of water as it warms, and the melting of glaciers, ice ern Europe and northern and central Asia, but de-
caps and the polar ice sheets are all contributing to clined in the Sahel, the Mediterranean, southern Africa
the rise. and parts of southern Asia. The IPCC concludes that
it is likely that the global area affected by drought has
Melting snow and ice increased since the 1970s.
Decreases in snow and ice extent are also consistent
with warming. Satellite data recorded since 1978 show Cold days, nights and frosts have become less fre-
the annual average Arctic sea ice extent has shrunk quent over most land areas in the past 50 years, and
by 2.7 per cent each decade, with larger decreases in hot days and nights more frequent. The IPCC consid-
summer. Mountain glaciers and average snow cover ers that it is likely that heat waves have become com-
have declined in both hemispheres. moner over most land areas, that heavy precipitation
events (thunderstorms, for instance) have increased
Extreme weather events over most areas, and that since 1975 extreme high
From 1900 to 2005 precipitation (rain, sleet and snow) sea levels have increased worldwide – in addition to
increased significantly in parts of the Americas, north- the rise in average sea levels.
Global glacier mass balance Minimum sea ice extent
Northern hemisphere ice cover anomalies
Annual deviation Cumulative loss
Million square kilometres
Hundred thousand Hundred thousand
million tonnes million tonnes
1.5
1
1.0
1992
Increase
0.5
0
0
1966 to 1990 mean
0.0
- 1 - 20
-0.5
- 2 - 40
-1.0
Loss
-1.5
- 3 - 60
-2.0
- 4 - 80
-2.5
All time record low in September 2007
- 5
-3.0
1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2003
1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005
1978 2008
Source: IPCC, 2007. Source: US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2008.
10 Planet in Peril
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