The documentary film "Chasing Ice" is an award winning documentary about the unprecedented depletion and melting of ice mass and glaciers due to climate change. The documentary features the incredible video-graphing project headed by James Balog together with the Extreme Ice Survey. In this documentary, the viewers would be appalled by the truth behind ice calving and the melting of the ice, and how fast they melt due to global warming.
As one of the viewers, I was stunned by the documentary, specifically because the documentary showed how quickly the ice are melting. In about a short period of time, the large glaciers featured in the documentary had receded by a significant length. Moreover, I have become more aware of the climate change. The first part of the film showed how the public and media sometimes misunderstand climate change, especially the term global warming. In general, global warming refers to the gradual increase of global temperature, while the term climate change refers to the erratic changes in weather, climate, and seasons due to factors including global warming. However, people sometimes misunderstood the term global warming. For instance, I have encountered some arguments stating that cold winters are proofs that global warming is a myth. Actually, the colder and longer winters can be evidence of climate change, which can be tracked down to global warming. These misconceptions add to the fact that people should be informed thoroughly with how climate change is shaping the global climate, and how global warming accelerates and intensifies climate change.
As proven by the time-lapse photography by James and his team, global warming also affects the glaciers and other ice masses. To be specific, the gradual increase in the global temperature melts the ice faster than they are created during winters. The faster melting of the ice masses and glaciers can be due to larger ice calving, deposition of cryoconite within ice masses and glaciers, and the formation of moulins. In the documentary, the time-lapse videography showed a large ice calving on one of the glaciers in Greenland. The ice mass that broke off the glacier was so large, and to think that it happened so fast was an eye opener.
This evidence proves that climate change is a serious problem that must be provided with effective solutions. Note that climate change does not just affect mankind, but the rest of the biosphere. In reality, several species have adapted greatly according to particular climate changes, which gives us more reason to think of solutions as quickly as possible. Moreover, the documentary stated that the melting of the ice might be irreversible. In general, the colder season and the warmer season balances the volume of the ice masses and glaciers. During the warmer season, the ice goes thinner, while during the colder season, the ice goes thicker. However, there is a critical point that when the ice gets too thin, the climate does not matter anymore, and the ice would get thinner and thinner. In short, this process would become irreversible.
As a southern Californian, we may not be directly affected by the fast melting of the ice masses and glaciers. However, note that there are consequences to the fast, irreversible melting of these ice masses and glaciers. As these ice and glaciers melt, the sea level rises. In chemistry, we know that the density of ice is less than the density of water, which means that when water turns to ice, the total volume decreases. Needless to say, when ice melts, the volume of water that would be added to the oceans would be greater than the volume of the ice that melted. As an effect, the sea level rises accordingly, which is problematic to low lying and coastal lands. But most importantly, the fast, irreversible melting of these ice masses and glaciers is an evidence of global warming, suggesting that we should act now to save the planet.
Perfect Model Essay On Chasing Ice
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WowEssays. (2023, March, 08) Perfect Model Essay On Chasing Ice. Retrieved November 05, 2024, from https://www.wowessays.com/free-samples/perfect-model-essay-on-chasing-ice/
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Perfect Model Essay On Chasing Ice. Free Essay Examples - WowEssays.com. https://www.wowessays.com/free-samples/perfect-model-essay-on-chasing-ice/. Published Mar 08, 2023. Accessed November 05, 2024.
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