Investigate

=**Knowledge Questions**= 1) What factors contribute to rising sea levels? Answer: The factors that can contribute to the earths rising sea levels are, that the oceans and seas are getting warmer, the sea is getting dense. Global Warming is making the sea level rise very quickly. The earth is also heating up gradually which will cause the polar ice caps to melt making the sea level rise. In the past century the average temperature has climbed about 0.6 degrees celcius.

2) What does 'rising sea level's mean? Answer: Rising sea levels mean, the ocean is rising over a period amount of time and will soon cover the cities that are below sea level.

3) Name the glaciers in New Zealand? answer: New Zealand has more than 3000 glaciers. The most famous are: Retreived from the world wide web on the 8/09/09 []
 * Fox Glacier
 * Franz Josef Glacier
 * Hooker Glacier
 * Mueller Glacier
 * Murchison Glacier
 * Tasman Glacier

4) How much of the Earth is currently under water? answer: The Earth's oceans cover approximately 71% according to wikipedia Retreived from the world wide web on the 8/09/09 []

5) Which cities in the world are situated below sea level? answer: Here are the cities name's and a map to show where they are and here is the map: http://geology.com/below-sea-level/ 2.** **Dead Sea Depression ( is the lowest city below sea level ). 3.** **Denakil Depression - Afar Depression 4.** **Lake Assal - Afar Depression 5.** **Karagiye Depression 6.** **Akdzhakaya Depression 7.** **Turfan Depression 8.** **Death Valley 9.** **Salton Trough 10.** **San Julian's Great Depression** Retreived from the world wide web on the 4/09/09 http://geology.com/below-sea-level/
 * 1. Qattara Depression

=Comprehension Questions:=

1) Why are sea levels rising? Answer: The earths sea levels are rising because of the melting of the polar ice caps in the Arctic, the loss of coral reefs as oceans become warmer and Thermal expansion has already caused the oceans to rise about 4-8 inches!!!!

2) How have sea levels risen in the past? Answer: Around 5000 Years ago, when the sea level had risen by about 50cm per CENTURY!Sea levels has been rising world wide for a minimum of 10000 years. The precise cause is unknown. The rates of the sea level rising has gradually fallen from more than 100cm per century 10000 years ago to approximately 20cm per century at present. The rate of the sea level rising is going up again because of Global Warming caused by humans.

3) If the polar ice caps continue to melt, which animals will be the most threatened? Answer: The creatures that will be harmed are Polar Bears which live in the arctic and if the polar ice caps melt, there will be no hunting ground for them to live on(ice) and will be flooded in water and will not be able to survive. Some shelled creatures will not be able to survive also, because they need the ice to survive on.

=Ap**plication Question:**= 1) Show how the world will look like if the sea level rose? Answer: Here is a site that will show how the world will look like if the sea level rose by atleast +14m or less. []

= = =**Analysis Question:**= 1) What are the effects of warmer water temperatures on our sea life? How does this affect us? Answer: The effects of warmer water temperatures include, killing species such as phytoplankton. The effects it could have on humans are that warmer water temperatures will cause stronger hurricanes which could damage our countries and cities even more. There are over five and a half million cubic miles of ice in the world. The price of food will also go up as many people wont be able to live.

=Evaluation Question:= 1) How does each contributing factor impact on our sea levels?(rank them in order, from least dangerous to most) Answer: 1.Sea density 2.Warmer seas or oceans 3.Global Warming/Earth is heating up 4.Melting of the polar ice caps Those are the orders from the least dangerous to the most

=Synthesis Question:= 1) How high will the sea levels rise by 2050? Answer: The sea levels will rise 2 metres by the end of the century. For the sea level to rise 2m will mean that the glaciers will have to melt at an unbelievable speed and in six years the Jakobshan glacier has doubled its speed of melting to 12km per year. To reach the 2m point by 2100 every glacier in greenland would have to reach a melting speed of atleast 27km per year and stay like that for atleast the rest of the century and if the two major ice cities melt the sea level will rise by atleast 70cm.