The Hindu : International : Rapidly melting glaciers portend doom

The Hindu : International : Rapidly melting glaciers portend doom

Want to Create Innovative Products? Tap into the 'Global Brain' - India Knowledge@Wharton

Want to Create Innovative Products? Tap into the 'Global Brain' - India Knowledge@Wharton

Effects of Global Warming

EFFECTS OF GLOBAL WARMING.

Given below is a collection of 10 pictures from various parts of the world showing the effects of global warming. (Taken from Scientific American)

Prof. TKG Namboodhiri

November 29,07

Earth in Heat: 10 Views of a Warming World

The impacts of global warming have begun to appear across the globe, from shrinking glaciers to rising seas.

By David Biello, Scientific American, Nov.2007

ANTARCTIC ICE MELT: Some of the massive glaciers in Antarctica, such as Marr Ice Piedmont pictured here, are thinning and racing to the sea at a faster rate. Some ice shelves, such as Larsen B, have disintegrated altogether. View slideshow of all images.
© 2007 BY GARY BRAASCH

Glacier National Park in the U.S. may soon lose the reason for its name. Spring comes earlier in the high reaches of the Arctic. And 11 of the last 12 years rank among the warmest since record keeping began in 1850.

Climate change has become not only a problem for future generations but a current event that portends catastrophe. The effects of global warming can be seen in retreating glaciers, threatened animals and plants as well as rising seas. Addressing the problem will require humanity to both cut back on the greenhouse gas emissions that warm our world and adapt to a climate that is already in a state of flux, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

The need for smart solutions is already evident. It can be seen in the following images, captured largely by photographer Gary Braasch and published in his book Earth Under Fire: How Global Warming Is Changing the World (University of California Press, 2007), which chronicles some of the impacts of climate change around the world:

View slideshow

Portage Glacier, 1914 | Slide 1 of 10

A picture of Portage Glacier near Anchorage, Alaska, taken by the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1914.

Portage Glacier, 2005 | Slide 2 of 10

A picture of Portage Glacier taken in 2005. The ice has receded nearly three miles (five kilometers), revealing a lake as it retreats farther into the mountains.

Antarctic Ice, 2000 | Slide 3 of 10

Some of the massive glaciers in Antarctica, such as Marr Ice Piedmont pictured here, are thinning and racing to the sea at a faster rate. Some ice shelves, such as Larsen B, have disintegrated altogether.

Bangladeshi Village, 2005 | Slide 4 of 10

A one-meter (3.2-foot) rise in sea level, which could result from the melting of a fraction of Greenland's glaciers or Antarctica's ice sheets, would flood 10 percent of Bangladesh, including the village on Bhola Island pictured here, and displace at least 20 million people.

Chicago Heat, 1995 | Slide 5 of 10

Extreme weather events, such as the heat wave in Chicago in 1995 that killed 700 people or the hot spell in Europe that killed 20,000 in 2003, will become more common as the globe warms.

Mountain Retreat, 2004 | Slide 6 of 10

Plants and animals that live at climatic boundaries, such as specific elevations in the mountains, have been retreating up alpine slopes as temperatures warm, like these plants on Mount Schrankogel in Austria.

Drought with Chinese Characteristics, 2005 | Slide 7 of 10

Droughts will also become more common in some areas, like the one that gripped Guangdong Province in China in 2005 and dried up wells and ponds that had served for centuries.

Penguin Peril, 2000 | Slide 8 of 10

Islets off of Antarctica's Anvers Island have lost half of their nesting pairs of Adélie penguins (Pygoscelis adeliae) since the 1970s. This rookery that has existed for at least 600 years must move because of rising temperatures and changing ice cover.

Modern Atlantis, 2005 | Slide 9 of 10

The children of Tuvalu, an island nation in the South Pacific just 16.5 feet (five meters) above sea level at its highest point, wait out an inundating high tide, more common with each passing year, on their "kaupapa," an outdoor sleeping platform.

Winds of Change, 2004 | Slide 10 of 10

Renewable sources of energy, such as the wind farm pictured here in Rockville, Ill., offer hope of alternatives to the fossil fuels, such as coal, that emit the greenhouse gases, which cause climate change when burned.

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