16. Climate Change


16.4 Implications and Effects of Climate Change Climate change affects all regions around the world.


1. Polar ice sheets are melting, causing the level of the sea to rise. 2. In some regions, extreme weather events and very heavy rainfall are becoming more common. 3. Other regions are experiencing desertification , with extreme heatwaves and droughts . 4. Not only are these changes impacting humans, they are also having a serious effect on wildlife. All of these impacts are expected to get worse in the years ahead.


1. Melting Ice and Rising Seas


 When water warms up, it expands. At the same time, global warming causes polar ice sheets and glaciers to melt. The combination of these changes is causing sea levels to rise, resulting in flooding and erosion of coastal areas.


 Many fresh water supplies could become contaminated with sea water, resulting in a lack of clean water in some regions.


GLOBAL WARMING IS THE PRIMARY CAUSE OF RISING SEA LEVELS SEA LEVEL RISE IS ACCELERATING


TEMPERATURES ARE RISING Heat-trapping gases from human activity have increased global average temperatures by 0.85 °C since the 1900s.


ICE IS MELTING Shrinking glaciers and ice sheets are adding water to the world’s oceans.


Sea levels will rise faster as oceans continue to warm and land ice melts more rapidly.


TODAY


OCEANS ARE WARMING Sea water expands as its temperature rises.


Contribution to global sea level rises (1972–2008) MELTING LAND ICE: 52% WARMER OCEANS: 38% OTHER: 10%


GLOBAL AVERAGE SEA LEVEL RISE 2050


Most likely rise range: +6 to 40 cm above current sea level


+20 cm 5. Global warming and sea level rise


12 3 Being numerate


1. By how many centimetres have sea levels risen from 1900 to today? 2. By how many centimetres are sea levels expected to increase by 2050?


Current sea level 1900 sea level


Heat-trapping gases already in the atmosphere will cause unavoidable increases in temperature over the coming decades.


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