When water freezes into ice it floats on top of the denser water. This is because water molecules are less spread out than the colder ice particles. This helps the movement and flow of water as the ice melts seasonally, helping the major currents of the ocean along with prevailing winds.
The gulf stream is largely responsible for such a mild climate in the UK, as well as being an island, meaning the sea will store the heat much better than land. If the gulf stream stops or slows down this could see a very different climate for the UK, especially in winter. As the gulf stream is a warm current, a slow down in it will see colder and more extreme winters, something, which as proved by the snowy period in January, the government is clearly not prepared for. Personally I believe that the gulf stream will not grind to a halt, because of the warm south westerly prevailing wind that drives it, but I do think that the melting of the ice will slow it down to a noticeable effect. If another major snowfall occurs, this should back up my prediction.
Some scientists have predicted that the melting of the ice caps will see a chemical imbalance in the world gases, due to the ice storing them, and seeing a vast amount of poisonous gas, such as methane, being released into the atmosphere. It has been proved in Russia that some ice contains methane, but not enough to have catastrophic effects on society, which I agree with, as other life had lived for millions of years with no ice sheets, such as the dinosaurs.
Obviously a very well known problem is the rising sea levels that the melting ice sheets will bring on. This could see cities such as London, Portsmouth and Hull. These cities can be saved if the sea is allowed to reclaim some unused or agricultural land. This will please and save the majority of people, whilst allowing nature take its course.
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