Question

One of the consequences of global climate change is increased snow and ice melt. In what ways will these melting activities influence albedo and subsequent climatic trends?

Answer 1

The increase in snow and ice melting leads to a number of natural disasters and this is caused due to global warming. The excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and pollution causes temperature to rise and this tends to melt the ice and snow on the higher elevations. Albedo is basically the Earth’s measure of reflectivity and it is basically the measure of solar energy that is reflected back into the surface of the Earth. Due to the global warming, the Antarctic sea ice is melting and also there is loss of Arctic ice. The ice is disappearing and hence it tends to expose the ocean to the sun rays. This tends to cause loss of habitat for organisms which live in such cold condition.

When the snow cover and ice melts, the albedo goes down and due to this more temperature increases due to the ability of the area to absorb sunlight. Once the ice cover is removed, the area absorbs more sunlight and hence everything around becomes warmer. Hence, lower the albedo, the higher is the sun radiation absorbed on the planet surface and this leads to increase the temperature. When the albedo is high, Earth is more reflective and since the radiation returns to space, the planet cools down.