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Current impacts




Vocabulary

to be capped – оставаться на предельном уровне

destabilizing – дестабилизация, выход из состояния равновесия

feedback – обратная связь, ответная реакция

to alter – менять

to trigger - вызывать

dampening – становиться влажным

irreversible – окончательный, необратимый

imperative – настоятельный, повелительный, обязывающий

precipitation – осадки

subsequent – последующий

to bode – предвещать

domino effect - цепная реакция

inundation – затопление, наводнение

 

Read the text and answer the following questions:

 

1. What destabilizes the Earth’s climate system?

2. What are the consequences of rising ocean temperatures?

3. Does human activity contribute to 0.1°C warming of climate?

4. What is the threshold for a catastrophic climate change?

5. What are the predictions about further climate change on the planet?

6. What does IPCC stand for and does this organization do?

7. What are the scientific predictions concerning sea level and coastal line?

 

 

Glaciers and sea ice are already melting at increasing rates. The ice loss of about half a meter during the decade from 1996-2005 is about twice the ice loss during the previous decade and four times the ice loss during the decade before. Coral reefs, an indicator of ocean health and stability due to their sensitivity to warming sea surface temperatures and ocean acidification, are dying off at an alarming rate. The latest review of coral reefs in 2008 found that 20 per cent of the world's coral reefs had been destroyed or severely damaged. Taking into consideration climate change, all coral reefs are at risk of extinction.

Recent climate-related impacts on land are quite diverse. Three examples are expanding ranges of pests, severe heat waves, and more frequent flooding events. Pine beetles have been moving up in latitude and altitude as regions experience warmer winters and, in taking advantage of already stressed higher temperatures and drought conditions, have had devastating effects on forests. And these forests are important carbon sinks which take up greenhouse gas emissions. In the western United States, nearly 4 million acres of forest were killed in 2007 alone. In Central America, Belize experienced its first ever major pine beetle outbreak in 2000, a natural disaster which had a higher tree mortality rate than any other natural disaster in the country since 1944 when such monitoring began.

In the last century, some regions of the world (eastern North and South America, northern Europe, and northern and central Asia) saw an increase in precipitation while other regions (the Sahel belt south of the Sahara desert, the Mediterranean region, southern Africa, and parts of southern Asia) saw less. Europe bore the brunt of extreme weather events in the form of unusually intense flooding in 2002, followed by the heat wave in 2003 which resulted in the deaths of an estimated 30,000 people. In France, the average summer temperature in 2003 was 3.6°C above the long-term norm.

The IPCC agrees that climate change would increase the intensity and severity of extreme weather events, altering what is considered normal for these events. Natural variability has and will continue to play a leading role in these events, but climate changes are expected to exacerbate them. Evidence of this is accumulating globally, as anthropogenic emissions rise, along with the number of weather-related disasters.

Natural hazards like earthquakes are far less susceptible to human influence than weather-related natural hazards like hurricanes, winter storms, flooding, and wildfires. The 1980s saw on average 300 disasters a year of weather-related disasters, and that number grew to 480 in the 1990s, and in the last decade has increased to 620. Meanwhile, worldwide economic losses associated with these disasters topped $214 billion (USD) in 2005 as a result of an intense hurricane season. While climate change does not directly cause these events, destabilizing the climate system will affect “primarily increase “ the likelihood and severity of extreme weather events.

Future impacts of climate change on the Earth and human vulnerabilities to those impacts could be numerous. While some regions of the world could experience more annual rainfall, water resources both above and below ground in many regions of the world will also be strained, as precipitation patterns shift. Where glaciers and annual snowmelt are the primary source for surface waters, regions can expect declining water availability over the next 100 years. For example, glaciers in Tibet are the start of six major rivers located in the some of the most heavily populated regions of the world.

 




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