Impacts of global warming and climate change
What does a 0.76°C temperature rise mean? More hot days More severe storms, floods, droughts and fire Higher sea levels This small temperature rise could threaten human health, lives, industries and jobs. Global warming threatens agricultural production, fresh water supplies and the survival of native species and ecosystems. This small temperature rise also means we can expect: More hurricanes and cyclones in the Caribbean, the United States and Burma More extensive droughts in eastern Africa, Australia, southern Europe and parts of China and India More devastating floods like those in Pakistan (in 2010), Brazil and Australia (in 2011), and other parts of the world The impacts of a warming world are concerning enough when considered one by one, but the view worsens when you consider them collectively. Climate change is the world’s greatest threat. Global warming has emerged as the single greatest threat to Australia’s biodiversity.
The Effects of Global Warming
Global warming is expected to have far-reaching, long-lasting and, in many cases, devastating consequences for planet Earth. For some years, global warming, the gradual heating of Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere, was a topic of heated debate in the scientific community. Today, the overwhelming consensus of researchers is that global warming is real and is caused by human activity, primarily the burning of fossil fuels that pump carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. A major report released Sept. 27, 2013, by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) stated that scientists are more certain than ever of the link between human activities and global warming. More than 197 international scientific organizations agree that global warming is real and has been caused by human action. Additionally, global warming is having a measurable effect on the planet right now, in a variety of ways. Here is an in-depth look at these changes and more.
Climate Change and Global Warming
Author and Page information by Anup ShahThis Page Last Updated Monday, February 02, 2015 Global warming and climate change is looked at in this section of the global issues web site. 32 articles on “Climate Change and Global Warming” and 1 related issue: Climate Change and Global Warming Introduction Last updated Sunday, February 01, 2015. The climate is changing. Many are agreed that climate change may be one of the greatest threats facing the planet. This section looks at what causes climate change, what the impacts are and where scientific consensus currently is. Read “Climate Change and Global Warming Introduction” to learn more. UN Framework Convention on Climate Change Last updated Saturday, December 25, 2004. The world mostly agrees that something needs to be done about global warming and climate change. Read “UN Framework Convention on Climate Change” to learn more. Reactions to Climate Change Negotiations and Action Last updated Monday, March 05, 2012. Posted Monday, February 02, 2015.
Effects
Global climate change has already had observable effects on the environment. Glaciers have shrunk, ice on rivers and lakes is breaking up earlier, plant and animal ranges have shifted and trees are flowering sooner. Effects that scientists had predicted in the past would result from global climate change are now occurring: loss of sea ice, accelerated sea level rise and longer, more intense heat waves. Taken as a whole, the range of published evidence indicates that the net damage costs of climate change are likely to be significant and to increase over time. Scientists have high confidence that global temperatures will continue to rise for decades to come, largely due to greenhouse gases produced by human activities. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which includes more than 1,300 scientists from the United States and other countries, forecasts a temperature rise of 2.5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit over the next century. Future effects Temperatures will continue to rise
Global Warming Made 2018 Temps Historically Hot
Global temperatures in 2018 were the fourth warmest on record, US government scientists have confirmed, adding to a stretch of five years that are now collectively the hottest period since modern measurements began. The world in 2018 was 1.5F (0.83C) warmer than the average set between 1951 and 1980, said Nasa and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa). This means 2018’s average global temperatures were the fourth warmest since 1880, placing it behind 2016, 2017 and 2015. This follows a broader pattern of human-induced climate change, which is boosting increasingly punishing heatwaves, sea level rises and extreme weather. There was disastrous flooding in India, a huge typhoon in the Philippines and deadly wildfires in Greece and Sweden. “2018 is yet again an extremely warm year on top of a long-term global warming trend,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of Nasa’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.
Evidence of human role in global warming hits strongest statistical benchmark: study
OSLO, Feb 25 (Reuters) – Evidence for man-made global warming has reached a “gold standard” level of certainty, adding pressure for cuts in greenhouse gases to limit rising temperatures, scientists said on Monday. “Humanity cannot afford to ignore such clear signals,” the U.S.-led team wrote in the journal Nature Climate Change of satellite measurements of rising temperatures over the past 40 years. They said confidence that human activities were raising the heat at the Earth’s surface had reached a “five-sigma” level, a statistical gauge meaning there is only a one-in-a-million chance that the signal would appear if there was no warming. READ MORE: Security experts say climate change threatens to spark conflicts around the world Such a “gold standard” was applied in 2012, for instance, to confirm the discovery of the Higgs boson subatomic particle, a basic building block of the universe. U.S. READ MORE: Trump just hinted that cold weather disproves global warming. Satellite data
