What's Happening?

Global Warming

Global warming is the gradual increase in the Earth's surface temperature. This is caused by the 'Greenhouse Effect', which is the heating of the Earth's surface due to the presence of an atmosphere containing greenhouse gases that absorb and emit infrared radiation. Greenhouse gases can stay in the atmosphere for hundreds and thousands of years and no matter what we do, global warming is continuous and will always have some effect on Earth. The following are the 5 deadliest effects of global warming:

1. Spread of disease
As northern countries warm, insects carrying germs and diseases migrate north, bringing plague, disease and illness with them.

2. Warmer waters and more hurricanes
As the temperature of oceans rises, so will the probability of more frequent and stronger hurricanes. Scientists have looked at potential correlations between ocean temperatures and tropical cyclone trends worldwide over the past several decades. Extensive research has found that a 0.45 °F (0.25 °C) increase in mean annual tropical sea surface temperature corresponded to a 60 percent increase in a tropical cyclone's potential destructiveness. Further research show that a one percent annual increase of atmospheric CO2 concentrations over the next 80 years would produce more intense storms, and rainfall would increase an average of 18 percent compared with present-day conditions.

(http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/science/hurricanes-and-climate-change.html)

3. Increased probability and intensity of droughts and heat waves
Although some areas of Earth will become wetter due to global warming, other areas will suffer serious droughts and heat waves. Africa will receive the worst of it, with more severe droughts also expected in Europe. Water is already a dangerously rare commodity in Africa, and according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming will exacerbate the conditions and could lead to conflicts and war.

4. Economic consequences
Most of the effects of global warming won’t be good. And these effects spell one thing for the countries of the world: economic consequences. Hurricanes cause billions of dollars in damage, diseases cost money to treat and control and conflicts exacerbate all of these.

5. Polar ice caps melting
The ice cap's melting is a four-pronged danger. First, it will raise sea levels. There are 5,773,000 cubic miles of water in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, if all glaciers melted today the seas would rise about 230 feet. Luckily, that’s not going to happen all in one go! But sea levels will rise.

Second, melting ice caps will throw the global ecosystem out of balance. The ice caps are fresh water, and when they melt they will make the ocean less salty. The desalinisation of the gulf current will interfere with ocean currents, which regulate temperatures. The stream shutdown or irregularity would cool the area around north-east America and Western Europe. However, this will slow some of the other effects of global warming in that area!

Third, temperature rises and changing landscapes in the artic circle will endanger several species of animals. Only the most adaptable will survive.

Fourth, global warming could snowball with the ice caps gone. Ice caps are white, and the ‘mirror effect’ reflects sunlight, much of which is reflected back into space - cooling the Earth. If the ice caps melt, the only reflector is the ocean and darker colours absorb sunlight, further warming the Earth.

http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/sciencetech/5-deadliest-effects-of-global-warming/276 (Wikipedia, 2009, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global_Warming)

Whats Happening? » How are People Affected? » What Can We Do? »