Sea-Level Rise
The Arctic ice cap is a large sheet of sea ice that contains an estimated 680,000 cubic miles of water. If the global climate were to warm significantly as a result of the greenhouse effect or other climactic change, this ice cap would start to melt (NASA, n.d.). More than 200 million people currently live on land that is less than 3 feet above sea level. There are several large cities in the world that have a low average elevation, including Miami, Florida at 7 feet, Shanghai, China at 13 feet, and Boston, Massachusetts at 14 feet. In this part of the project you are going to estimate the rise in sea level if the ice cap were to melt and determine whether this event would have a significant impact on the people living in these three cities .
The surface area of a sphere is given by the expression, where is its radius. Although the shape of the earth is not exactly spherical, it has an average radius of 3,960 miles. Estimate the surface area of the earth to the nearest million square miles.
Oceans cover approximately 71% of the total surface area of the earth. How many square miles of the earth’s surface are covered by oceans ?
Approximate the potential sea-level rise if half the Arctic ice cap were to melt. This can be done by dividing the volume of water from the melted ice cap by the surface area of the earth’s oceans. Convert your answer into feet.
Discuss what your approximation of the potential sea-level rise implies for the cities of Miami, Boston, and Shanghai. What are some possible social, economic, or political impacts for these cities and the people who live there? Based on your specified impact, what could be an appropriate and ethical response?
The Antarctic ice cap contains approximately 6,300,000 cubic miles of water. Approximate the potential sea-level rise if half the Antarctic ice cap were to melt, and discuss the implications for the cities of Miami, Boston, and Shanghai.
