...ARCTIC VOL. 59, NO. 3 (SEPTEMBER 2006) P. 261 – 275 Possible Effects of Climate Warming on Selected Populations of Polar Bears (Ursus maritimus) in the Canadian Arctic IAN STIRLING1 and CLAIRE L. PARKINSON2 (Received 10 November 2005; accepted in revised form 25 January 2006) ABSTRACT. Polar bears depend on sea ice for survival. Climate warming in the Arctic has caused significant declines in total cover and thickness of sea ice in the polar basin and progressively earlier breakup in some areas. Inuit hunters in the areas of four polar bear populations in the eastern Canadian Arctic (including Western Hudson Bay) have reported seeing more bears near settlements during the open-water period in recent years. In a fifth ecologically similar population, no changes have yet been reported by Inuit hunters. These observations, interpreted as evidence of increasing population size, have resulted in increases in hunting quotas. However, long-term data on the population size and body condition of polar bears in Western Hudson Bay, as well as population and harvest data from Baffin Bay, make it clear that those two populations at least are more likely to be declining, not increasing. While the ecological details vary in the regions occupied by the five different populations discussed in this paper, analysis of passive-microwave satellite imagery beginning in the late 1970s indicates that the sea ice is breaking up at progressively earlier dates, so that bears must fast for longer...
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...on the other hand, is shorthand for biological diversity, and it is about the living world with which humanity not only co-exist but has evolved as a dependant part. The term biodiversity acknowledges that the natural world is a whole living system, and we are a part of it (Corlett & LaFrankie, 1998). The phase “climate change” and “global warming” are now a part of our lives and rarely does a day goes by without a mention, in the press or on the radio, of the possible causes of climate change and its consequences. This phenomenon has sneaked up on us in a somewhat short period of time and is accelerating at an alarming rate. It is perhaps the most serious problem that is threatening the civilized world today (Ninan, 2009). This paper postulates that climate change poses a serious threat on biodiversity. It will put forward evidence of how biodiversity has been affected worldwide, and will seek a solution to this problem 1.2. Biodiversity and its importance Simply put, biodiversity represents the fabric of life itself. It is comprised not only of numbers of species, but also includes the variety of all life forms and their genes as well as the communities and ecosystems of which they are a part of (Schwartz, 2007). According to Lovejoy & Hannah (2006), the consequences of climatic change for biodiversity are potentially profound considering that biodiversity provides the underpinning of the ecosystem services on which human societies are ultimately dependant...
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...TermPaperWarehouse.com - Free Term Papers, Essays and Research Documents The Research Paper Factory Join Search Browse Saved Papers Home Page » Science Melting of Ice Glaciers In: Science Melting of Ice Glaciers The melting of ice glaciers is considered to be a normal act of nature. The real problem occurs when “the snow replenishing it is less than the melted water.” (Mathias, 2011). This problem is occurring with the majority of glaciers around the world, with the size of the glaciers reducing causing an increase in the sea water levels. The primary culprit for the sudden melting of ice glaciers is the rapid industrialization and the burning of fossil fuels taking place. There are many negative effects on the earth because of the rapid melting of ice glaciers but the most prominent ones are global warming, shortage in fresh water and the rise in sea level. The human population has taken action to try and reduce the severity of these effects, and have been successful in doing so, but they are still very present. Global warming is a concern that is well-known by the majority of our population and a mutual effort of several countries to reduce the overall release of pollution and greenhouse gases was carried out through a contract called the “Kyoto Protocol.” This is one good example of the awareness of the issues that we as a planet are facing, and how we have tackled these severe issues. Glacier melting is on the rise and the effects...
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...He seems to ignore or at least not educate himself on the decades of scientific studies on global warming that predicted the climate change that’s happened. A paper published in the journal Science in August 1981 made several projections regarding future climate change and global warming based on manmade CO2 emissions. As it turns out, the researchers projections have proven to be very accurate and their forecasted future is now our present environment. And even with all the new science being published almost daily, Trump continues to dismiss the state of the planet and future effects. Very much like the climate deniers who push out misinformation and people in general who don’t understand climate science, Trump confuses weather and climate to try to disprove climate science: An easy search on goggle about the relationship between weather and the climate will explain that weather is the short-term variations in temperature, clouds, precipitation, humidity and wind, and climate is the long-term average of those characteristics. It is best explained as; “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” So, a snowstorm in Texas or Florida is a normal weather fluctuation and doesn’t disprove the growing trend of climate change. In another misstatement of facts, Trump suggests the ice isn’t melting in the Arctic and...
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...DEFINITION FROM WIKI (understand and write it yourself) In ecology, resilience is the capacity of an ecosystem to respond to a perturbation or disturbanceby resisting damage and recovering quickly. Such perturbations and disturbances can include stochastic events such as fires, flooding, windstorms, insect population explosions, and human activities such as deforestation and the introduction of exotic plant or animal species. Disturbances of sufficient magnitudeor duration can profoundly affect an ecosystem and may force an ecosystem to reach a threshold beyond which a different regime of processes and structures predominates.Human activities that adversely affect ecosystem resilience such as reduction of biodiversity, exploitation of natural resources,pollution, land-use, and anthropogenic climate change are increasingly causing regime shifts in ecosystems, often to less desirable and degraded conditions. Interdisciplinary discourse on resilience now includes consideration of the interactions of humans and ecosystems via socio-ecological systems, and the need for shift from the maximum sustainable yield paradigm to environmental management which aims to build ecological resilience through "resilience analysis, adaptive resource management, and adaptive governance". The concept of resilience in ecological systems was first introduced by the Canadian ecologist C.S. Holling in order to describe the persistence of natural systems in the face of changes in ecosystem variables...
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...The fast melting Arctic region has emerged as a conflicting and controversial topic for many countries. Due to the increasing effects of global warming, the Arctic icecap is said to be melting faster than expected. The meltdown has decreased the area covered by ice, substantially reducing the Arctic icecap to only half the size it was 50 years ago. This irreversible warming can be seen as beneficial due to its great economic potential and has consequently provided the Arctic with strong regional significance. This global issue of climate change is presenting numerous challenges to Canada and the United States. The Yukon Territory and Alaska, both located in the northwest, are directly experiencing the consequences of this meltdown. The neighboring allies will definitely witness a change in their special relationship while combating this issue of climate change. The three fronts which affect the Canada and U.S. relationship are environmental degradation in Alaska and Yukon, sovereignty and border disputes, and lastly the battle for the natural resources in the Arctic. The two approaches which will facilitate in comprehending and further analyzing these issues are realism and complex interdependence. Realism describes international politics as a struggle for power dominated by organized violence in an anarchic international system. Complex interdependence challenges the realist assumption while synthesizing elements of realism and liberalism. Complex interdependence rejects...
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...People against the Earth: Cycle of melting of ice caps in the environment It is very shocking to see how many people do not have the knowledge or the interest to educate themselves about one of the biggest issues of the Earth. There are many articles about the climate change in general, but this essay will answer a question what are the effects of melting ice caps on climate change? Firstly what is global warming and what is climate change? Global warming is just the Earth’s rising surface temperature and climate change is a bigger category and global warming is one part of its category. In another words global warming is one issue of a much larger problem of human caused climate change. Both of them are a commonly talked about issue among scientists since it causes many changes in the environment including the melting of ices which has an effect on all parts of the world. Because of the sea level rising there are, even if it is not a rapid increase, many devastating effects on land habitants, and also there is a threat of the next ice age. Firstly the melting of polar ice caps can affect countries, as continents. A lot of parts of the “now known” continents would totally disappear under the ocean; which would mean that people that live there now, would lose their homes and the number of people per square foot would rise rapidly. The sunk parts of the countries would affects also the fauna and flora. It is clear that many species are dying out now and also...
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...Composition II Research Paper Our atmosphere doesn't act as a single unit; it is made up of hundreds of different layers. Some of the energy released from Earth is stopped in each of these layers. The energy is then re-emitted in a random direction, but on average the energy is moving either "up" or "down." The atmospheres get thinner as altitude increases, so eventually the radiation will reach a layer high enough and thin enough to escape to space. If you increase the concentrations of a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, the thin upper layers will become denser. The place where the majority of the energy finally escapes moves higher, these higher levels are much colder and so they do not radiate heat very well. The rate that radiation escapes to space is lower, and the planet will take in more than it radiates. As the higher levels emit some of the excess radiation downwards, the lower levels will warm all the way down to the surface. The imbalance will remain until the higher levels get hot enough to radiate as much energy back out as the planet is receiving. Though all natural processes, they are not always helpful. On the other side of the spectrum, we as humans are not always helpful to the processes. Because of this, we find ourselves at a time of question. What are we doing to our planet and how will it affect us? Many are attempting to take action now, others try to not believe. Eventually, however, we are all going to see what we have truly been doing. Global warming...
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...ITA Occasional Paper August 2007 “Above-Ground” Issues Affecting Energy Development in the Arctic By Rachel Halpern Office of Energy and Environmental Industries Overview As opportunities to develop energy resources in the Arctic grow as a result of climate change and technical advances, companies wishing to participate will face not only technical challenges, but political, legal, and regulatory challenges, as well. The five Arctic countries considered in this paper (defined here as the countries that border the Arctic Sea – the United States, Canada, Norway, Denmark/Greenland, and Russia – see Figure 1 on next page for map) will likely see increased interest in the development of their Arctic resources in the coming decades and will have to begin considering how to address these challenges in order to take advantage of this interest. Each Arctic country has different policies, laws, and regulations regarding oil and gas development and transportation, and these differences will affect how and by whom resources are developed, and how and where they are transported. This paper describes 1) the reasons that energy companies will likely focus more of their attention on the Arctic; 2) the current state of knowledge of Arctic oil and gas resources; and 3) issues that will affect the development of Arctic oil and gas resources including boundary issues, access to resources, environmental restrictions, tax and regulatory issues, transportation challenges, and regional...
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...A Decision of Uncertainty A Decision of Uncertainty Paper There are decisions that people make where the outcome is presumably known and, there are the decisions that people make where the results are unknown. The latter part of the aforementioned statement is also known as decisions of uncertainty. To make these choices with more confidence, we will explore concepts that will formulate these judgments. We also have to include appropriate probability concepts that will help limit uncertainty in certain decisions. This paper will disclose the decision to reside in the tri-state area with the probability of destructive hurricanes occurring. Next this paper will reveal concepts and the outcome from the statistical analysis that was used to determine the final decision and, the tradeoffs between accuracy and precision required by various probability concepts. As a final point, this paper will demonstrate the effects the decision had on the data provided and the decision that was ultimately made. Probability Concepts and Application Hurricane Sandy hit Atlantic City, New Jersey on October 29, 2012. A 900-mile wide storm, Sandy affected the entire northeastern United States with devastating winds, rain and floods. New Jersey and New York suffered the worst from the super storm leaving thousands of people without power for days. People living in this area were not prepared or expected the storm to devastate the area as it did leaving homes and personal...
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...parts of the world will suffer. Some will even be destroyed.”— (British Prime Minister Tony Blair, September 2002) There are many environmental issues that seem to be recognized by humans in today’s society. The most important one to me is global warming because it is one of the most serious challenges facing today’s society. Throughout the world, Earth is showing several signs of climate change. Research has shown that Earth is warming rapidly than ever in the past 1000 years. Global warming is due to the substantial increase in greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide. The burning of fossil fuel has already raised levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to their highest for the last 20 million years. The most recent report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), shows there is clear evidence for a 1.1 degrees Fahrenheit (0.6 degrees Celsius) rise in global temperatures and a 7 ¼ in (20 cm) rise is sea level during the twentieth century (Maslin, 2007, p. 7). For example, Arctic ice is decreasing leaving polar bears suffering from the ice loss. The following paper includes what is global warming, causes of global warming, possible global warming effects, what the government doing to prevent global warming, and what is being done at the international level to address global warming. What is global warming? Oil and coal are two of the main problems behind global warming. Global warming is an increase in the earth’s atmospheric and oceanic temperatures widely...
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...field of global warming. We are continually bombarded with information that the Earth is experiencing a warming trend, and human activity is to blame. The pollution that man creates is adding to the earth’s greenhouse gases. The resulting affect of global warming is triggering warmer temperatures around the world, and ecosystems are taking the toll. One of the most publicized looming catastrophes is the plight of the polar bears. Once the glaciers are gone, the polar bear will be extinct in the wild. Although, scientists say it is caused by the pollution that humans are creating, global warming is a natural phenomenon. Snow capped mountains are a wondrous sight to behold, and can be found on every continent. But, these massive ice shelf’s have a purpose that many people take for granted. Many people do not realize that glaciers are responsible for part of the world’s water supply. Revkin (2003) states “The melting is likely to threaten water supplies in places like Peru and Nepal” (¶ 19). The result from the melting glaciers will raise water levels and potentially create devastating floods over time. The eventual outcome that these countries will face once the glaciers are gone is drought. Many communities are also dependent on hydroelectric dams and water reservoirs to create electricity. Once the glaciers are gone then what? Scientists think that without water from the glaciers to create electricity, these communities that are so dependent on the hydroelectric...
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...North Pole and then south toward Greenland (Adams 2014). While his name may never become a common household name without his brave and successful journey the world of oceanography may not be where it is today. All of these combined make him an excellent topic for an oceanography paper. Fridjof Nansen was more however then just an oceanographer. Before the Fram expedition he was already a well-recognized zoologist, and had been made the curator of zoology at eh Bergen Museum. As stated by Harald Sverdrup, “He wrote papers on zoological and histological subjects, illustrated by excellent drawings” (Sverdrup 2013). Shortly after this his interests moved to the physical side of oceanography. He became an oceanography instructor at the University of Kristina and on his two most successful artic expeditions most of the data was collected by Nansen himself (Sverdrup 2013). Before going on his famous expedition to the Arctic Ocean he had already began his work in oceanography by taking a group of five other men to Greenland’s icecaps to gain further knowledge on continental glaciers. Friftjof Nansen and his team of five men were successful in their expedition and became the first person to cross Greenland’s ice cap, and provided support to the isostatic rebound theory. This theory suggests that “when the Earth's crust sinks under a heavy weight, it will slowly return to its original position when that weight is removed.” His...
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...energy sources, we are highly dependent on burning coal for our personal and commercial electrical supply. 2. Global Warming Cause: Carbon dioxide emissions from burning gasoline for transportation Our modern car culture and appetite for globally sourced goods is responsible for about 33% of emissions in the U.S. [EPA pg. 8] With our population growing at an alarming rate, the demand for more cars and consumer goods means that we are increasing the use of fossil fuels for transportation and manufacturing. Our consumption is outpacing our discoveries of ways to mitigate the effects, with no end in sight to our massive consumer culture. 3. Global Warming Cause: Methane emissions from animals, agriculture such as rice paddies, and from Arctic seabeds Methane is another extremely potent greenhouse gas, ranking right behind CO2. When organic matter is broken down by bacteria under oxygen-starved conditions (anaerobic decomposition) as in rice paddies, methane is produced. The process also takes place in the intestines of herbivorous animals, and with the increase in the amount of concentrated livestock production, the levels of methane released into the atmosphere is...
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...Global Warming: Challenging the “Settled” Science In December of 1997, political leaders gathered in Kyoto, Japan to contemplate a world treaty restricting human production of “greenhouse gases,” in particular carbon dioxide (CO2). They worried that CO2 would result in a severe and sudden increase in earth’s temperatures, leading to environmental disasters on a global scale. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the preeminent body for the assessment of climate change, humans are responsible for the majority of global warming since 1900, including virtually 100% of the warming since 1970 (IPCC, 2007b, p. 39). In the years since Kyoto, there have been major efforts to bring about worldwide agreement to the treaty, including a recent climate summit—much publicized for its failings—held in Copenhagen. But not everyone is going along with the IPCC. Despite a continuing maelstrom of media hype and alarmist politics, the idea that the earth is warming at an unprecedented rate, due primarily to human influence, is quickly losing ground. This global warming backlash is due in large part to a growing chorus of skeptics and climate experts willing to challenge the prevailing science at the core of the movement. Over 31,000 scientists, including over 9,000 PhDs, have raised concerns over the IPCC’s findings. They have signed a petition stating that the organization’s claims are extreme, that the climate system is more complex than what is now known, and...
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