Climate Change Effects on the Environment PDF
Effects of Climate Change on the Environment PDF. Climate Change Effects on the Environment. Also, Impacts of Climate Change on the Environment.
Effects of Climate Change on the Environment
Climate change certainly impacts the environment negatively. It destroys the ecological cycles in the ecosystem, including the water, carbon, and nitrogen cycle. Additionally, many people are getting displaced due to global warming. Moreover, a thousand species have been extinct because of climate change. Furthermore, climate change stimulates to occur natural disasters, including floods, cyclones, wildfires, desertification, and many more. There are both natural causes of climate change and human causes of climate change on the earth.
The Negative Effects of Climate Change on the Environment are:
- Rising Sea Levels
- Heatwaves
- Droughts
- Floods
- Cyclones
- Wildfires
- Desertification
- Glacial Retreat
- Coral Bleaching
- Ecosystem Collapse
- Human Migration
- Extinction of Species
1. Rising Sea Levels
Rising sea levels are the direct consequences of climate change on the environment. The glaciers and ice sheets are melting due to the climate change caused by global warming. According to the IPCC study, sea levels are predicted to rise around 5-10 inches by 2050. As a result, it brings devastating impacts on coastal areas, including erosion, flood, and salinization. Many scientists have predicted some vulnerable cities that will sink by 2100, such as Jakarta, Miami, Venice, Bruges, etc.
Additionally, they have mentioned some countries that will completely sink future, for example, Kiribati, The Maldives, Samoa, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, and Solomon Islands. Coastal floods and salinizations are the most crucial effect of the rising sea level caused by global warming. The researchers have identified the three fundamental reasons for rising sea levels: ocean currents, melting glaciers, and ice sheets.
2. Heatwaves
Heatwaves refer to scorching weather lasting for a couple of days. It is also known as heat events. Heatwave is a critical effect of climate change caused by global warming. As a result, it makes the days and nights hotter than regular days. Since 1901, the earth’s surface temperature has ascended around 0.16 degrees Fahrenheit per decade. The situation gets more miserable when combined with extreme humidity. The heat index evaluates the combination of severe humidity in the environment. Heatwave is the consequence of climate change, and it has several adverse impacts on the environment. It affects plant growth by reducing the dry-out landscape. It also causes water shortages in the environment and increases heat-related illnesses.
3. Droughts
Drought means a prolonged drier atmosphere caused by a shortage of water supply. Depending on the geographic location, it occurs when the area experiences below-normal rainfall that can last around six months to one year. Drought can be considered after 15 days. It is a periodic characteristic of the atmosphere that recurs yearly in most areas of the earth. The prolonged drier season has become a common problem in most countries in Southeast Asia and Africa, and people from these regions suffer from a shortage of water supply.
Droughts reduce surface water and get down the layer of underground water. The four types of droughts are meteorological, hydrological, agricultural, and socioeconomic drought. Drought is the indirect effect of climate change caused by global warming.
For example, the negative impacts of droughts on the environment are reducing plant and vegetable growth, spoiling soil quality, creating water scarcity, and damaging biodiversity.
4. Floods
Floods refer to the water overflow on the planet’s solid surface, and it is a natural calamity caused by climate change. Heavy rainfalls, storms, melting ice sheets, and cyclones cause the flood. The air can hold more than 7 per cent water vapour when the temperature rises around one-degree celsius. When the temperature cools rapidly, the steam turns into water and causes heavy rainfall. Similarly, global warming melts glaciers that cause floods. Flood has negative impacts on agriculture, wildlife, property, and the environment.
5. Cyclones
Climate change causes frequent cyclones, directly impacting climate change on the environment. Cyclone is ocean storms that rotate about a center of low atmospheric pressure and move at 30 to 50 kilometers per hour speed. The most common cyclones are tropical cyclones, mesocyclones, and extratropical cyclones. Among them, the tropical cyclone is the most devastating for the environment. It is a catastrophic natural disaster that brings heavy rain. A tropical cyclone is generated from the ocean when the sea temperature increases more than 26 degrees celsius.
So, the high temperature on the sea surface and humidity conditions in the lower levels of the troposphere forms tropical cyclones. Ocean soaks more than 90 per cent of heat emitted from solar radiation and generated by greenhouse gasses. The cyclone draws energy from ocean currents and warm water and finally becomes intense storms. Thus, the strong winds of tropical cyclones destroy forests, buildings, vehicles, trees, and other properties.
6. Wildfires
Wildfires refer to burning a forest caused by climate. Many factors, including natural and human activities, occur in wildfires. Wildfire is the intensely burning of woodland due to factors associated with climate change, such as heatwaves and droughts. Fires always produce smoke, flame, dust, heat, and greenhouse gases. The fundamental component of the wildfires is the increasing temperature of the surrounding areas.
The most common two types of forest fires are human-induced and natural forest fires. Wildfires affect the ecosystem and biodiversity intensely by burning billions of plants, birds, animals, and insects. The studies have shown that the number of wildfires has increased due the global warming in the current decade. However, many additional factors, including natural and man-made elements, trigger the rise of wildfires.
The extreme temperature set fire in the forest. Although lightning is accountable for setting fire in the forest, the hot weather soon spread the fires. It destroys the environment woods in the forest within a short time.
7. Desertification
Desertification is another crucial effect of climate change on the environment that destroys fertile lands. It is one of the most devastating consequences of climate change on the environment in the recent century. Desertification means turning the fertile land into dryland losing productivity. Climate change also causes increasing the arid land on the planet gradually.
In conclusion, the negative effects of climate change on the environment are Rising sea levels, Heatwaves, Droughts, Floods, Cyclones, Wildfires, Desertification, Glacial Retreat, Coral Bleaching, Ecosystem Collapse, Human Migration, and Extinction of Species.