The Sea Is Rising, and Familiar Coastlines Won’t Look the Same When You’re Your Parents’ Age.
Let’s start out with a simple experiment. Go to your kitchen sink and put about half an inch of hot water in a liquid measuring cup or a glass. Then get a single ice cube, drop it in, and see what happens. Everyone who tries this is will have varying water temperatures, naturally, so cubes will melt at different speeds. The result will be the same, though: eventually, you’ll end up with no ice and a higher water level. Ice in warm water melts even faster than ice left out in a warm room.
Now imagine that on a larger scale—in fact, we want you to imagine that on a worldwide scale—and you have a rough idea of what’s happening in the Earth’s oceans.
THE OCEAN TODAY
Ice once stored in glaciers or ice sheets is melting in places like Greenland and Antarctica. “Ice melt has begun because of a warm ocean and because of a warm atmosphere,” says Harold Wanless, chair of the Department of Geological Science at the University of Miami. “There’s no way to stop it, and it is accelerating.” United States government estimates put sea level rise at between 4.1 and 6.6 feet (1.2 and 2 m) by the end of the century. Wanless believes it could be closer to 15 or 30 feet (4.6 or 9.1 m). Melting ice is not the only reason that sea level will rise, shorelines will retreat, and islands will disappear, but it’s the easiest one to replicate in your kitchen.
The risk to low-lying islands and coastal areas is real. Many will be gone or on their way out by 2050. Take a look at a map of a familiar coast. It may not look like that at all when you’re grown up.
“How do you get the heat out of the ocean?” Wanless says. That’s what people call a rhetorical question—one that doesn’t have an answer. “We’re in for it, period.”
Bu hikaye Muse Science Magazine for Kids dergisinin February 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Giriş Yap
Bu hikaye Muse Science Magazine for Kids dergisinin February 2017 sayısından alınmıştır.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Giriş Yap
A Mars Rock Found With Leopard Spots Could Be a Sign of Ancient Life
IN JULY, NASA'S PERSEVERANCE ROVER CAME ACROSS A SPOTTED ROCK IN WHAT WAS ONCE A RIVERBED IN THE JEZERO CRATER ON MARS.
Para Athlete Uses Exoskeleton Suit to Carry the Olympic Torch
In July, a 36-year-old French tennis para athlete, Kevin Piette, got a chance to participate in this summer’s Olympic torch relay without using a wheelchair.
Ancient Egyptians May Have Used a Water System to Lift Stones to Build Pyramid
HOW ANCIENT EGYPTIANS BUILT THE MASSIVE PYRAMIDS IN EGYPT MORE THAN 4,000 YEARS AGO HAS LONG BEEN A TOPIC OF WONDER AND DEBATE.
Seals Can Make Big Dives Thanks to Their Big Hearts
SEALS AND SEA LIONS, WHICH ARE SEMI-AQUATIC MAMMALS, CAN HOLD THEIR BREATHS UNDERWATER FOR ESPECIALLY LONG PERIODS OF TIME.
THE BIG-CITY LIFE OF STEVEN J.BIKE SHOP RABBIT IN BROOKLYN, NEW YORK
Bicycle Roots is a full-service bike shop. It's in the heart of Brooklyn, New York. Joe Lawler is the co-owner and service manager. Perhaps more important, he's \"dad\" to the shop's most popular employee. That's Steven J. Lawler.
Wild Ones
WHAT FACTORS DRIVE PEOPLE TO BUY MONKEYS, TIGERS, AND OTHER WILD ANIMALS?
HOW TO CONQUER THE WORLD
A brief history
What would happen if meteors hit Earth?
You may have seen Ameteors fly into Earth's atmosphere, in the form of shooting stars.
WORKING WORMS
DON'T JUST THROW THOSE TABLE SCRAPS AWAY! LET A BOX OF WORMS TURN THEM INTO SOMETHING USEFUL.
Dog Rescue Saves Lives
THE ARGUMENT FOR ADOPTING A NO-KILL GOAL