My Topic - Melting Of The Ice Caps

Ice loss from glaciers and ice caps is expected to cause more global sea rise during this century than the massive Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, according to a new University of Colorado at Boulder study.

The researchers found that glaciers and ice caps are currently contributing about 60 percent of the world’s ice to the oceans and the rate has been markedly accelerating in the past decade. The contribution is presently about 100 cubic miles of ice annually — a volume nearly equal to the water in Lake Erie — and is rising by about three cubic miles per year.

While warming temperatures will likely cause many small high mountain glaciers in North America and Europe to disappear by the end of the century, large ice fields and ice caps will continue to produce large amounts of meltwater, Meier said. The scientists also believe many “cold” polar glaciers and ice caps will soon warm up enough to begin melting and contributing to sea rise.