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Ice Caps Melting
Name: Benjamin
Status: Other
Age: 12
Location: N/A
Country: N/A
Date: N/A
Question:
Are the Polar IceCaps Melting?
Tell what happenes when it is melting ?
What effect does it have on poles?
Replies:
Dear Benjamin-
Your question about the polar ice caps melting has lots of scientists
searching for that answer. Some recent observations and data would indicate
some thinning of the ice in the arctic ocean, and some melting of glaciers
around the world. More observations are needed to confirm all this.
The bigger question is- "IF the polar ice is melting, is this a
naturally-occuring event, or are human-related activities implicated..?
Another question is- "If this change is occuring, is it good or bad, and if
it is bad, what should be done to minimize or reverse it..?
"
Much, much more information is needed before we'll know the answers to these
questions. And whether there will be major implications for civilization on
earth will depend on those answers. This is a very interesting and
important area of environmental research.
So, Benjamin, I guess the best answer to your question is, "We don't
know"... ...but we're trying to find out..!
Wendell Bechtold, Meteorologist
Forecaster, National Weather Service
Weather Forecast Office, St. Louis, MO
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Update: June 2012
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