While some climatologists say that sea levels will increase by just 4-35 inches from 1990 levels in another hundred years…some feel that the range could be higher – 20-55 inches. Thats a lot and will affect human habitat in a big way.
In fact, as far back as 1993 a study to evaluate the impact of rising sea levels on India was carried out by JNU (Jawaharlal Nehru University). They calculated what would happen if the sea-levels rose by just 1 metre…and they found that as many as 7 million people would be displaced and 5,764 sq km of land and 4,200 km of roads would be lost!
This is according to a 1989 United Nations Environment Programme study.
