The Ice Caps of the Last 20,000 Years: Challenges for the Future. Discuss the overall changes that the ice caps have undergone over the last 20,000 years. What will be some of the issues that humans and the environment will need to face in the next 1000 years at the present decline and the ice caps continue at their current rate?

The Ice Caps of the Last 20,000 Years: Challenges for the Future

The ice caps have experienced significant changes over the last 20,000 years. During the last glacial period, which occurred between 110,000 and 12,000 years ago, much of the Northern Hemisphere was covered in ice. The ice sheets of this period were much thicker and more extensive than the polar ice caps of today. As the climate warmed, the ice caps began to recede, and by 8000 BC they had reached their smallest size in the last 20,000 years (Garrison, 2020). In recent times, the ice caps have continued to decline due to climate change. Since the industrial revolution, the average global temperature has risen by 1.1°C, and this has caused the ice caps to melt faster than ever before (NASA, 2020). If this trend continues, the ice caps will be reduced to a fraction of their current size within the next 1000 years. This rapid decline in ice caps will have a number of consequences. Rising sea levels will displace millions of people, while melting ice will also reduce the amount of habitat available for Arctic species (Garrison, 2020). Furthermore, as the ice caps continue to recede, the global climate… Cont…