What is the purpose of the polar ice caps? what will happen to teh earth if + when it melt?

Question

What is the purpose of the polar ice caps? what will happen to teh earth if + when it melt?

Answer 1

polar ice caps reflect much of the suns rays.. these rays just bounce off instead of being absorbed into the earth as they would when they hit water.. if the caps melt, the area covered with water will increase and the ice will decrease so the amount of heat getting absorbed by the earth will increase and so the earth will get hotter...

Answer 2

The polar ice caps are basically large glaciers (frozen water in ice form) at the top of the Earth (North). Once they melt, the water held within them will release into the oceans. This will cause the sea level (amount of water in the oceans) to rise and flash flooding along with severe climate changes could occur from this. We could see lots of rainfall and if fish die because of the rising salt water, then bird will have nothing to eat and the whole ecosystem will become messed up and ultimately the world will be a disaster.

Answer 3

That is a scary and completely unsettle-ling question, unfortunately it is the coming future.  100 percent of all coastal cities will be flooded all small islands around the world will be covered with water and the population of these areas will move inland causing more over crowding in areas that are all ready over crowded with people.  Lost of farming lands will cause the lost of food creating it's own problems with hunger being the biggest problem of them all.

Here are some sites that might help you and others to get more info on the global warming and rising sea level problems that await us in the future.  some pics to look at.

Take care and good luck....Keep the Faith....PEACE....cya....