THE CRYOSPHERE
The cryosphere is the component of the Earth that is composed of all solid, frozen water found on Earth. It includes water storage areas such as glaciers, icebergs, snow-covered areas, and sea ice!
What is the cryosphere?
CLIMATE CHANGE + THE CRYOSPHERE
The rise in global temperatures is causing ice caps to melt. ​​
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Due to melting ice caps, sea levels will rise 1-4 feet by 2100! Every year, the sea rises 0.13 inches.
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If the West Antarctic Ice Sheet melted, global sea level would rise 8 meters.
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Sea ice is shrinking 14% per decade. Satellites show there is about 770,000 square miles less sea ice than the 1981 to 2010 median.
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Impacts of melting ice and rising sea levels.
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Sea level rising causes destructive erosion, wetland flooding, soil contamination, and lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants.
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Higher sea levels are coinciding with more dangerous hurricanes and typhoons.
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In addition, rising sea levels lead to flooding, which has forced people to migrate to higher ground. Millions more are vulnerable to flooding.
The melting of ice caps leads to more unnatural warming.​
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Climate change is causing soils in the polar regions to thaw. As it thaws, carbon trapped within the soils is released as carbon dioxide and methane. These gases trap heat in the atmosphere and lead to more unnatural warming.
BIOSPHERE
The biosphere includes all living things from plants and animals to fungi and bacteria and any place you can find life on or around Earth.
What is the biosphere?
What happens in the cryosphere does not stay in the cryosphere.
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The cryosphere, the icy part of our planet, is interconnected with the other parts of the Earth systems. As a result, what occurs in the cryosphere affects the whole Earth!
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CLIMATE CHANGE + THE BIOSPHERE
Melting sea ice affects arctic life.
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A 1.5°C rise may put 20-30% of species at risk of extinction.
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Many Arctic life forms, such as polar bears, seals, seabirds, and walruses rely on the presence of sea ice.
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Without sea ice, polar bears are put at risk of death by hunger and exhaustion. According to WWF, the continued decline in sea ice will reduce the global population of polar bears by two-thirds, to less than 10,000, by 2050. Polar bears in the Hudson Bay area suffered 15% declines in both average weight and number of cubs born between 1981 and 1998.
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Increasing sea levels affects marine ecosystems.
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Increased depth of the ocean reduces the amount of light that reaches offshore organisms This affects species, such as seagrass, that are dependent on shallow water for photosynthesis.
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Rising sea levels will also challenge mangrove ecosystems, which require stable sea levels for long-term survival.​