EESA01H3 Chapter Notes - Chapter 14: Carbon Footprint, Kyoto Protocol
Document Summary
As ocean water absorbs atmospheric c02, it becomes ore acidic, which impairs the growth of coral and other organisms whose exoskeletons consist of calcium carbonate. Greenland s glaciers race to the sea y greenland s ice sheet is massive, nearly 3 km at its thickest point, and covers approximately 1. 7 million km2-an area larger than the entire province of. If the entire ice sheet were to melt, global sea level would rise by a whopping. 7 m. y y the ice sheet, like all perennial ice masses, gains mass by accumulating snow y y y during cold weather; which becomes packed into ice over time. It loses mass as surface ice melt in warm weather; generally at the periphery, where ice is thinnest or contacts seawater. If melting and runoff outpace accumulation, the ice sheet shrinks. In regions where precipitation and stream flow increase, erosion and flooding will pollute and alter aquatic systems.
