What effect does global warming have on the polar ice caps?

Answer 1

• Rising temperatures cause Arctic sea ice to melt earlier in the year, so polar bears are driven to go ashore without sufficient fat reserves to survive late summer and early autumn. Reduction of sea ice means they have to swim more, making them weaker. Some drown. Thinner sea ice makes it harder for them to catch seals. Poorly nourished female bears don't build suitable dens, don't produce as many cubs, and cubs that are born have a lower survival rate. The Western Hudson Bay subpopulation of polar bears are one of the best studied.
• Warming temperatures mean that ice-floe breakup in western Hudson Bay now happens three weeks earlier than it did 30 years ago, so the bears' feeding season is similarly shortened. The average weight of single female bears was about 290 kg in 1980. In 2004 the average weight was 230 kg. Bear population is Western Hudson Bay declined 22% between 1987 and 2004. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) live only in the northern arctic region of the planet, the region many people think of as the "North Pole". While they do not actually spend their entire lives on the ice, they depend on pack ice for their survival. Pack ice, also referred to as "ice floes", is ice which forms in arctic regions of the ocean, such as the Arctic Ocean in the north and the ocean surrounding Antarctica in the south.
• Global Warming is when Global Average Temperatures rise, causing the Earth to gradually become warmer; as the Earth warms, the pack ice begins to melt. Without pack ice Polar bears are in danger because they need pack ice to be able to feed. They travel over the sea ice looking for a tell-tale breathing hole those means that there is a seal underneath. They then jump on the ice to break through and then capture and eat the seal. Polar bears would generally be unable to catch enough food by any other hunting method. So, once the sea ice goes, then so do the polar bears in the wild.
• It could someday affect them greatly. Climate groups predict that, as the Arctic continues to grow in temperature due to climate change (global warming), two thirds of the world's polar bears could disappear by mid-century.
• For the best currently available scientific facts, and according to the 2011 International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List (a list of endangered and threatened species, which is one of the three major international endangered species lists cited officially in the Answers.com category of Endangered Species ~ for species that are listed under any status on the list ~ list version 2011.1), polar bears are listed as "Vulnerable." This is just one classification step down from "Endangered" on that listing.
• The Red List also indicates that the population trend is "Decreasing". And it says that, "Global climate change poses a substantial threat to the habitat of polar bears."
• The reduction in polar bear population is predicted by IUCN to be greater than 30% loss within 3 generations (45 Years), due to a decline in: area of occupancy, extent of occurrence, and habitat quality. This is related to the melting loss of sea ice, which is the hunting grounds of the bears.
• Also see a link to the 2011 Red List entry for polar bears below in the related links section.
• Although there are people who will contend that polar bears are not threatened because they are not in dire need of help (i.e., not even close to becoming extinct), polar bears are classified as being vulnerable. This classification means that they are threatened, just not as threatened as Giant Pandas. See above for why lack of sea ice means death -- and eventual extinction -- for polar bears, a species of bear which depends on sea ice while hunting.

Yes, they can only hunt for food on frozen sea ice and global warming is reducing the amount of sea ice and making it arive later and melt earlier - Thus polar bears are going hungry for longer in summer and having their hunting range reduced.

Answer 2

Global warming is changing the location of Earth's geographic poles, according to a study in Geophysical Research Letters1.

Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, report that increased melting of the Greenland ice sheet - and to a lesser extent, ice loss in other parts of the globe - have helped to shift the North Pole several centimetres east each year since 2005.

Answer 3

Polar animals, such as the polar bear, are largely affected, since the rise in temperature melts the snow and ice which is their habitat. Therefore many polar bears drown and die. They also have to swim large stretches to reach small islands where animals like seals mate. Since they are weakend after long periods of no food, they also have trouble attacking and eating other animals since they have no energy left. If they, however, don't find food, the only thing they can face is death.

Answer 4

No effect at all. Global warming is not real, except to scientists who get many dollars from the government to say it is real.

The north pole is affected by the millions-of-years-old North Atlantic Oscillation. This oscillation brings cold water for a period of years, then warmer water for a period of years, then cold water . . . and so forth.

Right now, there is a warm period going on. I just heard of a group of atmospheric scientists whose studies show that we may be starting another global cooling period . . . a little ice age. If that happens, the world will need every little bit of greenhouse gases possible to protect us from the cold.

Answer 5

North Pole.

• Arctic sea ice has been melting earlier and freezing later each year. This is making it difficult for polar bears to find enough food, as they stock up during winter months. Weakened females have fewer cubs, so the bear population is threatened.
  
• Warmer air is weakening the Polar Vortex, allowing blizzards and icy conditions to reach far south into the U.S.

South Pole

• Warmer ocean waters seem to be undermining the ice shelves and glaciers that run into the sea, allowing them to calve off into icebergs.
  
• Increased amounts of fresh water in the oceans are harming krill, the basic elements of the food chain.

Answer 6

Recent temperature increases have been greatest in polar region.

Answer 7

Because of the global warming the ice melts. And polar bears live on the ice so they have no habitat anymore if that happens. They'll fall in the water and drown of being exhausted.

Answer 8

Global warming is melting the ice caps causing the sea level to rise.

Answer 9

it melts the snow in the polar zones