query: The melting ice has led to global sea level rise of around eight inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880.

positive: Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly .   Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. .  Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century .   Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems .

positive: Greenland ice sheet The Greenland ice sheet ( Grønlands indlandsis , Sermersuaq ) is a vast body of ice covering 1710000 km ² , roughly 80 % of the surface of Greenland .   It is the second largest ice body in the world , after the Antarctic ice sheet . The ice sheet is almost 2400 km long in a north-south direction , and its greatest width is 1100 km at a latitude of 77 ° N , near its northern margin . The mean altitude of the ice is 2135 m . The thickness is generally more than 2 km and over 3 km at its thickest point . It is not the only ice mass of Greenland -- isolated glaciers and small ice caps cover between 76000 and around the periphery . If the entire 2850000 km3 of ice were to melt , it would lead to a global sea level rise of 7.2 m . The Greenland Ice Sheet is sometimes referred to under the term inland ice , or its Danish equivalent , indlandsis . It is also sometimes referred to as an ice cap .

negative: Retrogradation Retrogradation is the landward change in position of the front of a river delta with time . This occurs when the mass balance of sediment into the delta is such that the volume of incoming sediment is less than the volume of the delta that is lost through subsidence , sea-level rise , and/or erosion . As a result , retrogradation is most common :  during periods of sea-level rise which results in marine transgression . This can occur during major periods of global warming and the melting of continental ice sheets .  with extremely low sediment input .

negative: Arctic resources race The Arctic resources race refers to the competition between global entities for newly available natural resources in the Arctic . As the ice in the Arctic melts at a record rate and the sea ice extent continues to decrease due to global climate change , the Arctic waters become more navigable and Arctic resources -- such as oil and gas , minerals , fish , as well as tourism and new trade routes -- are becoming more accessible . Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea , five nations have the legal right to exploit the Arctic 's natural resources within their exclusive economic zones : Canada , Russia , Denmark , Norway , and the United States ( though the U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty , it considers the treaty to be customary international law and abides by it ) .   The Arctic region and its resources have recently been at the center of controversy and pose potential conflicts between nations that have differing opinions of how to manage the area , including conflicting territorial claims . In addition , the Arctic region is home to an estimated 400,000 indigenous people . If the ice continues to melt at the current rate , then these indigenous people are at risk of being displaced . The acceleration of ice depletion will contribute to climate change as a whole : melting ice releases methane , ice reflects incoming solar radiation , and without it will cause the ocean to absorb more radiation ( albedo effect ) , heating up the water causing more ocean acidification , and melting ice will cause a rise in sea level .

negative: Regional effects of global warming Regional effects of global warming are long-term significant changes in the expected patterns of average weather of a specific region due to global warming . The world average temperature is rising due to the greenhouse effect caused by increasing levels of greenhouse gases , especially carbon dioxide . When the global temperature changes , the changes in climate are not expected to be uniform across the Earth . In particular , land areas change more quickly than oceans , and northern high latitudes change more quickly than the tropics , and the margins of biome regions change faster than do their cores .   Regional effects of global warming vary in nature . Some are the result of a generalised global change , such as rising temperature , resulting in local effects , such as melting ice . In other cases , a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system . In such cases , the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend . The increasing temperatures from greenhouse gases have been causing sea levels to rise for many years .   There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate : melting or forming ice , changing the hydrological cycle ( of evaporation and precipitation ) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere . The coast can also be considered a region , and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise .

negative: Climate inertia Climate inertia describes the widespread inherent characteristic of the climate , ecological , and socio-economic systems . Inertia from anthropogenic impacts may be slow to become apparent , or could be irreversible if climate change crosses associated thresholds . Melting ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica take time to respond to the emissions of fossil fuel carbon in the climate system . The global warming also causes thermal inertia , thermal expansion of the oceans , which contributes to sea level rise . It has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 meters for each degree of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years .

negative: Ryssberget Ryssberget is a hill in the municipality of Sölvesborg , in the southeastern Swedish province of Blekinge . Ryssberget is made up of some of the oldest stone in Blekinge , so-called metavulcanites created about 1700 million years ago .   As the ice age came to an end , the ice melted away creating the Baltic Glacier lake . This covered most of what is now mainland Blekinge and Scania . The highest level of the lake can be seen on Ryssberget and is called the highest coast line . As the glaciers continued to melt , land began to rise and this created in turn what is now the Baltic Sea .

negative: Ice2sea Ice2sea is a program of scientific research funded by the European Union 's Framework 7 Programme to study the effects of climate change on glaciation and the melting of ice caps and glaciers on sea level . The ice2sea project , a collaborative of 24 research institutions , which is headed by Prof David Vaughan , aims to reduce the uncertainty in sea-level projections which are of great economic and social importance to the European Union , especially as large areas of coastal area in Europe are below or less than a metre above sea level .   The 2007 fourth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) report highlighted ice sheets * as the most significant remaining uncertainty in projections of sea-level rise . Understanding about the crucial ice-sheet effects was `` too limited to assess their likelihood or provide a best estimate of an upper bound for sea-level rise '' .   Improved scientific results from ice2sea will feed directly into the fifth IPCC report ( due in 2013 ) to generate more accurate sea-level rise projections .   The initiative recently funded research by scientists from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research in Germany , which was published in Nature in 2012 , which predicts the disappearance of the 450000 km2 vast Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf in east Antarctica by the end of the century which could add up to 4.4 mm of rise of sea level each year due to its melting alone .

negative: Tipping points in the climate system A tipping point in the climate system is a threshold that, when exceeded, can lead to large changes in the state of the system. Potential tipping points have been identified in the physical climate system, in impacted ecosystems, and sometimes in both. For instance, feedback from the global carbon cycle is a driver for the transition between glacial and interglacial periods, with orbital forcing providing the initial trigger. Earth's geologic temperature record includes many more examples of geologically rapid transitions between different climate states.Climate tipping points are of particular interest in reference to concerns about global warming in the modern era. Possible tipping point behaviour has been identified for the global mean surface temperature by studying self-reinforcing feedbacks and the past behavior of Earth's climate system. Self-reinforcing feedbacks in the carbon cycle and planetary reflectivity could trigger a cascading set of tipping points that lead the world into a hothouse climate state.Large-scale components of the Earth system that may pass a tipping point have been referred to as tipping elements. Tipping elements are found in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, possibly causing tens of meters of sea level rise. These tipping points are not always abrupt. For example, at some level of temperature rise the melt of a large part of the Greenland ice sheet and/or West Antarctic Ice Sheet will become inevitable; but the ice sheet itself may persist for many centuries. Some tipping elements, like the collapse of ecosystems, are irreversible.

negative: Konrad Steffen Konrad `` Koni '' Steffen ( born 1952 ) is a glaciologist and the former director of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder , a position he held from 2005 until he took office as the director of the Swiss Federal Institute for Forest , Snow and Landscape Research on July 1 , 2012 . He is known for his research into Arctic sea ice and the glaciers of Greenland , and how they are affected by global warming . He has often traveled to Greenland to study these glaciers firsthand ; for example , when studying Petermann Glacier for three weeks in 2004 , Steffen did so from a camp set up 4,000 feet up the flanks of the glacier 's ice cap . He also operates a network of 20 weather stations on the Greenland ice sheet , the first of which , Swiss Camp , he established in 1990 . He has argued that due to this ice sheet melting faster than anticipated , sea levels could rise by about 3 feet by 2100 , considerably higher than the IPCC 's upper limit of 59 cm , and that Greenland might lose all its ice in 10,000 years , but Antarctica would take considerably longer , since it is so much bigger .

negative: Cap carbonate Cap carbonates are layers of distinctively textured carbonate rocks which typically form the uppermost layer of sedimentary sequences reflecting major glaciations in the geological record .   The rising temperatures , and increased oceanic surface area - due to reduced ice cover and rising sea levels - at the end of a glaciation increase the rate of precipitation .   High concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide ( CO2 ) must build up in the atmosphere to overcome the effect of the high reflectivity ( albedo ) of ice and allow temperatures to rise sufficiently to begin melting .   Increased precipitation dissolves carbon dioxide from the atmosphere , falling as a weak carbonic acid - acid rain .   This would weather exposed silicate and carbonate rock , including readily-attacked glacial debris , which would release large amounts of calcium . When washed into the ocean , these precipitate to form distinctively textured layers of carbonate sedimentary rock .   A heavily debated cap carbonate appears at the top of the Gaskiers glaciation , believed by many to be global in extent .

negative: Global warming in Tuvalu Global warming is a concern in Tuvalu since the average height of the islands is less than 2 m above sea level , with the highest point of Niulakita being about 4.6 m above sea level . Tuvalu could be one of the first nations to experience the effects of sea level rise . Not only could parts of the island be flooded but the rising saltwater table could also destroy deep rooted food crops such as coconut , pulaka , and taro .

negative: Canadian Arctic Archipelago The Canadian Arctic Archipelago , also known as the Arctic Archipelago , is a group of islands north of the Canadian mainland .   Situated in the northern extremity of North America and covering about 1424500 km2 , this group of 36,563 islands in the Arctic Sea comprises much of the territory of Northern Canada -- most of Nunavut and part of the Northwest Territories . The Canadian Arctic Archipelago is showing some effects of global warming , with some computer estimates determining that melting there will contribute 3.5 cm to the rise in sea levels by 2100 .

negative: James O'Brien (oceanographer) James O'Brien ( born August 10 , 1935 , died September 20 , 2016 ) is the emeritus Robert O. Lawton Professor of Meteorology and Oceanography at Florida State University . He believes sea levels are rising but predicts a more modest 18 in rise instead of 6 ft by 2100 targeted by some other scientists . He stated that `` sea level in Florida is going to continue to rise period . Unless we go back into an Ice age , we will continue to rise at over 8 in in 10 year . That 's without any global warming . ''

negative: Ice-albedo feedback Ice-albedo feedback ( or snow-albedo feedback ) is a positive feedback climate process where a change in the area of snow-covered land , ice caps , glaciers or sea ice alters the albedo . This change in albedo acts to reinforce the initial alteration in ice area . Cooling tends to increase ice cover and hence the albedo , reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed and leading to more cooling . Conversely , warming tends to decrease ice cover and hence the albedo , increasing the amount of solar energy absorbed , leading to more warming .   The effect also applies on the small scale to snow-covered surfaces . A small amount of snow melt exposes darker ground which absorbs more radiation , leading to more snowmelt .   The effect has mostly been discussed in terms of the recent trend of declining Arctic sea ice .   Internal feedback processes may also potentially occur , as land ice melts and causes eustatic sea level rise , and also potentially induces earthquakes as a result of isostatic rebound , which further acts to disrupt glaciers , ice shelves , etc. .

negative: Jonathan M. Gregory Jonathan M. Gregory FRS is a climate modeller working on mechanisms of global and large-scale change in climate and sea level on multidecadal and longer timescales . He is currently a senior scientist in the Climate Division of NERC 's National Centre for Atmospheric Science ( NCAS-Climate ) , located in the Department of Meteorology at the University of Reading ; and a Research Fellow in climate change at the Met Office Hadley Centre .   A 2004 study , led by Gregory and published in the journal Nature , predicted that the Greenland ice sheet is likely to be eliminated as a consequence of global warming , resulting in a rise in global sea-levels by 7 meters over the next 1000 years or more .   He was a co-ordinating Lead Author of the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report chapter 11 Changes in Sea Level , and a contributing author to the sea level chapter in the IPCC Second Assessment Report '' . Gregory was also a co-Lead Author of the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report chapter 5 Observations : Oceanic Climate Change and Sea Level , and chapter 10 Global Climate Projections . IPCC was a co-recipient ( with Al Gore ) of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize for its work on climate change .   In 2010 Jonathan Gregory was awarded an Advanced Grant by the European Research Council to carry out research on sea level change .   In 2017 Jonathan Gregory was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society .

negative: Duncan Wingham Duncan John Wingham ( born 12 October 1957 ) is a British physicist who is Professor of Climate Physics at University College London , and was the first Director of the Centre for Polar Observation & Modelling . He is chief executive of the Natural Environment Research Council and Principal Scientist for the CryoSat Satellite Mission .   In the 1990s , Wingham was involved in a four-year satellite study of the Antarctic ice sheet . His conclusion then , and from later research , is that the Antarctic has contributed little to observed rising sea levels in the 20th century . However , he has also stated that `` it is possible that the consequences of global warming on sea level rise have been underestimated ... Other sources of rise must be underestimated . In particular it is possible that the effect of global warming on thermal expansion -LSB- on the oceans -RSB- is larger than we thought '' .   In a 2005 interview Wingham stated '' -LSB- t -RSB- he Antarctic is to some extent insulated from global warming because to its north are zonal flows in the atmosphere and ocean , unimpeded by other landmasses ... I am not denying global warming . ''

negative: Global warming in Antarctica The effects of global warming in Antarctica may include rising temperatures and increasing snow melt .

negative: Besh Barmag Mountain Besh Barmag ( Beş Barmaq ) literally translated as Five Finger Mountain , is in Siazan District of Azerbaijan , not far from the Caspian Sea .   It rises to 382 m above the sea level overlooking the Baku-Quba Highway . The mountain is a solid rock and is one of the most famous mountains in the Caucasus , known for its mythical stories . It is a sacred place for regular visitation by pilgrims .   Tide marks on the mount attest to meltwater inundation from the northern glacial ice caps and date back to the end of the last ice age . The tidelines confirm the theory of a Holocene outflow of meltwater from the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea , rather than a direct incursion of sea water into the Black Sea as a result of global sea level rise . Estimates of the increase in Caspian Sea level height are between + 20 and 30 meters .

negative: Future sea level The rate of global mean sea-level rise ( ~ 3 mm/yr ; SLR ) has accelerated compared to the mean of the 20th century ( ~ 2 mm/yr ) , but the rate of rise is locally variable . Factors contributing to SLR include decreased global ice volume and warming of the ocean . On Greenland , the deficiency between annual ice gained and lost tripled between 1996 and 2007 . On Antarctica the deficiency increased by 75 % . Mountain glaciers are retreating and the cumulative mean thickness change has accelerated from about − 1.8 to − 4 m in 1965 to 1970 to about − 12 to − 14 m in the first decade of the 21st century . From 1961 to 2003 , ocean temperatures to a depth of 700 m increased and portions of the deeper ocean are warming .   The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( 2007 ) projected sea level would reach 0.18 to 0.59 m above present by the end of the 21st century but lacked an estimate of ice flow dynamics calving . Calving was added by Pfeffer et al. ( 2008 ) indicating 0.8 to 2 m of SLR by 2100 ( favouring the low end of this range ) . Rahmstorf ( 2007 ) estimated SLR will reach 0.5 to 1.4 m by the end of the century . Pielke ( 2008 ) points out that observed SLR has exceeded the best case projections thus far . These approximations and others indicate that global mean SLR may reach 1 m by the end of this century . However , sea level is highly variable and planners considering local impacts must take this variability into account .

negative: Exodus (Bertagna novel) Exodus is a science fiction novel written for teens to young adults by Julie Bertagna , published in August 2002 . The story is set on an island faced with the problem of a rising sea level , caused by melting ice caps and other forms of global warming . Mara must think of a way to save herself , the other villagers and , most importantly , the world . The book was short-listed for the Whitbread Children 's Book of the Year in 2002 . Exodus is part of a trilogy ; the sequel to the book is Zenith , published in 2007 , followed by Aurora , published in 2011 .   Julie Bertagna was inspired to write this book in 1999 , when she learned of two South Pacific Islands being engulfed by the sea as a result of global warming , forcing the people to find higher land . Bertagna started to investigate into the topic of global warming and the stories inspired her to write Exodus and its sequel Zenith .  The purpose of the book is to inform young readers about global warming and convince them that something must be done about it .

negative: Meltwater pulse 1A Meltwater pulse 1A ( MWP1a ) is the name used by Quaternary geologists , paleoclimatologists , and oceanographers for a period of rapid post-glacial sea level rise during which global sea level rose between 16 m and 25 m in about 400 -- 500 years , giving mean rates of roughly 40 -- 60 mm/yr . Meltwater pulse 1A is also known as catastrophic rise event 1 ( CRE1 ) in the Caribbean Sea . The rates of sea level rise associated with meltwater pulse 1A are the highest known rates of post-glacial , eustatic sea level rise . Meltwater pulse 1A is also the most widely recognized and least disputed of the named , postglacial meltwater pulses . Other named , postglacial meltwater pulses are known most commonly as meltwater pulse 1A0 ( meltwater pulse 19ka ) , meltwater pulse 1B , meltwater pulse 1C , meltwater pulse 1D , and meltwater pulse 2 . It and these other periods of rapid sea level rise are known as meltwater pulses because the inferred cause of them was the rapid release of meltwater into the oceans from the collapse of continental ice sheets .

negative: Paleoflooding The phenomenon of paleoflooding is apparent in the geologic record over various spatial and temporal scales . It often occurred on a large scale , and was the result of either glacial ice melt causing large outbursts of freshwater , or high sea levels breaching bodies of freshwater . If a freshwater outflow event was large enough that the water reached the ocean system , it caused changes in salinity that potentially affected ocean circulation and global climate . Freshwater flows could also accumulate to form continental glacial lakes , and this is another indicator of large-scale flooding . In contrast , periods of high global sea level ( often during interglacials ) could cause marine water to breach natural dams and flow into bodies of freshwater . Changes in salinity of freshwater and marine bodies can be detected from the analysis of organisms that inhabited those bodies at a given time , as certain organisms are more suited to live in either fresh or saline conditions .

negative: Bentley Subglacial Trench Bentley Subglacial Trench is a vast topographic trench in Marie Byrd Land , West Antarctica , 80 ° S , 115 ° W . At 2,555 meters ( 8,382 ft ) below sea level , it is the lowest point on the surface of the earth not covered by ocean , although it is covered by ice . Normally , it is not counted as the lowest point on land , since the overlying ice sheet makes it essentially subterranean . ( See Extremes on Earth and Vestfold Hills ) Also , if the ice melted , the area would be under water .   The trench was named in 1961 after Charles R. Bentley who was the geophysicist in charge of the scientific expeditions in West Antarctica in 1957 -- 59 that led to its discovery .

negative: Calvert, Queensland Calvert is a suburb of Ipswich , Queensland , Australia . At the 2011 Australian Census the suburb recorded a population of 281 . The Main Line railway passes through Calvert as does Western Creek , a tributary of the Bremer River . A 2014 flood mapping study of the Western Creek catchment has provided more reliable flood information to residents and landowners . In the northern extents elevations rise to 340 metres above sea level around Mount Grandchester No. 2 . which is part of the Little Liverpool Range . The landscape in the southern parts of Calvert is mostly used for agriculture .

negative: Flandrian interglacial The Flandrian interglacial or stage is the name given by geologists and archaeologists in the British Isles to the first , and so far only , stage of the Holocene epoch ( the present geological period ) , covering the period from around 12,000 years ago , at the end of the last glacial period to the present day . As such , it is in practice identical in span to the Holocene . Present climatological theory ( based on analysis of Milankovitch cycles ) forecasts that the present Flandrian climate should decline in temperature towards a global climate similar to that of the ice age . Less orbital eccentricity may have the effect of moderating this temperature downturn .   The Flandrian began as the relatively short-lived Younger Dryas climate downturn came to an end . This formed the last gasp of the Devensian glaciation , the final stage of the Pleistocene epoch and is traditionally seen as the latest warm interglacial in a series that has been occurring throughout the Quaternary geological period .   The first part of the Flandrian , known as the Younger Atlantic , was a period of fairly rapid sea level rise , known as the Flandrian transgression and associated with the melting of the Fenno-Scandian , Scottish , Laurentide and Cordilleran glaciers .   Fjords were formed during the Flandrian transgression when U-shaped glaciated valleys were inundated with water .

negative: Ice rise An ice rise is a clearly defined elevation of the otherwise totally flat ice shelf , typically dome-shaped and rising 100 to 200 metres above the surrounding ice shelf . An ice rise forms where the ice shelf touches the rocky seabed because of an elevation in the seabed that remains below sea level . ( In contrast , an elevation in the seabed that extends above sea level is defined as an island ) . The ice shelf flows over the seabed elevation , completely covering it with ice , thereby forming an ice rise . The resulting tension forms crevasses around the ice rise .   An island within and totally covered by the ice shelf , may appear the exactly the same as an ice rise . Elaborate measurements may be required to distinguish between these two geographic features .   Although ice rises are typically located within the ice shelf area , they can partially face the open sea . Ice rises are found only on the ice shelves of Antarctica . The largest ice rises exceed dimensions of 50 by 200 km , or 10 000 km ² in area . Some ice rises are incorrectly called islands , but also a few totally ice-covered islands within an ice shelf are also called ice rises .   Ice rises , grouped by ice shelf , clockwise starting in East Antarctica :  Brunt Ice Shelf  McDonald Ice Rumples  Riiser-Larsen Ice Shelf  Lyddan Island  King Baudouin Ice Shelf  Derwael Ice Rise  Amery Ice Shelf  Budd Ice Rumples  IR1 to IR5 near the ice front  Shackleton Ice Shelf  Green Ice Rises ( the northernmost ice rise , at 66 ° 21 'S )  Harrisson Ice Rises  Ross Ice Shelf  Crary Ice Rise ( the southernmost ice rise , at 82 ° 56 'S )  Crosson Ice Shelf  Davis Ice Rise  Bach Ice Shelf  Burgess Ice Rise  Dvořák Ice Rise  Ives Ice Rise  Landy Ice Rises  George VI Ice Shelf  Martin Ice Rise  Wilkins Ice Shelf  Petrie Ice Rises  Schaus Ice Rises  Vere Ice Rise  Wordie Ice Shelf  Coker Ice Rise  Linchpin Ice Rise  Miller Ice Rise  Napier Ice Rise  Reynolds Ice Rise  Wade Ice Rise  Müller Ice Shelf  Humphreys Ice Rise  Larsen-C Ice Shelf  Bawden Ice Rise  Gipps Ice Rise  Tharp Ice Rise  Filchner-Ronne Ice Shelf  Berkner Island  Korff Ice Rise  Henry Ice Rise  Fowler Ice Rise  Skytrain Ice Rise  Doake Ice Rumples  Dott Ice Rise  Fletcher Ice Rise  Hemmen Ice Rise  Kealey Ice Rise  Kershaw Ice Rumples   Henry and Korff Ice Rises are the largest ice rises , with areas of roughly 1 500 to 1 600 km ² .

negative: Ice sock An ice sock is a sock filled with ice , used by cyclists participating in brevets ( long-distance rides ) to avoid overheating . A white athletic sock is filled with ice , which the cyclist drapes around his/her neck . This is a low-cost and effective method to keep the cyclist 's temperature in check and prevent overheating .   Other mentions of ice socks include cold weather sock products to offer feet protection against cold weather , as well as ice melt socks to prevent ice dams on roofs .

negative: Bann drainage The Lower River Bann flows from Lough Neagh , the largest freshwater lake in the British Isles , for 60 km ( 35 miles ) , to the Barmouth between Castlerock and Portstewart , where it discharges into the sea . From the end of the last ice age , Lough Neagh has flowed along this natural valley , but a couple of constrictions controlled the flow and led to large fluctuations in the water level along the shoreline , disrupting farming activities on a large scale .  The drainage and navigation system has been significantly modified twice in the last couple of centuries to increase the reliability of farmland .

negative: Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years .   In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing .   Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years .   Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) ,  whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change .   Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned .

negative: Kame delta A kame delta ( or ice-contact delta , morainic delta ) is a glacial landform formed by a stream of melt water flowing through or around a glacier and depositing material , known as kame ( stratified sequence of sediments ) deposits . Upon entering a proglacial lake at the end ( terminus ) of a glacier , the river/stream deposit these sediments . This landform can be observed after the glacier has melted and the delta 's asymmetrical triangular shape is visible . Once the glacier melts , the edges of the delta may subside as ice under it melts . Glacial till is deposited on the lateral sides of the delta , as the glacier melts .

negative: Global change Global change refers to planetary-scale changes in the Earth system . The system consists of the land , oceans , atmosphere , polar regions , life , the planet 's natural cycles and deep Earth processes . These constituent parts influence one another . The Earth system now includes human society , so global change also refers to large-scale changes in society .   More completely , the term `` global change '' encompasses : population , climate , the economy , resource use , energy development , transport , communication , land use and land cover , urbanization , globalization , atmospheric circulation , ocean circulation , the carbon cycle , the nitrogen cycle , the water cycle and other cycles , sea ice loss , sea-level rise , food webs , biological diversity , pollution , health , over fishing , and more .

negative: Ritacuba Blanco Ritacuba Blanco is the highest peak of Cordillera Oriental , in the Andes Mountains of Colombia . It 's also named Ritak ` uwa , an ancient name from the U'wa indigenous people that live in the lowlands of the National Park Sierra Nevada del Cocuy y Güicán , where the Ritacuba Blanco is located .  The summit is accessible from the west via the town of El Cocuy , the village of Güicán and the hamlet of Las Cabañas . The hike is fairly easy , but weather is not reliable , and a glacier must be crossed .  Because of global warming , its glacier is melting at very high rates , backing down 25 linear mts per year ; same is happening at amazing speeds to all other snow-covered tropical mountains in Colombia . In 1950 , Ritacuba Blanco 's glacier extended down to 4,500 m above sea level ; in January 2007 its lowest point was at 4,800 m above sea level . If this melting rate continues , the glacier is expected to disappear before 2025 .

negative: Nils-Axel Mörner Nils-Axel Mörner ( born 1938 ) , is the former head of the paleogeophysics and geodynamics department at Stockholm University . He retired in 2005 . He was president of the International Union for Quaternary Research ( INQUA ) Commission on Neotectonics ( 1981 -- 1989 ) . He headed the INTAS ( International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union ) Project on Geomagnetism and Climate ( 1997 -- 2003 ) . He is a critic of the IPCC and the notion that the global sea level is rising . He was formerly the Chairman of INQUA Commission on Sea Level Changes and Coastal Evolution , and led the Maldives Sea Level Project .


query: Most people expect this year will see a record low in the Arctic’s summer sea-ice cover.

positive: Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world 's five major oceans . The International Hydrographic Organization ( IHO ) recognizes it as an ocean , although some oceanographers call it the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply the Arctic Sea , classifying it a mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean . Alternatively , the Arctic Ocean can be seen as the northernmost part of the all-encompassing World Ocean .   Located mostly in the Arctic north polar region in the middle of the Northern Hemisphere , the Arctic Ocean is almost completely surrounded by Eurasia and North America . It is partly covered by sea ice throughout the year and almost completely in winter . The Arctic Ocean 's surface temperature and salinity vary seasonally as the ice cover melts and freezes ; its salinity is the lowest on average of the five major oceans , due to low evaporation , heavy fresh water inflow from rivers and streams , and limited connection and outflow to surrounding oceanic waters with higher salinities . The summer shrinking of the ice has been quoted at 50 % . The US National Snow and Ice Data Center ( NSIDC ) uses satellite data to provide a daily record of Arctic sea ice cover and the rate of melting compared to an average period and specific past years .

positive: Arctic ice pack The Arctic ice pack is the ice cover of the Arctic Ocean and its vicinity . The Arctic ice pack undergoes a regular seasonal cycle in which ice melts in spring and summer , reaches a minimum around mid-September , then increases during fall and winter . Summer ice cover in the Arctic is about 50 % of winter cover . Some of the ice survives from one year to the next . Currently 28 % of Arctic basin sea ice is multi-year ice , thicker than seasonal ice : up to 3 - thick over large areas , with ridges up to 20 m thick . As well as the regular seasonal cycle there has been an underlying trend of declining sea ice in the Arctic in recent decades .

positive: Arctic sea ice decline Arctic sea ice decline is the sea ice loss observed in recent decades in the Arctic Ocean . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fourth Assessment Report states that greenhouse gas forcing is largely , but not wholly , responsible for the decline in Arctic sea ice extent . A study from 2011 suggested that internal variability enhanced the greenhouse gas forced sea ice decline over the last decades . A study from 2007 found the decline to be `` faster than forecasted '' by model simulations . The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report concluded with high confidence that sea ice continues to decrease in extent , and that there is robust evidence for the downward trend in Arctic summer sea ice extent since 1979 . It has been established that the region is at its warmest for at least 40,000 years and the Arctic-wide melt season has lengthened at a rate of 5 days per decade ( from 1979 to 2013 ) , dominated by a later autumn freezeup . Sea ice changes have been identified as a mechanism for polar amplification .

negative: Antarctic sea ice Antarctic sea ice is the sea ice of the Southern Ocean . It extends far north in winter and retreats almost to the coastline each summer . Sea ice is frozen seawater that is usually less than a few meters thick . This is in contrast to ice shelves , which are formed by glaciers , float in the sea , and are up to a kilometer thick . There are two subdivisions of sea ice : fast ice , which is attached to land ; and ice floes , which are not .   Sea ice in the Southern Ocean melts from the bottom instead of from the surface like Arctic ice because it is covered in snow . As a result , melt ponds are rarely observed . On average , Antarctic sea ice is younger , thinner , warmer , saltier , and more mobile than Arctic sea ice . Due to its inaccessibility , it is not as well-studied as Arctic ice .

negative: Arctic dipole anomaly The Arctic dipole anomaly is a pressure pattern characterized by high pressure on the arctic regions of North America , and a low pressure on the Eurasia region . This pattern sometimes replaces the Arctic oscillation and the North Atlantic Oscillation . It was observed for the first time in the first decade of 2000s and is perhaps linked to recent climate change . The Arctic dipole lets more southern winds into the Arctic ocean resulting in more ice melting . The summer 2007 event played an important role in the record low sea ice extent which was recorded in September . The Arctic dipole has also been linked to changes in arctic circulation patterns that cause drier winters in Northern Europe , but much wetter winters in Southern Europe and colder winters in East Asia , Europe and the eastern half of North America .

negative: Arctic The Arctic ( -LSB- ˈɑrktɪk -RSB- or -LSB- ˈɑrtɪk -RSB- ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth . The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean , adjacent seas , and parts of Alaska ( United States ) , Canada , Finland , Greenland ( Denmark ) , Iceland , Norway , Russia and Sweden . Land within the Arctic region has seasonally varying snow and ice cover , with predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra . Arctic seas contain seasonal sea ice in many places .   The Arctic region is a unique area among Earth 's ecosystems . For example , the cultures in the region and the Arctic indigenous peoples have adapted to its cold and extreme conditions . In recent years , Arctic sea ice decline has been caused by global warming . Life in the Arctic includes organisms living in the ice , zooplankton and phytoplankton , fish and marine mammals , birds , land animals , plants and human societies . Arctic land is bordered by the subarctic .

negative: Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 The Great Arctic Cyclone , or `` Great Arctic Cyclone of 2012 , '' was an extratropical cyclone which centered on the Arctic Ocean in early August , 2012 . Such storms are rare in the Arctic summer , although common in the winter . The Great Arctic Cyclone was the strongest summer storm and the 13th strongest storm observed at any time since satellite observations began in 1979 .   Although the Great Arctic Cyclone did not cause the record melting of sea ice which occurred in 2012 , turbulence resulting from the storm is believed to have contributed to melting of sea ice due to the rise of warmer saltier water from below .

negative: Sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes . Because ice is less dense than water , it floats on the ocean 's surface ( as does fresh water ice , which has an even lower density ) . Sea ice covers about 7 % of the Earth 's surface and about 12 % of the world 's oceans . Much of the world 's sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earth 's polar regions : the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean . Polar packs undergo a significant yearly cycling in surface extent , a natural process upon which depends the Arctic ecology , including the ocean 's ecosystems . Due to the action of winds , currents and temperature fluctuations , sea ice is very dynamic , leading to a wide variety of ice types and features . Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs , which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean . Depending on location , sea ice expanses may also incorporate icebergs .

negative: 2013 extreme weather events The 2013 extreme weather events included several all-time temperature records in Northern and Southern Hemisphere . The February extent of snow cover in Eurasia and North America was above average , while the extent of Arctic ice in the same month was 4,5 % below the 1981 -- 2010 average . The Northern Hemisphere weather extremes have been linked to the melting of Arctic sea ice , which alters atmospheric circulation in a way that leads to more snow and ice .   By January 11 , 233 weather-related deaths were reported in India . Elsewhere , particularly in Russia , the Czech Republic and the United Kingdom , low temperatures affected wildlife , delaying bird breeding and disrupting the bird migration . On January 10 Bangladesh faced the lowest temperature since country 's independence , at 3.0 ° C in Saidpur . While Finland and most of Northern European countries got the record high , and even the highest temperatures at Europe during May and June , Western - and Middle Europe faced much cooler weather and even their wettest May and June ever . During summer prolonged heat waves in the Northern Hemisphere set new record high temperatures .   On March 24 , 2014 , the secretary-general of the World Meteorological Organization Michel Jarraud announced that `` many of the extreme events of 2013 were consistent with what we would expect as a result of human-induced climate change '' .

negative: Measurement of sea ice Measurement of sea ice is important for safety of navigation and for monitoring the environment , particularly the climate . Sea ice extent interacts with large climate patterns such as the North Atlantic oscillation and Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation , to name just two , and influences climate in the rest of the globe .   The amount of sea ice coverage in the arctic has been of interest for centuries , as the Northwest Passage was of high interest for trade and seafaring . There is a longstanding history of records and measurements of some effects of the sea ice extent , but comprehensive measurements were sparse till the 1950s and started with the satellite era in the late 1970s . Modern direct records include data about ice extent , ice area , concentration , thickness , and the age of the ice . The current trends in the records show a significant decline in Northern hemisphere sea ice and a small but statistically significant increase in the winter Southern hemisphere sea ice .   Furthermore , current research comprises and establishes extensive sets of multi-century historical records of arctic and subarctic sea ice and uses , among others high-resolution paleo-proxy sea-ice records . The arctic sea ice is a dynamic climate-system component and is linked to the Atlantic multidecadal variability and the historical climate over various decades . There are circular changes of sea ice patterns but so far no clear patterns based on modeling predictions .

negative: Arctic resources race The Arctic resources race refers to the competition between global entities for newly available natural resources in the Arctic . As the ice in the Arctic melts at a record rate and the sea ice extent continues to decrease due to global climate change , the Arctic waters become more navigable and Arctic resources -- such as oil and gas , minerals , fish , as well as tourism and new trade routes -- are becoming more accessible . Under the United Nations Convention of the Law of the Sea , five nations have the legal right to exploit the Arctic 's natural resources within their exclusive economic zones : Canada , Russia , Denmark , Norway , and the United States ( though the U.S. has yet to ratify the treaty , it considers the treaty to be customary international law and abides by it ) .   The Arctic region and its resources have recently been at the center of controversy and pose potential conflicts between nations that have differing opinions of how to manage the area , including conflicting territorial claims . In addition , the Arctic region is home to an estimated 400,000 indigenous people . If the ice continues to melt at the current rate , then these indigenous people are at risk of being displaced . The acceleration of ice depletion will contribute to climate change as a whole : melting ice releases methane , ice reflects incoming solar radiation , and without it will cause the ocean to absorb more radiation ( albedo effect ) , heating up the water causing more ocean acidification , and melting ice will cause a rise in sea level .

negative: Polar seas Polar seas is a collective term for the Arctic Ocean ( about 4-5 percent of Earth 's oceans ) and the southern part of the Southern Ocean ( south of Antarctic Convergence , about 10 percent of Earth 's oceans ) . In the coldest years , sea ice can cover around 13 percent of the Earth 's total surface at its maximum , but out of phase in the two hemispheres . The polar seas contain a huge biome with many organisms .   Among the species that inhabit various polar seas and surrounding land areas are polar bear , penguin , reindeer ( caribou ) , muskox , wolverine , ermine , lemming , Arctic hare , Arctic ground squirrel , whale , harp seal , and walrus . These species have unique adaptations to the extreme conditions . Many might be endangered if they can not adapt to changing conditions . Contrary to popular opinion , the World Wildlife Fund studies for polar bears show that this species has prospered since 1950 , attaining five times the numbers found in 1950 . In general , Arctic ecosystems are relatively fragile and slow to recover from serious damage .

negative: Climate change in the Arctic The effects of global warming in the Arctic , or climate change in the Arctic include rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly , observed in recent years . Potential methane release from the region , especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates , is also a concern . The Arctic warms twice as fast compared to the rest of the world . The pronounced warming signal , the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming , it is often seen as a leading indicator of global warming . The melting of Greenland 's ice sheet is linked to polar amplification . According to a study published in 2016 , about 0.5 ◦ C of the warming in the Arctic has been attributed to reductions in sulfate aerosols in Europe since 1980 .

negative: Arctic vegetation In the Arctic , the low tundra vegetation clothes a landscape of wide vistas , lit by the low-angle light characteristic of high latitudes . Much of the Arctic shows little impact from human activities , making it one of the few places on earth one can see intac  ecosystems . Arctic plants are adapted to short , cold growing seasons . They have the ability to withstand extremely cold temperatures in the winter ( winter hardiness ) , but what is even more important is the ability to be able to function in limiting summer conditions .   Arctic plants have a compressed growing season : they initiate growth rapidly in the spring , and flower and set seed much sooner than plants that grow in warmer conditions . Their peak metabolic rate also occurs at a much lower temperature than plants from farther south . Compact cushions of vegetation keep the plants close to the warm soil and shield the tender central growing shoot . The height of Arctic plants is also governed by snow depth . Plants that protrude above the snow are subject to strong winds , blowing snow , and being eaten by caribou , muskox , or ptarmigan . Mosses and lichens are common in the Arctic . These plants have the ability to stop growth at any time and resume it promptly when conditions improve . They can even survive being covered by snow and ice for over a year .

negative: Wiesław Masłowski Wiesław Masłowski is a research professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey , California since 2009 . He obtained his MS from the University of Gdańsk in 1987 , and his PhD from the University of Alaska , Fairbanks in 1994 with a dissertation entitled `` Numerical modeling study of the circulation of the Greenland Sea '' . He became well known in 2007 for stating that the Arctic Ocean might be nearly ice free in the summer as early as 2013 , based on projection of the declining ice volume trend . While later revised to 2016 + / - 3 years based on computer modeling , this prediction became controversial when the Arctic was not sea-ice free in 2013 , having increased from the record low set in 2012 .

negative: Lincoln Sea Lincoln Sea is a body of water in the Arctic Ocean , stretching from Cape Columbia , Canada , in the west to Cape Morris Jesup , Greenland , in the east . The northern limit is defined as the great circle line between those two headlands . It is covered with sea ice throughout the year , the thickest sea ice in the Arctic Ocean , which can be up to 15 m thick . Water depths range from 100 m to 300 m. Water and ice from Lincoln Sea empty into Robeson Channel , the northernmost part of Nares Strait , most of the time .   The sea was named after Robert Todd Lincoln , then United States Secretary of War , on Adolphus W. Greely 's 1881 -- 1884 Arctic expedition into Lady Franklin Bay .   Alert , the northernmost station of Canada , is the only populated place on the shore of Lincoln Sea .   The body of water to the east of Lincoln Sea ( east of Cape Morris Jesup ) is Wandel Sea .

negative: Ice-albedo feedback Ice-albedo feedback ( or snow-albedo feedback ) is a positive feedback climate process where a change in the area of snow-covered land , ice caps , glaciers or sea ice alters the albedo . This change in albedo acts to reinforce the initial alteration in ice area . Cooling tends to increase ice cover and hence the albedo , reducing the amount of solar energy absorbed and leading to more cooling . Conversely , warming tends to decrease ice cover and hence the albedo , increasing the amount of solar energy absorbed , leading to more warming .   The effect also applies on the small scale to snow-covered surfaces . A small amount of snow melt exposes darker ground which absorbs more radiation , leading to more snowmelt .   The effect has mostly been discussed in terms of the recent trend of declining Arctic sea ice .   Internal feedback processes may also potentially occur , as land ice melts and causes eustatic sea level rise , and also potentially induces earthquakes as a result of isostatic rebound , which further acts to disrupt glaciers , ice shelves , etc. .

negative: Severnaya Zemlya Severnaya Zemlya ( Се́верная Земля́ ( Northern Land ) , -LSB- ˈsʲevʲɪrnəjə zʲɪˈmlʲa -RSB- ) is a 37,000 km2 archipelago in the Russian high Arctic . It lies off Siberia 's Taymyr Peninsula , separated from the mainland by the Vilkitsky Strait . This archipelago separates two marginal seas of the Arctic Ocean , the Kara Sea in the west and the Laptev Sea in the east . The largest glacier in the Russian Federation , the Academy of Sciences Glacier , is located in Severnaya Zemlya .   Severnaya Zemlya was first noted in 1913 and first charted in 1930 -- 32 , making it the last sizeable archipelago on Earth to be explored . Administratively , the islands form part of Russia 's Krasnoyarsk Krai federal subject . In Soviet times there were a number of research stations in different locations , but currently there are no human inhabitants in Severnaya Zemlya except for the Prima Polar Station near Cape Baranov .   Severnaya Zemlya is notable in connection with the ongoing multi-year Arctic sea ice decline . Until recently , ice joined the islands to Eurasia even at its smallest extent during the late summer melt season , blocking the Northeast Passage between the Atlantic and Pacific . By the late summer of 2012 , however , the permanent ice had reached a record low extent and open water appeared to the north of the archipelago .

negative: Lead–lag effect A lead -- lag effect , especially in economics , describes the situation where one ( leading ) variable is cross-correlated with the values of another ( lagging ) variable at later times .   In nature and climate , bigger systems often display more pronounced lag effects . The Arctic Sea Ice minimum is on September 17 , three months after the peak in daylight ( sunshine ) hours in the northern hemisphere , according to NASA .   For example , economists have found that in some circumstances there is a lead-lag effect between large-capitalization and small-capitalization stock-portfolio prices .   ( A loosely related concept is that of lead-lag compensators in control theory , but this is not generally referred to specifically as a `` lead-lag effect . '' )

negative: Ringed seals and climate change Ringed seals are the smallest and most abundant member of the seal family that live in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions . The average life span of a ringed seal is 40 years , with a diet based mainly on Arctic cod and planktonic crustaceans . Typically about 5 ft long , the ringed seal is known to be solitary with their main predator being polar bears . Recently , however , the biggest predator to ringed seals has been the changing temperature in the Arctic and the detrimental changes to sea ice that follow . With declines in snowpack and sea ice due to warming ocean and atmospheric temperatures , survival has become tougher for ringed seals in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions . Yet ringed seals are also potentially projected to thrive due to warming , considering the early extinction of their predators . Climate change is sure to change the fate of all ringed seals in the coming years for better or worse .

negative: Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean The Surface Heat Budget of the Arctic Ocean ( SHEBA ) study was a National Science Foundation-funded research project designed to quantify the heat transfer processes that occur between the ocean and the atmosphere over the course of a year in the Arctic Ocean , where the sun is above the horizon from spring through summer and below the horizon the rest of the time . The study was designed to provide data for use in global climate models , which scientists use to study global climate change .

negative: Drift ice Drift ice is any sea ice other than fast ice , the latter being attached ( `` fastened '' ) to the shoreline or other fixed objects ( shoals , grounded icebergs , etc. ) . Drift ice is carried along by winds and sea currents , hence its name . When drift ice is driven together into a large single mass ( > 70 % coverage ) , it is called pack ice . Wind and currents can pile up that ice to form ridges up to several metres in height . These represent a challenge for icebreakers and offshore structures operating in cold oceans and seas .   Drift ice consists of floes , individual pieces of sea ice 20 m or more across . There are names for various floe sizes : small -- 20 m to 100 m ; medium -- 100 m to 500 m ; big -- 500 m to 2000 m ; vast -- 2 km to 10 km ; and giant -- more than 10 km .   Seasonal ice drift in the Sea of Okhotsk by the northern coast of Hokkaidō , Japan has become a tourist attraction of this area with harsh climate , and is one of the 100 Soundscapes of Japan . The Sea of Okhotsk is the southernmost area in the Northern hemisphere where drift ice may be observed .   Drift ice affects :  Security of navigation  Climatic impact ( see Polar ice packs )  Geological impact  Biosphere influence ( see Ecology of sea ice )   The two major ice packs are the Arctic ice pack and the Antarctic ice pack . The most important areas of pack ice are the polar ice packs formed from seawater in the Earth 's polar regions : the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean . Polar packs significantly change their size during seasonal changes of the year . Because of vast amounts of water added to or removed from the oceans and atmosphere , the behavior of polar ice packs has a significant impact on global changes in climate .

negative: Dry Spell A dry spell is a weather condition

negative: Markgama Island Markgama , or Markham Island ( Остров Маркгама , literally `` Island of Markham '' ) is a small , isolated island in the southern region of the Kara Sea off the Sorevnovaniya Bay . This island has only sparse tundra vegetation and it is covered with snow most of the year . The coast of the Taymyr Peninsula is located 15 km to the southeast .   The island 's length is only 2 km and its maximum width 1.5 km . The sea surrounding it is covered with pack ice with some polynias in the long winter and there are many ice floes even in the summer .   Markgama belongs to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of the Russian Federation . It is also part of the Great Arctic State Nature Reserve -- the largest nature reserve of Russia and one of the biggest in the world .

negative: North American Arctic The North American Arctic comprises the northern portions of Alaska ( USA ) , Northern Canada and Greenland . Major bodies of water include the Arctic Ocean , Hudson Bay , the Gulf of Alaska and North Atlantic Ocean . The western limit is the Seward Peninsula and the Bering Strait . The southern limit is the Arctic Circle latitude of 66 ° 33 'N , which is the approximate limit of the midnight sun and the polar night .   The region is defined by environmental limits where the average temperature for the warmest month ( July ) is below 10 C . The northernmost tree line roughly follows the isotherm at the boundary of this region . The area has tundra and polar vegetation .

negative: Sea ice thickness Sea ice thickness spatial extent , and open water within ice packs can vary rapidly in response to weather and climate . Sea ice concentration are measured by satellites , with the Special Sensor Microwave Imager / Sounder ( SSMIS ) , and the European Space Agency 's Cryosat-2 satellite to map the thickness and shape of the Earth 's polar ice cover . The sea ice volume is calculated with the Pan-Arctic Ice Ocean Modeling and Assimilation System ( PIOMAS ) , which blends satellite-observed data , such as sea ice concentrations into model calculations to estimate sea ice thickness and volume . Sea ice thickness determines a number of important fluxes such as heat flux between the air and ocean surface -- see below -- as well as salt and fresh water fluxes between the ocean since saline water ejects much of its salt content when frozen -- see sea ice growth processes . It is also important for navigators on icebreakers since there is an upper limit to the thickness of ice any ship can sail through .

negative: Baffin Bay Baffin Bay ( Inuktitut : Saknirutiak Imanga ; Avannaata Imaa Baie de Baffin ) , located between Baffin Island and the southwest coast of Greenland , is a marginal sea of the North Atlantic Ocean . It is connected to the Atlantic via Davis Strait and the Labrador Sea . The narrower Nares Strait connects Baffin Bay with the Arctic Ocean . The bay is not navigable most of the year because of the ice cover and high density of floating ice and icebergs in the open areas . However , a polynya of about 80,000 km2 , known as the North Water , opens in summer on the north near Smith Sound . Most of the aquatic life of the bay is concentrated near that region .

negative: Polar climate The polar climate regions are characterized by a lack of warm summers . Every month in a polar climate has an average temperature of less than 10 C. Regions with polar climate cover more than 20 % of the Earth . The sun shines for long hours in the summer , and for many fewer hours in the winter . A polar climate results in treeless tundra , glaciers , or a permanent or semi-permanent layer of ice . It has cool summers and very cold winters .

negative: East Siberian Sea The East Siberian Sea ( Russian : -LSB- Восто́чно - Сиби́рское мо́ре , r = Vostochno-Sibirskoye more -RSB- ) is a marginal sea in the Arctic Ocean . It is located between the Arctic Cape to the north , the coast of Siberia to the south , the New Siberian Islands to the west and Cape Billings , close to Chukotka , and Wrangel Island to the east . This sea borders on the Laptev Sea to the west and the Chukchi Sea to the east .   This sea is one of the least studied in the Arctic area . It is characterized by severe climate , low water salinity , and a scarcity of flora , fauna and human population , as well as shallow depths ( mostly less than 50 m ) , slow sea currents , low tides ( below 25 cm ) , frequent fogs , especially in summer , and an abundance of ice fields which fully melt only in August -- September . The sea shores were inhabited for thousands of years by indigenous tribes of Yukaghirs , Chukchi and then Evens and Evenks , which were engaged in fishing , hunting and reindeer husbandry . They were then absorbed by Yakuts and later by Russians .   Major industrial activities in the area are mining and navigation within the Northern Sea Route ; commercial fishing is poorly developed . The largest city and port is Pevek , the northernmost city of mainland Russia .

negative: Water sky Water sky is a phenomenon that is closely related to ice blink . It forms in regions with large areas of ice and low-lying clouds and so is limited mostly to the extreme northern and southern sections of earth , in Antarctica and in the Arctic .   When light hits the blue oceans or seas , some of it bounces back and enables the observer to physically see the water . However , some of the light also is reflected back up on to the bottoms of low-lying clouds and causes a dark spot to appear underneath some clouds . These clouds may be visible when the seas are not and can show alert and knowledgeable travelers the general direction of water . The dark clouds over open water have long been used by polar explorers and scientists to navigate in sea ice . For example , Arctic explorer Fridtjof Nansen and his assistant Hjalmar Johansen used the phenomenon to find lanes of water in their failed expedition to the North Pole as did Bernacchi and Sir Douglas Mawson in the Antarctica .

negative: Saint Peter Islands The Saint Peter Islands , also known as Saint Petra Islands or Petra Islands ( Острова Петра , Ostrova Petra ) are two islands covered with tundra vegetation , shingle and ice . These islands , as well as some other islands nearby ( Ostrova Andreia , Ostrov Pavla ) were originally named after Christian Apostles . The climate is Arctic and severe with frequent blizzards in the winter . The sea surrounding these Islands is covered with fast ice most of the year and is obstructed by pack ice even in the summer , so that these islands are merged with the mainland and animals can go across the ice .   This island group belongs to the Krasnoyarsk Krai administrative division of Russia .  None of these islands have had much historical importance , except for the fact that they are located very close to the Northern Sea Route .

negative: Strandflat Strandflat is the low land on the coast and the near coast bottom of sea , typical for the landscape of the Norwegian coast . This landform is created in the Quaternary Period , and it is only to be found in arctic and antarctic areas that has been or is covered by ice , for instance Greenland and Svalbard . Strandflat is a geomorphological word of Norwegian origin , and is used in geology and geography .