Ice Melting And Global Warming — Reasons For Increased Floods?
If you are wondering why the title makes no sense, we are with you. Before we began the research on this topic, we were as surprised as you. How can ice melting happening thousands of miles away in no man’s land be the cause of something that’s as common as floods? Well, it turns out that all the glaciers melting in the arctics are indirectly increasing the frequency of floods. Let’s analyze how.
Floods are one of the most common natural disasters and now global warming and climate change are adding to it because of the increase in sea levels. Even though floods are not man-made disasters, some of the reasons for their cause are human-driven, such as the way we manage the drainage systems. They occur because of extreme rainfall and weather conditions and modern infrastructures have to be maintained properly to avoid casualties. Global warming causes more water to evaporate, hence leading to more rainfall and snow with high intensities. Not only floods, other extreme conditions such as drought also arise due to climate change which is not a good sign.
Climate Changes
As soon as we hear the words ‘snow’ and ‘ice’ an entire image of arctic and antarctic regions are formed in our minds. Not many people have visited the arctic and antarctic regions to visualize this image but we are sure you would have seen them in national geographic or movies, of course!
The icy part of the planet also known as the cryosphere is interconnected with other parts of the earth too. Ice reflects the sun’s energy much better than land or water. With less ice, the Earth absorbs more energy and heats up faster. Therefore this climate change causes the temperature to rise, which in turn leads to ice melting. How does this increase the sea level? The melting of ice alone does not raise the sea level. Glaciers that lose their ice fronts tend to flow faster and this process introduces a body of ice into the ocean which was not there previously. Because this body of ice floats on the water it displaces its own volume.
Sea level has been rising about 1–2 millimetres every year as the earth becomes warmer and warmer. Certain glaciers and ice sheets like the Greenland Ice Sheet and the West Antarctic Ice Sheet are particularly vulnerable. Climate change and global warming cause them to be less stable and add more ice into the ocean water, thereby increasing the chances of floods. It is predicted that if the Greenland Ice Sheet melts, the global sea level would rise by around 6.5m. Similarly, if the West Antarctic Ice Sheet melts the global sea level would rise by around 8m. Sounds scary right? Such increased sea levels can lead to extensive flooding in many areas.
Impact Of Global Warming
Global warming is the long term heating of the earth’s climate system, a phenomenon that has been prevalent since the pre-industrial period, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in an increase in greenhouse gas levels in the atmosphere. This has had varying effects on different parts of the world, each no less deadly than the other. With some parts of the world being torched by disastrous forest fires, some have been ravaged by intensified rainfalls, consequently leading to floods.
Greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide, trap some of the Earth’s outgoing energy, thus retaining more heat in the atmosphere. A warmer atmosphere retains more moisture, resulting in an increase in the intensity of rainfalls. At this rate, we are slowly cascading into a future of heavy rainfalls and frequent flooding, and we can see that happening in front of our eyes too, right? According to the World Meteorological Organization, floods have killed more than 60,000 people in the last 50 years. So, this is a deadly phenomenon that has the potential to kill thousands if let out of control.
Prevention
Well, the scary part is over, now let’s move on to how we can prevent this from happening. On a gross level, keeping a check on climate change can be a useful way to avoid some of the worst-case happenings including sea-level rise and flood risks. According to IPCC, limiting global average temperature rise to within 1.5 degrees in this century will be crucial to prevent many future weather extremes, including many that contribute most to flooding and heavy rainfall. We should take ambitious climate action to control things. We should not forget the discussions and the suggestions from the Paris Climate Agreement, as well as the measures that our country is taking, including the alternative sources of energy generation and automotive fuel efficiency standards, that can help our surroundings and reduce the pollution which is climate-changing.
Floods can be prevented by certain techniques since we can’t stop them entirely.
- The green infrastructure should be promoted and there can be updated maps that enhance the new climate realities and can help people to locate to higher grounds.
- There could be extreme weather events which have been confirmed by various researches, hence the need now is to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases and avoid a destructive consequence.
If you think flood prevention can happen only at a gross level and not an individual level, you are highly mistaken. Since the current scenario is alerting us of a major flood, there is an urgent need to take directive measures along with certain changes that should begin from our homes. Being the head and shoulders of living beings we have a responsibility to ensure a balanced environment for us and future generations. The lifestyle today has a lot to do with the way we are seeing our environment being changed and specifically saying, it is deteriorating in quality. Not only do we need to ensure that the environment is fit for us to live in, but also our future generations. It’s our duty and responsibility that we need to continue until doomsday. After all, what good are we, if we make the world a worse place for our children?
Final Word
So that, dear readers, brings us to the end of yet another interesting article from Daksh, the official techno-management fest of SASTRA Deemed to be University. Thanks so much for reading. If you have made it to the end of the article, we have for you in this week’s recommendation list, James Cameron’s “Avatar”. There are also amazing movies like “Contagion” which is highly relevant to today’s COVID-19 scenario, and Wil Smith’s “I am Legend” which is a real tearjerker. Let us know how you liked it in the comments if you’ve already watched any of these! Don’t forget to share this piece with your friends and family, one tap for you means a ton to us. Ciao!
