As warmer temperatures become part of our everyday lives, the result is that a very big part of our earth is rapidly changing. Derek van Dam shows us incredible images from a program called extreme ice survey. Using time-lapse photography and videography, the team documents climate change and the effects it has on glaciers.
Melting ice caps are also affecting NASA launch sites. NASA says rising sea levels, caused by melting ice caps, threaten to disrupt sites along the U.S. coast. More than half of NASA's infrastructure stands within 16 feet of sea level.
The space agency warns that in the coming years launch facilities, such as Florida's Kennedy Space Center, which sits just a few hundred feet from the Atlantic Ocean may need to be retrofitted, or even moved inland. Other NASA sites across the country are vulnerable as well.
Instructional Links
Website Article: NASA, The Earth Observatory, Polar Ice
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/PolarIce/polar_ice.php
Website Article: Global Warming Puts the Arctic on Thin Ice