Global climate change pundits have for long been blowing heat and cold over…
20252024
Global climate change pundits have for long been blowing heat and cold over melting ice caps, rising ocean levels and unusually hot summers on the one hand and receding deserts, shrinking biodiversity and colder winters on the other. Climatologists are, however, unanimous in their opinion that regional variation notwithstanding, the earth as a whole is becoming warmer - and largely due to increased human activity. And yet, as a continent Antarctica would seem to be bucking the trend. Recent reports quoting American scientists from the south pote say that while temperatures in every other continent have risen over the past century, Antarctica has become appreciably colder over the past 35 years and continues to cool, becoming the only one of Earth's seven continents to react differently to global warming. The world's average temperature over the last 100 years has risen by 0.06c a decade and the average actually went up to 0.19c between 1979 and 1998. In the Antarctic, on the other hand, temperatures fell on an average by 0.7c a decade. Traditional theories of climate change have held that the effects of global warming ought to be magnified at the poles.
Nonetheless, recent research points out that while the Arctic is indeed getting warmer, the Antarctic is definitely getting cooler. This will mean that previous estimates of rising sea levels that included the melting ice caps of both the north and south poles will have to be suitably revised. So what is the mystery behind the cooling of the white continent? Since most of the inhabited and industrialized countries are clustered close to the Arctic, polluting emissions waft across to the north pole, creating a greenhouse effect, warming the air and loosening the ice sheets. The complex interplay of ocean currents appears to have changed temperatures cooling the southern ocean around the Antarctic and transforming the pole’s temperature profile. Antarctica’s harsh desert valleys are turning cooler, setting off a series of ecological consequences in the region. Meanwhile, here's another contradiction: reports from new Zealand describe how there is a surfeit of global warming-induced break-away icebergs in the southern hemisphere.
It can be inferred from the passage that
- A.
the threat of global warming is accentuated due to what is happening in Antarctica
- B.
we could not understand the importance of global climate change
- C.
it was difficult for us to understand the full implication of global climatic change
- D.
our knowledge and our theories about global climate change fails to explain what is happening across the globe
Attempted by 3 students.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Correct answer: our knowledge and our theories about global climate change fails to explain what is happening across the globe.
Explanation: The passage notes that climatologists agree the Earth is warming overall, and that traditional theories predict stronger effects at the poles. However, Antarctica has become noticeably colder over recent decades, which contradicts those expectations and indicates that current theories do not fully account for observed regional behavior.
Evidence from the passage: global average temperature has risen, while Antarctic temperatures have fallen (about 0.7°C per decade).
Because Antarctica behaves differently from expectations, the passage concludes that our theories fail to explain all observed patterns, so the statement that knowledge/theories fail to explain global behavior best matches the passage.
Why other interpretations are weaker: the passage does not say Antarctic changes accentuate global warming, nor does it claim a general inability to appreciate climate change; it focuses on a theoretical contradiction highlighted by Antarctic cooling.