|
The Effect of Human-Induced Global Warming on Our Climate
Climate change could also cause “more intense cyclones and droughts, the failure of subsistence crops and coastal fisheries, losses in coral reefs, and the spread of malaria and dengue fever.”
(World Bank: Cities, Seas, and Storms 2000: X).
The Green House Effect & Glacial Melt
Glacier in the Peruvian Andes in 1980 and from the same position in 2002. Cordillera Blanca, Peru.As a result of this human-induced Greenhouse Effect or Global Warming, the IPCC reports that the planet has lost about 10 per cent of its snow cover since the 1960s.
Also, Glaciers in non-polar regions are retreating (and) Arctic sea ice has thinned by some 40 per cent since the 1950s. Many examples of glacial melt and loss of water supply exist in the Andes, in South America or the Himalayas, in South Asia. These unnatural atmospheric conditions are unprecedented, and the potential impact of this dramatic release of global warming gases is somewhat unpredictable.
Temperature Rise: Warmest Decades on Record
Climate trends over the past 100 to 150 years can be accurately studied through scientifically collected weather records over long time periods, such as seasonal shifts measured in tree rings, and CO2 and temperature regimes taken from ice core samples.
Global Warming Temperatures
Global mean surface air temperatures: Increased by between 0.3 to 0.6°C since the late 1800’s.
Global mean temperature: Will further increase between 1.4 to 5.8°C (relative to 1990 levels by the year 2100). During that same period, Canada’s mean temperature has increased by about 1°C. |
|
