The increasing temperature of our planet is drastically damaging the state of Antarctica. One of the effects of the increasing temperatures is the melting of ice caps. Ice caps are disappearing at an alarming rate and the ice is not replenishing. Scientists are concerned that the Arctic ice caps will be long gone before we can do anything to slow down global warming.
The scariest part is that what happens in the Arctic doesn’t stay in the Arctic. The increasing rate of ice caps melting is causing faster sea level rise across the globe. If this trend continues major cities along the coast like Miami and New Orleans will be underwater. Humans can also be affected by the many diseases that will be released from the melting glaciers. For many years bacteria and chemicals that are harmful to humans were trapped in the caps. Now that these ice caps are melting many of the once frozen bacterias are being flushed into the surrounding bodies of water.
Many animals in the Arctic are too being affected by the disappearing glaciers. Krill, a type of crustacean which is very important to the ecosystem, are projected to have a declining population due to the melting of ice caps. Krill depend on the ice caps for shelter and potential food. If the Krill population dies out then other animals that depend on Krill as their only food source will die out. If that happens the entire food web will be thrown into chaos, and soon enough that will be it for the ecosystem. Mrs. James, a science teacher here at Rio said, “ It’s very sad that the arctic is melting. So many animals are suffering, and not enough people know about it.”
It is truly sad that we have caused all this damage and let it go ignored. Us humans are doing a terrible job of taking care of our planet. If we keep this up Antarctica will look like a completely different place than we know it.