Arctic Sea Ice

Animals in the arctic rely on sea ice how we rely on a house. Polar bears, seals, walrus and many more use sea ice as a resting place. They dive into the sea and once they get tired they need land to be close so they can rest, hunt, breed and give birth. The less ice there is the less food female polar bears will find which indirectly affects their reproductive success and impacts our polar bear population. Although birds rest on mountain tops, they hunt their food through small cracks in and on top of the ice. As the ice melts, these birds have no way to get close to the water for food, which has already dropped the number of ivory gulls in Canada by over ninety percent in the last twenty years. Walrus use sea ice for travel as well as use it to dive to the sea floor. There are many animals in the Arctic that rely heavily on sea ice and are already feeling the affects from the sea ice melt

Some people believe that the natural resources in the Arctic need to be researched and utilized. It is estimated that some areas of the Arctic Circle have ninety billion gallons of undiscovered oil. This means major money for countries if they tap into not only the oil but the natural gas as well. As the Arctic contains almost a quarter of untapped global gas resources. However, it is quite risky as we do not have resources in the Arctic in case of an oil spill. More importantly, the arctic is a sensitive environment that has luckily been left alone. Introducing heavy machinery and so many people would heavily disrupt the wildlife and put them at an even greater risk.

We as humans have put our needs and wants before animals and created factories that pump out loads of pollution all due to us thinking we are the superior species on earth. Some people may argue that those animals do not need the ice as much as we need these companies that put out these vast amounts of emissions. We do rely on them to produce and send goods to us as well as other things, but their methods are not sustainable. We, as individuals need realize even if it is small, any change is good change. Although these companies pump out vast amounts of emissions, we can make change by simply biking to work instead of driving. Even switching to fluorescent bulbs or using less water can help.

There is over 95% probability that our own human activities have warmed the planet in the last 50 years. We have created a civilization that depends heavily upon the industrial activities that are causing this warming. The arctic is where one would assume that these massive ice forms would not be affected by these small percentage increases in earths temperature. However, the change is more apparent in the Arctic as you see ice falling off and going into the ocean. The less ice we have the less heat is getting reflected away from us. We need these ice sheets and forms to help keep us cool not just with their temperature but with their reflecting capabilities. This makes the warming in the Arctic extremely important.

Sources

National Snow and Ice Data Center. NSIDC Arctic News and Analysis RSS. (2021, May 5). http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/

NASA. (2020, October 6). Arctic Sea Ice Minimum. NASA. https://climate.nasa.gov/vital-signs/arctic-sea-ice/.

Arctic Climate Change. Arctic Climate Change: 5. How will animals be affected by Arctic warming? (n.d.). https://www.greenfacts.org/en/arctic-climate-change/l-2/5-arctic-animals.htm.

Bryce, E. (2019, August 3). Why Is There So Much Oil in the Arctic? LiveScience. https://www.livescience.com/66008-why-oil-in-arctic.html.