A Frightening Account of the Effects of Global Warming

The term global warming is used to describe an increase the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere. Global warming has been an important issue for some time now, but only became truly serious as of a few years ago. Due to pollution, greenhouse gases and various other causes, global warming is now a major concern as scientists are saying that due to the dramatic climate change we could basically be expecting an end of days. It is important to be aware of the effects of global warming and how the effects of global warming are causing problems. The effects of global warming are no joke.

We all are hearing about global warming now more than ever before and this is no surprise. We see it in movies and hear about it on the news all the time. That just goes to show how major an issue this is and how seriously we should all be taking it. Often you even see celebrities on television who are talking about global warming and who are trying to use their celebrity to influence people and let them know how serious this is.

The effects of global warming are astounding, and it is important for all people to be aware of the effects of global warming and how they impact not only themselves but the rest of the world as well. The effects of this natural disaster are truly alarming and for people who are not sure what global warming is all about, it is important that they make themselves aware.

What are the Most Noticeable Effects?

Of all the most noticeable and major effects of global warming, one is the spread of disease. No one likes to think about getting a disease and getting sick, but the fact of the matter is that the way things are going now, as northern countries get warmer, disease carrying insects migrate north. As they do, they are bringing plague and disease with them and so especially if you are someone that lives in the north you are going to need to be aware of this and be prepared.

This is something that no one expected remember, and so scientists are not yet up to date in terms of vaccines and other medicines that are going to necessarily be able to protect people from this sort of disease.

Of course one of the most talked about effects of global warming has to do with the ice caps melting. If you see movies like The Day After Tomorrow which basically revolves around the topic of global warming, you will see that this is one of the major parts of the plot. The reason that this is such a substantial effect of global warming is because if the polar ice caps were to melt, the entire earth would basically be gone. First it would raise sea levels and then it would throw the entire global ecosystem out of balance.

As a result, the ocean will be made less salty and fish and other sea creatures are going to suffer because their living conditions are going to be changed dramatically. It will also endanger certain species of animals, and not only that but global warming could snowball even further if the ice caps were to melt. These are just a few of the most dramatic effects of global warming that you should be aware of.

Remember, there are so many different things that we can all do in order to stop pollution and hopefully global warming as well. When you go to the supermarket to get groceries instead of using plastic bags which are not recyclable you can take a backpack or some cloth bags and you can use these instead. There are also hybrid cars that you can drive and which help by not polluting. These are great ideas on what you can do to help fight against global warming.

Reference: Click Here

Stanford Study : Heat Waves Could Be Common By 2039 In U.S.

Devastating heat waves that result in fatalities and crop losses may increasingly become a common occurrence in the United States over the next three decades, according to a team of Stanford University researchers.

"Using a large suite of climate model experiments, we see a clear emergence of much more intense, hot conditions in the U.S. within the next three decades,: Noah Diffenbaugh, the lead author of the study, told the Stanford report.

"In the next 30 years, we could see an increase in heat waves like the one now occurring in the eastern United States or the kind that swept across Europe in 2003 that caused tens of thousands of fatalities," said Diffenbaugh, a center fellow at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment. "Those kinds of severe heat events also put enormous stress on major crops like corn, soybean, cotton and wine grapes, causing a significant reduction in yields."

The group studied the hottest U.S. temperatures from 1950-1999, then fed them through multiple forecasting models that can simulate daily temperatures in the U.S. The forecasting models were based on the likely occurrence that carbon dioxide could raise temperatures 1.8 degrees Celsius.

Even if countries around the world meet the climate change goals put forward at the Copenhagen Climate Accord, and stop the world from warming by 2 degrees Celsius, smaller temperature increases could still contribute towards extreme weather.

To Diffenbaugh, the findings mean that to avoid severe heat waves, governments must look at the possibility that even a two degree increase is too much. "It's up to the policymakers to decide the most appropriate action," Diffenbaugh told The Stanford Report. "But our results suggest that limiting global warming to 2 degrees Celsius does not guarantee that there won't be damaging impacts from climate change."

In the past few days, a record heat wave in Russia has killed five people and prompted the government to call for siestas. During the month of June, high temperatures in the U.S. killed five seniors in Maryland, four people in Philadelphia, four people in Dallas, and three people in Tennessee.

On Sunday, train passengers in Germany had to vacate three trains after air conditioning broke down and temperatures reached 122 degrees Farenheit. Some were hospitalized.

Also this week, NASA data shows that global temperatures recorded from January through June 2010 were the highest ever.

Source: Click here

The Cute, Furry Foes of Global Warming : Sea Otters

The fact that these creatures are so darn cute is the only excuse some might require to help the conservation efforts on behalf of the endangered sea otter. But according to recent calculations by one University of California researcher, this beloved, iconic Pacific coast critter — the largest of the weasels, while among the smallest of marine mammals — offers another terrific reason for us to do what we can to support and boost their populations. It seems as though the sea otter packs a mighty ecological punch in the battle against climate change.

Peter Aldhous, writing in New Scientist, reports that where sea otters live in appreciable numbers and can keep the sea urchins in check, kelp forests will thrive as a result. Conversely, once-thriving kelp forests that lose their otter populations will soon wither as the urchins take over. University of California Santa Cruz professor of environmental studies Chris Wilmers has determined that the carbon dioxide sequestered in the biomass of a thriving kelp forest as a direct result of the otter's keeping the kelp's predators in check is potentially substantial. Wilmers estimates that if the otters were to return to their level of population before a century of fur trading nearly wiped them out, they could contribute to the sequestration of 10¹⁰ kilograms of carbon dioxide.

Stated otherwise, as New Scientist points out, this represents an ecological service currently valued at $700 million per the current European Union carbon trading market conditions.

Sea otters, who are native to the Pacific Ocean, are thought to have once numbered between 200,000 and 300,000 before the onset of a mid-18th century fur trade that would dwindle their numbers to no more than 2,000. Conservation has brought them back from the brink, although their numbers recently have leveled off or even declined in some locations.

Wilmers' calculations, which formed a recent presentation at the Society for Conservation Biology's annual meeting last week in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, clearly illustrate the value and importance of balanced predator-prey relationships that characterize a dynamic and healthy ecosystem.

Source: Click here

A trial by Anesthesiologists to lower their carbon footprint

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - People facing surgery probably aren't thinking about the procedure's global warming impact - but some of their doctors are.

The choices that anesthesiologists make at a midsize hospital can have the carbon footprint of a small fleet of automobiles, according to a physician who calculated the effects of different options.

"Changes people could make in their practice right away" could improve the health of the community and the planet, said Susan M. Ryan, a clinical professor of anesthesiology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Ryan co-authored an article on environmentally friendlier anesthesia in this month's edition of Anesthesia & Analgesia, a scholarly journal.

She and other doctors cautioned that patient safety always should come first. Once that's said, though, "most physicians are ... very concerned about the environment," said Dr. Joseph Antognini, a professor of anesthesiology at the University of California, Davis School of Medicine.

At UC Davis Medical Center, most doctors already use sevoflurane, the inhaled anesthesia that Ryan calculated has the smallest carbon footprint, Antognini said.

That wasn't an environmental choice, though. He and his colleagues often prefer it because it tends to irritate the airways less than desflurane, another commonly used anesthesia that Ryan found has the biggest footprint.

Each case is different, Antognini stressed. Heavier people may do better with one anesthetic, and children with another.

"Hardly anyone I can imagine is going to make a choice of one anesthetic over another based on global warming," he said, although it's a good conversation for doctors to have.

Ryan analyzed three inhaled gases that are the most common choices in operating rooms in Europe and North America. After patients inhale them, those anesthetics as well as other gases used to dilute them are usually vented outside the hospital. Some are potent greenhouse gases that can contribute to global warming for decades.

If every doctor at a midsize hospital picked the gas with the least impact, the anesthesia emissions would equal the greenhouse gas impact of about 100 passenger cars each year, she calculated.

If every doctor picked the most environmentally damaging anesthetic, greenhouse emissions would be roughly 12 times higher, equivalent to a 1,200-car fleet, she wrote.

While those are small numbers compared with other sources of greenhouse gases, even small changes count, Ryan said.

(Contact Sacramento Bee reporter Carrie Peyton Dahlberg at cpeytondahlberg(at)sacbee.com.)

Source: click here

Glacier Loses Ice Chunk Equal to One-Eighth of Manhattan

A glacier in Greenland lost 2.7 square mile piece of ice - roughly one-eighth the size of Manhattan Island - in a single day last week.

Greenland's Jakobshavn Isbrae glacier broke up on July 6 and 7, pushing the point where the ice sheet meets the ocean further inland than at any time previously observed, NASA-funded researchers said. As much as 10 percent of all ice lost from Greenland comes through Jakobshavn, which scientists also believe to be the single biggest contributor to sea level rise in the northern hemisphere.

This is part of a recent trend which scientists say started around the beginning of this decade. Between 1850 and 1964, the glacier's ice front had retreated at about 0.3 kilometers a year. It then stayed that way until 2001 when the decrease began to accelerate at about 3 km/yr.

Thomas Wagner, cryospheric program scientist at NASA noted that while there have been ice breakouts of this magnitude from Jakonbshavn and other glaciers before, he described this event as "unusual because it occurs on the heels of a warm winter that saw no sea ice form in the surrounding bay." "While the exact relationship between these events is being determined, it lends credence to the theory that warming of the oceans is responsible for the ice loss observed throughout Greenland and Antarctica," he said.

In February, NASA scientists reported that west Greenland's glaciers were melting 100 times faster at their end points beneath the ocean than at their surfaces. The likely explanation behind the undersea melting: warmer ocean waters.

source: Click here

GW : Can global warming force a new Ice age to come ??

In the movie The Day After Tomorrow, there are many special effects including an ice event caused by global warming. Much of the science of the movie has been called into question. However, there may be some truth to the idea that global warming could cause an ice age.

The theory starts with an understanding of why Europe and Scandinavia are not colder already. After all, other places at the same latitude are covered with ice and permafrost. Alaska and Greenland are both as close to the North Pole as Europe. Yet, it is not global warming that keeps Europe warm.

The ocean currents called the Gulf Stream bring warm waters up to the UK and Europe from the Caribbean. These waters warm the countries around their path. This is what causes the UK, Europe, and Scandinavia to have such a nicer climate than, say, Alaska. Global warming has nothing to do with that.

An important factor about the Gulf Stream is that to keep the Great Conveyor Belt going, cool water must feed back into the loop and be brought back to the point in the Caribbean where the process began. This keeps the water moving.

Global warming is significant in that it could slow the Gulf Stream, or even stop it. If this were to happen, the cold waters would stay in the area of Europe, the UK, Scandinavia, and the Northeastern US. It could mean an ice age for those regions.

In every major cooling event, such as the last great Ice Age, the Gulf Stream has been significantly weakened. This can happen for different reasons. In current times, it can happen due to global warming brought on by human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels.

If the new Ice Age happens, it will likely be due to the melting of the polar ice. This will dump large quantities of cold, fresh water into the ocean. It would disrupt the Gulf Stream and cause the cooling of many areas that now have milder climates. Global warming will be the cause.

An ice age will probably not happen gradually, either. This is a phenomenon that takes place rather quickly. Perhaps it does not happen as fast as the ice event in The Day After Tomorrow. However, it could happen within a few short years with global warming being to blame.

The return flow of cold water from Greenland, which goes back to the Caribbean, has already showed a weakening in the last 50 years. There has been a 20% decline in the amount of current flowing in this direction. It only makes sense that the warm waters coming from the Caribbean have lessened too.

These currents are a part of the world-wide network of currents called the Global Thermohaline Circulation. This global warming could then cause a slowing or stoppage of the Gulf Stream affecting the entire earth.

The statistics are used to answer the question of whether an ice age could be caused by global warming. Observations have been made of current data and historical information gleaned by studying the ocean and the lands around it. With all the information at hand, it appears that it is indeed possible that global warming could lead to an Ice Age.

GW : Country’s first carbon dioxide exchange tower launched in Uttarakhand

Source URL : Hamara News

The Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) on Sunday (1st Feb.), launched the country’s first carbon dioxide measurement exchange tower here.

The installation of the exchange would provide essential data regarding the eco-system exchange, thus providing information to draft policies on environment.

IIRS has installed the exchange tower in collaboration with an Italian University.

You can see a sample carbon dioxide exchange tower below in this pic:

M. L. Srivastav, an IIRS scientist, said that the tower would be helpful to measure the exchange of carbon dioxide between the vegetation pool and atmosphere.

"This is India’s first carbon dioxide measurement tower and there are around 600 such towers in the entire world, out of which around 400 are functioning properly," M.L. Srivastav said.

The tower is equipped with four types of sensors, which monitor the degree of carbon dioxide, solely responsible for global warming.

India took the first step towards developing a national plan to tackle the effects of global warming and assess its own greenhouse gas emissions, in July last year. (ANI)