Polar ice caps melting faster than expected

Definition of polar ice cap is basically a high-latitude region of our planet that is covered in ice. Polar ice caps form because high-latitude regions receive less energy in the form of solar radiation from the sun than other regions across the globe, resulting in lower surface temperatures, and of course ice.

Polar caps are melting much higher than expected, at such rapid pace that the world’s oceans are rising more than twice as fast compared to 1970s levels.

But how fast are polar caps melting? Well if we are to believe data from the latest study carried out by by Anny Cazenave of the National Centre for Space Studies in France polar caps are melting much higher than expected, at such rapid pace that the world’s oceans are rising more than twice as fast as they were in the 1970s. This data was gathered with the help of satellites where scientists observed and measured how the oceans are responding as billions of gallons of water reach them from melting ice sheets and glaciers.

Results are more than worrying as in the past 15 years sea levels have been rising at 3.4mm a year, much faster than the average 1.7mm recorded by tidal gauges over the past 50 years, and as Cazenave concluded “This rate, observed since the early 1990s, could reflect an acceleration linked to global warming.”If only this is the only ecological problem linked to global warming.