Ever imagined that Arctic ice would be no more some day. Well yes, scientists have made this shocking revelation owing to the climate change. Till now, we have been hearing news of continuous reduction in the ice levels of the Arctic Sea. Scientists across the world have been warning of climate change and global warming for quite long now. But, the world has not given much emphasis on the fact and as a result, we are afraid that Arctic ice may be a history by 2040.
The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme carried out a study comprising of more than 90 scientists, founding that the estimates for the melting of the Arctic sea have been underrated.
It was found out that from the past 50 years, the area had been warming at twice the speed compared to the rest of the world. As well as, a substantial reduction in the snow cover has been witnessed in the Arctic region.
Scientists said that the one and only thing that could help simplify the foreseen effects of climate change on the Arctic sea and the rest of the world is to cut greenhouse gas emissions. They also mentioned that the point of no return for the ice in Arctic sea has surpassed.
The Arctic sea is losing glaciers at a quick pace due to global warming. Another study has notified that it will be free of ice by 2040, 30 years before the prior evaluation of 2070. The Arctic sea has been sea hazardously melting away over the past few years. It is resulting in the sinking of the ice by more than half.
A lot of incidental activities like droughts, floods and heat waves are caused by the melting away of the glaciers in the Arctic sea.The ocean currents and the winds which affect the monsoon across the world are affected by the activities in the Arctic. This also affects the production of food, rise in sea level affecting the coastal cities.
In order to cut global warming, the production of carbon dioxide must be reduced. As it heats up the environment, and the glaciers and ice melts away.
According to NASA, between 1976 and 1996, the sea ice loss in the Arctic sea was on average 8,300 square miles per year, as compared to 19,500 square miles per year between 1996 and 2013. These figures clearly show that it had more than doubled in that period.
An enormous scheme to add more ice to the Arctic has been suggested by a scientist at Arizona State University. He said that this may help in decelerating down the rising global temperature. But it will cost taxpayers $500 billion over 10 years.
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