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Haleth's avatar

What would life be like if the icecaps melted?

Asked by Haleth (18947points) November 28th, 2015

These maps show the low-lying areas that would flood. What else would change?

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16 Answers

zenvelo's avatar

There would (is) a dramatic shift in ocean currents, which will have a massive change in weather patterns.

There is evidence that the deep freeze patterns over the US the last couple winters have been because the warmer ocean waters have changed how the jet stream moves.

Seek's avatar

If we are looking on the bright side, Florida will no longer exist.

Here2_4's avatar

Ice caps perform a service most people don’t think/know about. They reflect a sizeable portion of the sun’s rays back out to space. Without the ice caps, things would warm rapidly worldwide. The air quality would become humid most of the time. Desert plants would begin flowering abundantly. Precipitation would be frequent, and drenching. Many plants would become extinct. Potato crops would develop rot. Melons and squashes would be sold for gold. Fresh water sources would swell from Amazon type rains. Small mammals would struggle to survive. The fresh water fish species would thrive for a while, until ground pollution is eroded heavily to their environments. Subterranean glaciers would begin to melt, making much of the plains marshy. We would have to switch from corn and soy beans to rice and cane.
Eventually, the high humidity would cause a barrier to the sun, and the poles would again freeze. Before that happens though, sharks, whales, and other powerful marine life would get cocky, and start showing a lot of aggression to boats.

Cruiser's avatar

If you live in Miami and all you do is jump up and down and hand wave a thousand years from now I hope you can swim…If you have the faculties to accept change and move inland you will be fine.

johnpowell's avatar

Everything. you are changing the temperatures of the currents and that affects the climate everywhere. It is all tied together. Moving inland is the response of a idiot. It will be much more dire. Fish and chips will be chips.

LuckyGuy's avatar

The end of the Alaskan Glacier Watch Cruise business.
Property values in the Yukon and the North East would skyrocket.

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filmfann's avatar

According to the map, the Central Valley would flood, so say goodbye to a lot of food and plantsthat are grown there. Cotton, raisins, grapes, tomatoes, lettuce. Plus, there is an enormous cattle ranch that would have to relocate.

Here2_4's avatar

Oh, and penguins would need Obamacare to cover the antidepressants.

stanleybmanly's avatar

Huge inland seas would pop up in the depressed regions of continental interiors. The loss of formerly habitable land from this combined with that from flooded coasts means the bulging 10 billion plus population must compact into ever more crowded regions as entire nations such as Bangladesh, the Phillipines, etc. disappear or are reduced to volcanic atolls. Human life becomes untenable in tropical regions where 140 degree temperatures grow commonplace along with incessant monster cyclonic storms fueled by all that warm water.

Darth_Algar's avatar

Doesn’t matter, Jesus will make it all ok again.

kritiper's avatar

New Orleans would be a city within it’s dike walls 50 miles from the nearest shore. Miami would be buildings sticking up out of the water 100 miles from shore. Island nations that were low lying enough would cease to exist.

ARE_you_kidding_me's avatar

Some places that formerly sucked will become nice places to live. Other places will be given back to nature

CunningFox's avatar

@Darth_Algar, people who wait around for Jesus to make everything okay and not take action are part of the problem.

JLeslie's avatar

I’m in America. Will the new southern coast line be warm and sunny like FL? If not, I guess tourism to Mexico will increase.

It would cause some economic chaos as people living along the coasts lose their property.

Maybe North America will become one country.

Hypocrisy_Central's avatar

A lot more surfing, the yachting industry will take off, and some people will, see their land triple as they will have beach front property.

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