Discuss the Causes and Consequences of the Changing Balance Between Water Stored in Oceans and Ice (10):

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Throughout the hydrological cycle, water is continuously moving, whether it be on land, in the atmosphere or through oceans. However, no water is added to taken away from the cycle, and as such it is a closed system. The vast majority of global water (97.5%) is stored in large ocean stores, and that leaves around 2.5% of global water stored in ice sheets and glaciers. (greenfieldgeography, 2014). However, with a global rise in temperatures, the storage of water is shifting, especially for the water locked in permafrost, and other glaciers. (greenfieldgeography, 2014). Much of the water locked in ice is from icebergs, and shelves, which are already part of the ocean in terms of volume, and so their melting actually does nothing to the overall volume of water, although ice is less dense than water is, hence, as the ice melts it does not take up larger volumes of space. The main reason for this change in water storage is the shift in global temperatures, due to climate change. A huge issue is the rising of sea levels, due to the increase in global temperatures. There are many factors linked with this causing the sea level rise, one of which being the thermal expansion of the water. As the temperature of the sea water increases, so will the volume of the water, and as such, the water occupies more space, meaning the mean sea levels will rise. (National Geographic, n.d.) Approximately half of the sea level rise in the past 100 years is attributed to thermal expansion of the water. Furthermore, more and more ice from glaciers and polar ice caps is melting during summer, and not being balanced back out in winter months. During the summer, these formations will naturally melt a little, however, due to the increase in temperatures, more of the ice is melting during this time, and less is being replenished as snow over these ice formations during the winter months, in which
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