Final answer:
The melting of polar ice caps interacts primarily with the Cryosphere, which includes all forms of Earth's frozen water. This has a direct effect on global climate change and can lead to serious consequences, such as sea-level rise and intensified global warming due to the greenhouse effect.
Step-by-step explanation:
Global climatic patterns are indeed changing due to the melting of polar ice caps. Among the earth systems that interact with the atmosphere during this process, the correct answer is 1) Cryosphere. The cryosphere includes all the frozen water parts on Earth, such as polar ice caps, snow cover, and icebergs. This system directly interacts with the hydrosphere, as melting ice adds more water to the oceans, and with the atmosphere, influencing global temperature through albedo changes. Furthermore, as the polar ice caps melt, this leads to changing weather patterns and can significantly affect global climate change.
The interactions between the cryosphere and the atmosphere are critical to understanding climate change. Melting polar ice caps can lead to an increase in sea levels, which may cause coastal flooding and other changes in climate patterns that have severe consequences for modern civilization. Additionally, the greenhouse effect is intensified by higher levels of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, leading to an acceleration of global warming.