What are some of the expected outcome due to global warming?

Answer 1

If global warming continues to warm the planet beyond the current levels on the planet we could see a very different world. Glaciers and ice caps over land melting will cause rises in sea levels that will put some island nations in peril. Any low-lying land near the coast will be flooded. Rising temperatures will create more desert conditions in warm countries, like Africa, where drought and famine are already causing deaths. Increased warmth will affect the climate, with storms becoming more severe and more dangerous.

Answer 2

1. Ocean levels are rising

2. Glaciers melt around the world

3. Polar bears get endangered as the ice pack in the north recedes

4. Droughts

5. Natural storms and tornadoes may be increasing in frequency and intensity - although data on that is still a bit muddled since weather prediction is extremely complicated

6. Earth atmosphere increases in temperature (which is really the DEFINITION of global warming)

7. More deserts may be forming - although it is not yet certain if this is due to global warming, deforestation, or other causes

8. If climate change impacts food production and fresh water availability, people would not have enough food and water to eat and drink

9. Increased CO2 levels can stimulate plant growth - although probably not enough to compensate for ongoing deforestation.

Answer 3

Unchecked global warming could result in a host of problems for our planet, the population, wildlife, and Natural Resources, according to the majority of international scientists who specialize in climatology and atmospheric sciences. The effects may not be limited to negative changes, and may not be limited to only effects on the environment. Some of the effects, according to the experts, could be:

• Increase of the spread of some diseases, especially tropical diseases that currently are geographically limited in scope by the cooler climates in some parts of the world.

• Warmer ocean temperatures, which may create more frequent and more intense tropical storms and hurricanes. Much debate still surrounds this, however, because the frequency and intensity of tropical cyclones varies considerably in time and ocean basin, primarily in response to various modes of low-frequency variability (such as ENSO, for example). It is likely that warmer water will allow existing storms to become stronger, and there is evidence that this is already occurring. Whether the frequency of tropical cyclones will increase is currently unresolved. In addition to the impact on cyclones, warmer seas could kill coral reefs that protect our Coastlines and other marine life unable to adjust to warmer waters.

• Alteration of the major ocean currents, such as the "Atlantic Conveyor" that warms Western Europe. This could result in much colder temperatures in Western Europe if the conveyor no longer circulates the warmer waters to that area.

• Increases in the probability of occurrences and intensity of droughts, heat waves, and other severe weather. These effects have already been observed.

• Creation of massive economic consequences from damages caused by the extreme weather, storms, and flooding. Emergency response housing and provision of basic needs for the homeless and displaced residents of flooded low lying areas and highly populated coastal areas could bankrupt entire nations.

• The melting of the polar ice caps, which could result in raised sea levels and flooding of heavily populated island and coastal areas. The salinity of the ocean waters may be diluted from the melting fresh water. Of greater impact is the increased acidity of ocean water from the formation of carbonic acid by CO2 absorption, which is devastating some forms of marine life.

• Loss of habitat for wildlife, extinction of species which are unable to adapt to the climate changes, or that rely on other species of animal or plant facing extinction for their survival.

• Not all results of global climate change would have to be negative for everyone everywhere. Some geographical areas could actually benefit from a lengthened growing season that increases the overall crop production in that area. If control of climate change is achieved at that point, there could be a long term benefit for that location. This could improve that local economy, provide jobs and critically needed food supplies slightly offsetting losses in other climate zones.

• Habitat movement could also occur and some species could thrive and multiply better in their increased geographical areas. This could be good, providing new prey or food sources, increasing the numbers in the species that were in decline before moving to the new ecosystem; or not so good, by creating imbalance in an established ecosystem. As we have seen historically, there can be some negative effects from introducing non-native species to new environments. The proliferation of the introduced species into the new ecology can be devastating to the native species that have new competition for the resources, potentially a new predator to which they have no defense, or introduction of new diseases.

According to the science community, "global climate change" may be a less confusing term than "global warming," because some geographical areas may actually see a shift to colder weather temperatures (as in the example above regarding the Atlantic Conveyor), while other areas may have warmer weather. Changes also could be in the amount of rainfall vs. drought in a particular geographic area. The Earth's climate's warming trend, that has been measured by climatologists and atmospheric scientists, should not be confused with variations in weather. See the related questions below.

Weather changes, warmer weather, ice caps melt, sea levels rise, Ozone layer allows more heat from the sun to pass through the atmosphere. As a result the surface heat is retained in particular where cloud presence is greater causing more humidity and heat to be trapped in the atmosphere. The problem is that the visible ice (or surface ice) as ice floats adds more water to the oceans and if there is melting over land masses it adds more water. The ice already in the oceans would not make that much difference as its conversion from solid to liquid would have only a small impact on ocean volume. But the lower albedo from reflectivity loss is expected to accelerate warming trends.

There are also other possible factors such as solar activity and volcanic activity besides CO2 pollution, though to be fair, measured variations in these have not been sufficiently significant to create a measurable impact on climate. Humans emit well over 100 times the CO2 of all earth's volcanoes combined. We altered much of the globe's surface albedo with buildings, roads, forest depletion, pasture, crop land, and agriculture. These may also impact surface temperatures of municipal areas that may cause small temperature variations affecting weather. Ever notice that it is warmer in cities and built up areas than out in the country? 1 to 4 degrees Celsius, if not more.

Comments not directly answering the question were moved to the discussion section. See the Discussion area for those comments and opinions.

Answer 4

Within anywhere between 2020 and 2025 they expect most of Antartica to have melted, global average temperatures to rise about 3°F. Antartica average temperature will rise to about 5°F. This change in temperature may not seem like a lot, but it is enough to destroy forests, kill off species of animals, melt tons and tons of ice everywhere, and even in some areas, could get to hot to even survive. In Africa for example, it is so hot there due to global warming right now, in 2012, that within 10-15 years it will be to hot to live. Once all the ice melts in Antartica all continents will lose about 20-25% of there land mass and many coastal citys will be flooded or completely under water, for example, New York, San Diego, Houston, and many more. Humans are destroying the environment. Only way to prevent this from happening is to convince the leaders of the most popular countries, for example, America, China, United Kingdom, etc... to stop production of gasoline fueled cars, make factories that does not give off green house gasses like carbon dioxide, and stop clear cutting forests and only cut what they plant, and many,MANY, more things they can do.

Answer 5

Global warming has a number of different results. Heat is a form of energy, and it makes weather more energetic, so you get stronger and more numerous storms. Both drought and flooding become more common and more severe. Glaciers melt and the sea level rises. Eventually, the world will become a lot hotter, but for now, it is the other results which are more noticeable.

Answer 6

The long term result of global warming is that the earth is the Atmosphere gets thinner and thinner till theres none