NO. 53. The Impacts of Global Warming

 

Impacts of Global Warming

Global warming is already underway with consequences that must be faced today as well as tomorrow. Evidence of changes to the Earth's physical, chemical and biological processes is now evident on every continent.

To fully appreciate the urgency of climate change, it's important to understand the ways it affects society and the natural environment. Sea levels are rising and glaciers are shrinking; record high temperatures and severe rainstorms and droughts are becoming increasingly common. Changes in temperatures and rainfall patterns alter plant and animal behavior and have significant implications for humans. In this section, explore the connections between the climate data and the changes happening around you—and those you can expect to see in the future—in all parts of the globe, including your own backyard.
Not only are global warming-induced changes currently underway, but scientists also expect additional effects on human society and natural environments around the world. Some further warming is already unavoidable due to past heat-trapping emissions; unless we aggressively reduce today's emissions, scientists project extra warming and thus additional impacts.
The Climate Hot Map arranges current and future climate impacts into five main groupings:

• People
• Freshwater
• Oceans
• Ecosystems
• Temperature

Each of these major groupings, in turn, is divided into specific categories that describe more fully some of the consequences we may face. Click on any of the categories listed on the left for more information.

References

Arndt, D.S., M.O. Baringer, and M.R. Johnson, eds. 2010: State of the climate in 2009. Bulletin of the American Meteorology Society 91(6):S1-S224.
Bindoff, N.L., J. Willebrand, V. Artale, A, Cazenave, J. Gregory, S. Gulev, K. Hanawa, C. Le Qu&eaute;r&eaute;, S. Levitus, Y. Nojiri, C.K. Shum, L.D. Talley, and A. Unnikrishnan. 2007. Observations: Oceanic climate change and sea level. In: Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor, and H.L. Miller. Cambridge University Press.
CEISN. Accessed on August 18, 2010 at http://sedac.ciesin.columbia.edu/es/papers/Coastal_Zone_Pop_Method.pdf.
Environmental Protection Agency. 2010. Climate Change Indicators in the United States, Washington, DC. EPA 430-R-10-007. pp. 74. Accessed on April 7, 2011 at http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/indicators.html.
Karl, T.R., J.M. Melillo, and T.C. Peterson, eds. 2009. Global climate change impacts in the United States. Cambridge University Press.
Lemke, P., J. Ren, R.B. Alley, I. Allison, J. Carrasco, G. Flato, Y. Fujii, G. Kaser, P. Mote, R.H. Thomas, and T. Zhang. 2007. Observations: Changes in snow, ice and frozen ground. In: Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by S. Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor, and H.L. Miller. Cambridge University Press.
Miller J., E. Muller, C. Rogers, R. Waara, A. Atkinson, K.R.T. Whelan, M. Patterson, and B. Witcher. 2009. Coral disease following massive bleaching in 2005 causes 60% decline in coral cover on reefs in the US Virgin Islands. Coral Reefs 28:925-937.
Parry, M.L., O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, and co-authors. 2007. Technical summary. In: Climate change 2007: Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. Contribution of Working Group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by M.L. Parry, O.F. Canziani, J.P. Palutikof, P.J. van der Linden, and C.E. Hanson. Cambridge University Press, pp. 23-78.
Serreze, M.C., A.P. Barrett, J.C. Stroeve, D.N. Kindig, and M.M. Holland. 2009. The emergence of surface-based Arctic amplification. The Cryosphere 3:11-19. doi:10.5194/tc-3-11-2009.
Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, R.B. Alley, T. Berntsen, N.L. Bindoff, Z. Chen, A. Chidthaisong, J.M. Gregory, G.C. Hegerl, M. Heimann, B. Hewitson, B.J. Hoskins, F. Joos, J. Jouzel, V. Kattsov, U. Lohmann, T. Matsuno, M. Molina, N. Nicholls, J. Overpeck, G. aga, V. Ramaswamy, J. Ren, M. Rusticucci, R. Somerville, T.F. Stocker, P. Whetton, R.A. Wood, and D. Wratt. 2007. Technical summary. In: Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by S. Solomon, D. Qin, M. Manning. Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignorm, and H.L. Miller. Cambridge University Press.
Trenberth, K.E., P.D. Jones, P. Ambenje, R. Bojariu, D. Easterling, A. Klein Tank, D. Parker, F. Rahimzadeh, J.A. Renwick, M. Rusticucci, B. Soden, and P. Zhai. 2007. Observations: Surface and atmospheric climate change. In: Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Edited by S. Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M. Tignor, and H.L. Miller. Cambridge University Press.
Wissenschaftlicher Beirat der Bundesregierung Globale Umweltveränderungen (German Advisory Council on Global Change). 2006. The future oceans: Warming up, rising high, turning sour. Online at http://www.wbgu.de.

Tweet