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If global warming raises the global temperature by as little as 2 degrees Celsius, the seawater will rise and melt the ice caps considerably.
But in that same scenario, the volume of the ice caps would increase.
Given That Rising seawater from a warmer planet would melt the ice caps considerably,
How Can We Say That The ice caps would grow in volume?
Which one of the following, if true, would most help to resolve the apparent paradox described above?
As global temperatures increase, more
Why this is right
How could the volume of the ice caps increase? According to this, more seawater evaporation would lead to more snow at the polar caps, and then that snow would melt and refreeze as ice. So even though rising seawater is melting the ice caps, it's also sending more snow their way, and that snow adds onto the ice cap, increasing its volume.
Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.
81% picked this
As global temperatures increase, more
How could the volume of the ice caps increase? According to this, the end result of the causal chain would be stabilizing the size of the ice caps. We're trying to explain how the ice caps would increase in size, not stabilize (i.e. stay the same).
5% picked this
As sea temperatures increase, the
How could the volume of the ice caps increase? According to this, the end result of the causal chain would be that the water melts the ice even faster. We're trying to explain how the ice caps would increase in size, and this is saying the opposite, that they would melt even faster.
3% picked this
As sea temperatures increase, evaporation
How could the volume of the ice caps increase? According to this, the end result of the causal chain would be that the freezing point of seawater is even lower. That means it needs to be colder for seawater to turn into ice caps. It would be harder for the ice caps to grow, if the world is warmer than before and the temperature needed to turn seawater into ice is lower than before.
10% picked this
As global temperatures increase, more
How could the volume of the ice caps increase? According to this, the end result of the causal chain would be less variation in temperature overall. If the coldest climate is currently -20 degrees Celsius and the warmest is +30 degrees, then in this new global warming world, it would be more like -10 to +25. A smaller overall range of temperature variation has no common sense link to "ice caps would increase in size".
1% picked this
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