EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING

This article is about the effects of global warming and climate change. The effects, or impacts, of climate change may be physical, ecological, social or economic. Evidence of observed climate change includes the instrumental temperature record, rising sea levels, and decreased snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere.[2] According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, 2007a:10), "[most] of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in [human greenhouse gas] concentrations". It is predicted that future climate changes will include further global warming (i.e., an upward trend in global mean temperature), sea level rise, and a probable increase in the frequency of some extreme weather events. Signatories of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change have agreed to implement policies designed to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.
Temperature changes
This article breaks down some of the impacts of climate change according to different levels of future global warming. This way of describing impacts has, for instance, been used in the IPCC's Assessment Reports on climate change. The instrumental temperature record shows global warming of around 0.6 ºC over the entire 20th century. The future level of global warming is uncertain, but a wide range of estimates (projections) have been made. The IPCC's "SRES" scenarios have been frequently used to make projections of future climate change. Climate models using the six SRES "marker" scenarios suggest future warming of 1.1 to 6.4 ºC by the end of the 21st century (above average global temperatures over the 1980 to 1999 time period). The range in temperature projections partly reflects different projections of future social and economic development (e.g., economic growth, population level), which in turn affects projections of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The range also reflects uncertainty in the response of the climate system to past and future GHG emissions (measured by the climate sensitivity).
The projected rate of warming under these scenarios would very likely be without precedent during at least the last 10,000 years (see footnote 1).[9] The most recent warm period comparable to these projections was the Mid-Pliocene, around 3 million years ago. At that time, models suggest that mean global temperatures were about 2 to 3 ºC warmer than pre-industrial temperatures.
Physical impacts
Working Group I's contribution to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, published in 2007, concluded that warming of the climate system was "unequivocal." This was based on the consistency of evidence across a range of observed changes, including increases in global average air and ocean temperatures, widespread melting of snow and ice, and rising global average sea level. The report of IPCC Working Group II pointed to substantial evidence of physical and biological systems having been affected by regional changes in climate.
Human activities have contributed to a number of the observed changes in climate. This contribution has principally been through the burning of fossil fuels, which has led to an increase in the concentration of GHGs in the atmosphere. This increase in GHG concentrations has caused a "forcing" of the climate in the direction of warming. Human-induced forcing of the climate has likely to contributed to a number of observed changes, including sea level rise, changes in climate extremes (such as warm and cold days), declines in Arctic sea ice extent, and to glacier retreat.
Human-induced warming could potentially lead to some impacts that are abrupt or irreversible. The probability of warming having unforeseen consequences increases with the rate, magnitude, and duration of climate change. With medium confidence (see footnote 2), IPCC (2007b:17) concluded that with a global average temperature increase of 1–4 °C, (relative to 1990–2000) partial deglaciation of the Greenland ice sheet would occur over a period of centuries to millennia. Including the possible contribution of partial deglaciation of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, sea level would rise by 4–6 metres or more.
Effects on weather
Changes have been observed in the amount, intensity, frequency, and type of precipitation. Widespread increases in heavy precipitation have occurred, even in places where total rain amounts have decreased. IPCC (2007d) concluded that human influences had, more likely than not (greater than 50% probability, based on expert judgement), contributed to an increase in the frequency of heavy precipitation events. Projections of future changes in precipitation show overall increases in the global average, but with substantial shifts in where and how precipitation falls.
Evidence suggests that since the 1970s, there have been substantial increases in the intensity and duration of tropical storms and hurricanes. Models project a general tendency for more intense but fewer storms outside the tropics. Since the late 20th century, changes have been observed in the trends of some extreme weather and climate events, e.g., heat waves. Human activities have, with varying degrees of confidence, contributed to some of these observed trends. Projections for the 21st century suggest continuing changes in trends for some extreme events. Solomon et al. (2007), for example, projected the following likely (greater than 66% probability, based on expert judgement) changes:
• an increase in the areas affected by drought;
• increased tropical cyclone activity;
• and increased incidence of extreme high sea level (excluding tsunamis)
Projected changes in extreme events will have predominantly adverse impacts on ecosystems and human society.
Local climate change
Regional effects of global warming vary in nature. Some are the result of a generalised global change, such as rising temperature, resulting in local effects, such as melting ice. In other cases, a change may be related to a change in a particular ocean current or weather system. In such cases, the regional effect may be disproportionate and will not necessarily follow the global trend.
There are three major ways in which global warming will make changes to regional climate: melting or forming ice, changing the hydrological cycle (of evaporation and precipitation) and changing currents in the oceans and air flows in the atmosphere. The coast can also be considered a region, and will suffer severe impacts from sea level rise.
The human influence on the climate can be seen in the geographical pattern of observed warming, with greater temperature increases over land and in polar regions rather than over the oceans. Using models, it is possible to identify the human "signal" of global warming over both land and ocean areas.
Projections of future climate changes at the regional scale do not hold as high a level of scientific confidence as projections made at the global scale. It is, however, expected that future warming will follow a similar geographical pattern to that seen already, with greatest warming over land and high northern latitudes, and least over the Southern Ocean and parts of the North Atlantic Ocean.
Biogeochemical cycles
Climate change may have an effect on the carbon cycle in an interactive "feedback" process . A feedback exists where an initial process triggers changes in a second process that in turn influences the initial process. A positive feedback intensifies the original process, and a negative feedback reduces it (IPCC, 2007d:78). Models suggest that the interaction of the climate system and the carbon cycle is one where the feedback effect is positive (Schneider et al.., 2007:792).
Using the A2 SRES emissions scenario, Schneider et al.. (2007:789) found that this effect led to additional warming by 2100, relative to the 1990-2000 period, of 0.1 to 1.5 °C. This estimate was made with high confidence. The climate projections made in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report of 1.1 to 6.4 °C account for this feedback effect. On the other hand, with medium confidence, Schneider et al.. (2007) commented that additional releases of GHGs were possible from permafrost, peat lands, wetlands, and large stores of marine hydrates at high latitudes.