Ice and Sand

Ice and sand is an eye opening video about just what the title states: ice and sand. It talks about the polar ice caps and the affects of green house gasses to the environment. This movie talks about what would happen if the ice sheets in the north and South Pole melt, and how weather systems are changeable. It talks about the sands in the Sahara and how they blow all the way to Paris, it also states that it is largest dessert in the world. This movie is very informative about “Ice and Sand”.

In the movie “Ice and sand” it talks about the polar ice caps. These ice caps are located at the north and south poles of the Earth, and take up a large potion of the earth’s water. Ice caps fluctuate from year to year, growing and shrinking with weather changes. Greenhouse gasses are causing these ice caps to melt more and more every year though. If the ice caps were to melt completely, it would raise our ocean level ten to twenty stories about what it is now. This would send places like Nova Scotia, Vancouver, and New York completely under water. Scientists are not really quit sure what will happen with green house gases, whether they will cause a flood from melting the ice caps, or whether it will send us into another ice age. If it were to send us into another ice age, only people in very southern countries would be likely to survive due to the extremely cold whether.

Scientists have determined that weather systems are changeable. Over a large amount of time, the earths tilt changes, causing the axis’s to tilt more one way then it used to, and thus changing the weather. Greenhouse gasses may also change the weather, making our climate either much hotter or much cooler. Ice caps and deserts have one thing in common, one small change in the weather can change them- and they will change the world.

The Sahara desert is known as the largest dessert in the world, it covers a third of the continent of Africa. The thing about the desert is that it is always changing, new vegetation is sprouting and animals are dying and being born. During the day the desert is very hot, about 50 degrees Celsius, but at night time temperatures can drop very low. In the night is when the desert rains, for temperatures are too hot during the day for clouds to accumulate above them, and water is limited so there isn’t much precipitation. Since it only rains 12 cm a year, all the plants and animals there have to be very good at conserving water.

Winds are picked up from the Sahara and blown all over the world. The warm winds pick up the sand and carry it across the Mediterranean picking up cool moisture. The wind blows an estimate 250 tons of sand off the Sahara. A lot of this wind is blown over Europe and Paris. When the sand mixes with the clouds in the winter, Paris ends up with its “pink” snow, which is beautiful. Winds determine all weather in the world. Convection surrents are the currents that blow wind all around the word. Although they aren’t the only influence on the world’s weather, they are the main ones. The wind shapes the desert, grinds the rock, and forms sand.

The Sahara used to be at the bottom of a sea six million