prompter: What is the effect of climate change on the polar ice caps and how is it impacting global sea levels?

assistant: Climate change is causing polar ice caps to melt and global sea levels to rise.  Both phenomena have (at least) two different mechanisms of action.  

First, polar ice caps are melting because the world as a whole is just a tiny bit warmer. Second, even more polar ice is melting because the greenhouse effect causes temperatures to equalize more worldwide - which means that the poles get more warming than the rest of the world.  The second effect has caused more temperature change and melting than the first.

Sea levels are rising because of the water volume of melted ice.  But ice that's already floating doesn't change the water level when it melts, so sea level rise from meltwater only happens with ice that had been on land prior to melting.  The main driver of rising sea levels has been that the oceans of the world are one to one and a half degrees (Celsius) warmer than they were previously and water expands as it warms taking up more volume.

assistant: The climate change is an ongoing process of increase of global average temperatures. This effect is most pronounced in the Arctic region. While the global temperatures have risen to about 1 above the per-industrial era (1.2 °C in 2020 compared to 1850-1900), the warming in Arctic had been far more significant, being 1.9 °C warmer in 2020 than even 1981-2010 average. Most modern climate models predict very significant reduction of the ice coverage of the Arctic region by the year 2100. With regard to the global sea level rises it should be noted that the reduction of ice coverage of the Arctic ocean will not have significant direct effect on the global sea levels, since this process don't change total mass of water in the global ocean. However, the melting of Iceland ice sheet will lead to the increase of global sea levels since in this case the water previously locked in the land end up in the ocean. Although, Antarctic ice sheet stores far more water that Icelandic (and hence its melting would have much greater effect on the global sea levels), it usually not being considered as an immediate concern since, due to Antarctic Circumpolar Current the climate in Antarctic region is far more stable than in Arctic region. The estimates of the sea level rise are usually done for until the year 2100 and due to high complexity of the climate modeling and uncertainty for the future greenhouse gas emissions, they vary a lot: in particular in UN 5th Fifth Assessment Report several scenarios have been presented with sea level rise estimates for 2100 ranging from less than 50cm and to more than 2m rise. In even longer time frame, if the rise of global temperatures continue eventually it might result in the melting of Antarctic ice sheet that holds the amount of water corresponding to 58m sea level rise.

assistant: The temperatures rise much faster in the polar regions than the average temperature on the planet. 
The temperature of the Arctic increased by 3.1 degrees between 1971 and 2019 while the global temperature only increased by 1.1 degrees with respect to the pre-industrial age. This results in accelerated ice melt and the Arctic sea will become free of ice during summers. The melting of the ice laying on the oceans has only small effects on global sea levels. However, melting land ice impacts global sea levels significantly. For example, the lost quantity of ice on the Greenland ice sheet between 1992 and 2020 already increased global sea levels about 13.5 millimeters. The complete defrosting of the Greenland ice sheet and the Antarctic ice would result in an increase of over 50 meters. However, this process would take hundreds of years even if the increase of the global temperature cannot be stopped. Nevertheless, the Antarctic ice is already impacted today. So the ice shelf of the Thwaites Glacier is likely to collapse in the next decade resulting in an accelerated outflow of the glacier. This would lead to a faster melting process of the glacier contributing 5% of global sea level rise instead of 4% in the short term and even more in the long term.
Another contributing factor is the extension of the ocean water due to rising temperatures.
The IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, forecasts overall an increase of the global sea levels of 1 meter until 2100 in pessimistic scenarios.

assistant: Climate change is having a significant effect on the polar ice caps. As global temperatures rise, the polar ice caps are melting at an accelerated rate. This melting is resulting in a rise in global sea levels. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, global sea levels have risen by 8 inches since 1900 and are expected to rise another 1-4 feet by 2100. This rise in sea levels is leading to coastal flooding, property damage, and erosion, as well as impacting wildlife habitats and marine ecosystems.

prompter: What is the biggest contributor to climate change?

assistant: Climate change is having a significant impact on the polar ice caps, leading to a decrease in sea ice and an increase in global sea levels. The melting of glaciers and sea ice due to global warming is causing sea levels to rise, which can lead to coastal erosion and more frequent and intense storms like hurricanes and typhoons. The Arctic sea ice is melting at a rate of almost 13% per decade, while the Antarctic ice sheet is melting due to global warming. Changes in the amount of sea ice can also disrupt normal ocean circulation, leading to changes in the global climate.

prompter: Are there ways to prevent climate change induced melting of the ice caps other than those that target climate change as a whole? In other words, is it possible to mitigate the melting of ice caps without addressing the root causes of climate change, or are the two issues too closely linked to do so?

prompter: I'm sorry but that isn't a non biased answer, please check the polar ice core data and the global temperature for the past 8 years, re-format your answer with a non activist mindset.

prompter: If the sea levels are rising so rapidly, why insurance companies still provide insurance for beach side houses? Why ultra rich people buying beach front propertys?

prompter: Why do some people not agree with climate change?

prompter: And what is the wildlife on the polar ice caps doing to fix climate change before they wash away?