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= Key Question 1: =

**Why are the ice caps important?**
Ice caps are made from sea water that freezes at 28 degrees F. When frozen for a long period of time, the salt water leeches out. So, in conclusion, it is made out of fresh water. We can go far back into the past and know what kinds of temperatures were like back then. We can also compare the ice caps from a few years ago to now, to see what has changed over the years. Ice caps are important to keep the world's temperature in balance. Without the ice caps, summer would be far too hot, and winter would be too cold. But with the ice caps, it makes a balance so that the Earth doesn't go out of whack with the temperatures. = = = Supporting Questions: =

**What are the ice caps made of and how does it change?**
In the far north and south, glaciation causes vast sheets of ice to form over the land. The temperature never rises enough for the ice to melt completely. Ice caps move outward towards the sea. Snow in the centre of the cap becomes ice at the edges. The two largest ice caps are in Greenland and Antartica. With the global climate warming up, the Antarctic ice cap is beginning to melt.

The suns rays reach Earth and bounce off the ice caps, but some of the rays don't land on the ice caps. If the rays get absorbed by the ocean, the ocean will start heating up, (the ocean can change quickly) thus affecting the wildlife, fish and of course, ice caps.

In the last 100 years, the Earth's temperature has increased half a degree Celsius. To you, half a degree may not be much, but half a degree can affect our planet. The sea levels has risen 6 to 8 inches. (15 to 20 centimetres).

Also, some scientists say that we are causing the ice caps to melt. The reason why they think this is because we are doing things that are harmful to the environment. This includes deforestation, industrial factories, green house gases and many more. This can pollute the air and can break down our "barrier", the atmosphere.

What can we learn from the ice caps?
We can figure out how old the ice caps are by these special machines that dig through the ice and get "capsules" of different gases that can tell us how many years the gas is.

Scientists can examine the ice caps and can compare how much of it has melted. If they hadn't have done that, then we shouldn't have known about these "ice caps", wouldn't we?

Key Question 2