Global Warming In Antarctica Essay

Global warming has been a highly debated topic for quite a bit of time now. Is it or is it not happening? Global warming is an increase of temperature that causes related changes in climate and the environment. This has been seen in Antarctica especially. The change of temperature in Antarctica due to global warming has had many effects on wildlife and the environment already. Although these effects many not seem big right now, there are many that will progress and continue to change Antarctica’s environment, depending on how the temperature changes. Temperatures have been rising constantly in Antarctica. Last April was the second warmest April in history, only behind the year before that (Waldman). The whole world is experiencing global

Currently, only about 0.3 percent of Antarctica has plant life on it (Waldman), but it is likely to increase as the temperature does. According to Mooney, a reporter for the Washington Post, there has been more days where the temperature was above freezing, “causing a four-to-fivefold increase in the amount of moss growth in the most recent part of the record. With the introduction of moss, animals could start to depend on it more than other animals that they used to eat, which would allow for those animals’ populations to increase, and the moss the decrease. Basically, moss could throw off the whole food web. The growth of moss will continue in response to the temperature change. Temperature change has allowed for more plant life to grow and Antarctica to become

The ice has already been effected by the temperature change that has already happened, like melting different glaciers and ice shelves, that then can change sea levels. If the temperature continues to rise, even just slightly, it will gradually continue to melt some of the ice and change the environment. With the increase of temperature, Antarctica is becoming greener, and there are even parallels seen to what it used to be like in earlier periods, which was warmer, ice free, and greener. Moss growth has continued to increase with the temperature change and will continue to grow as temperatures increase. Many animals in Antarctica are dependent on ice, but as temperatures increase and ice melts, their populations decrease. There are many ice-loving penguins that are predicted to either drop dramatically in population or even go extinct, but this will allowed for open-water penguin populations to increase. To conclude, the environment of Antarctica is dependent on how the temperature changes, but no matter what, it will change with the temperature and changes will