What types of long-term changes to the earth's climate might be associated with global warming?

Answer 1

# As the earth grows warmer, malaria-carrying mosquitoes will reach further north and south spreading the disease. # Warmer oceans will mean stronger hurricanes and tornadoes. Damage to countries and cities. # Thawing of the permafrost in the sub-arctic regions will release huge amounts of carbon dioxide and methane gas, which is a 20 times more dangerous greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.

# Droughts and heat waves will be common and water will become in very short supply. There may be wars fought over water, as large rivers flow through several countries.

# The developed food supplies of countries will be wiped out, as the land becomes too dry for the crops. Cattle and sheep won't have pasture to survive. The price of food will go up and many people won't be able to live.

# Economic cost of treating diseases, rebuilding cities after hurricanes, providing water for drinking and sewage disposal will do a lot of damage to the world's economies. # Polar icecaps melting bring four problems: * Sea levels will rise from land-based ice melting (sea ice is already in the water so it won't raise the sea level if it melts). There are over five and a half million cubic miles of ice, glaciers and frozen snow. If this all melted at once, sea levels would rise by 230 feet, swamping many countries. Luckily nobody thinks this will happen all at once.

* All that ice is fresh water, so if it melts it will desalinate the oceans. This may change the patterns of the ocean currents that will seriously affect the climate. * Warmer temperatures in the polar regions will cause serious problems to animal life, which may not be able to adapt to the new conditions. * At present the ice caps form an enormous white surface which reflects a lot of heat back away from the land. If the ice goes, then the dark land below will absorb heat more easily, speeding up the global warming process.

Answer 2

Long-term changes associated with global warming include rising global temperatures, melting polar ice caps and glaciers, rising sea levels, more frequent and severe weather events, and shifts in ecosystems and habitats. These changes can have far-reaching impacts on biodiversity, human societies, and global climate patterns.