Water Cycle

Climate change is having an impact on the water cycle, raising the issue of whether we should be investing in adapting to these impacts or focusing on more pressing water resource issues, such as providing water and sanitation for increasing populations? If investment in adapting to climate change is a priority, then is it best to invest in protecting natural ecosystems or developing engineered infrastructure?

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“The traditional way of handling extreme events such as floods and droughts, with engineering works should be complemented with the ecosystems approach which integrates the management of land and water that promotes conservation and sustainable use in an equitable way”, says Dr. Max Campos, Review Editor for the Latin American Chapter for IPCC Impacts and Adaptation Report .
“Climate change is indeed an important issue, but it needs to be seen in context of the many other global challenges affecting water resources such as population growth, urbanization and land use change. Adaptation is vital – but we need to adapt to the full range of factors that are stressing water resources, and not focus on human-forced climate change to the exclusion of everything else”, says Oliver Brown from the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD).
“It should be a must for vulnerable communities whether in the developed or developing world to ensure that their development ambitions are prepared for climate change. Adaptation should not be limited to the rich”, said Dr. Henk Van Schaik, Deputy Programme Coordinator UNESCO-IHE. He argued that vulnerable communities in the developed world are preparing and investing to protect their societies, economies and environments to the impacts of climate change. This is not so in transition economies nor in developing countries.
Going beyond the issue of investment in pressing development issues or adaptation measures, is the question of looking at natural versus engineered solutions.
“Conventional approaches to climate change adaptation range from water conservation and efficient use to new operational techonologies”, says Dr Mark Smith, Head of the IUCN Water Programme. “Dams and reservoirs are still considered as the most effective structural means of risk management. But we need to start thinking of the environment as infrastructure for adaptation as well. Health and intact river basins, wetlands and floodplains make us less vulnerable to climate change. Lowering risk is a good reason for investing in watersheds and the environment.” – Good courtesy from sciencedaily.com
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Water Resources impact

The effects of global warming are vast and cover every sphere of one’s life. Both the nature and the living beings are suffering from the effects of global warming. If we do not take note of the alarming rate of growing global warming then our earth might cease to exist someday. The water resources have been heavily affected by the global warming phenomenon. Sea levels have risen, glaciers retreats are taking place often and the most harmful affect is the shrinking of the Arctic Circle. This phenomenon has caused concerns among all the sectors and geo-engineering is considered to be a way of mitigation.

If we put it simply then the water bodies would be affected during the long and scorching summers since the rate of evaporation would increases with hotter summers. Water cycle is important for any kind of human activity and global warming would adversely affect this cycle causing a topsy turvy in the human activities as well as the climactic changes. Global warming might also lead to floods. The water levels in many regions would lower due to excessive evaporation and this would cause in torrential downpours increasing the chance of deluge.

The acceleration in the phenomenon of global warming has caused the ice sheets in the West Antarctic Circle and Greenland to shrink. Carbon sediments have been released in the air and due to the increase of carbon emission the reduction in the ice sheets has taken place. This reduction might cause a huge flood around the world. By the end of twenty first century the water in the sea is expected to rise by 7.1- 23.2 inches. Due to the augmentation of global warming effects the Thermohaline circulation might as well get disrupted. The fresh water from the Polar Regions would interrupt the Gulf Stream causing this distress. The implication of a change of course of the gulf stream would have worldwide effect that would drastically accelerate climate change and extremes.

The imbalance created in the water cycle by global warming has far reaching effects. Some places on the earth would face extreme temperatures along with torrential rainfall while others would face scarcity of water and drought. In fact, according to the scientists this phenomenon of global warming might even cause desertification in the extreme Tropical areas like Africa.

The glacier rich areas like Western North America, Asia, Alps, Indonesia and Africa are suffering badly due to global warming. The melting of glaciers in these regions has raised concerns regarding the increase in water levels. Ocean circulation also suffers due to global warming. The oceans act as the absorber of carbon dioxide and when it reaches the saturation point it fails to absorb any more carbon dioxide. As a result the ocean surface becomes warm.

Acidification of ocean is caused due to the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is an indirect effect of global warming causing distress to people worldwide. The rise in sea level would cause infiltration of the saline water into the groundwater. This will pose as a potential danger for the health of the living organisms.

Impact on human activity

Water is essential for human existence. It is also used for various other purposes like generating electricity from the hydro electrical power plants. These hydroelectricity plants require the water current which is derived from the fast flowing rivers. But with the increase in global warming the rivers are unable to maintain their flow causing a decline in the production of electricity. Water levels in reservoirs and aquifers are also decreasing due to the increase in global warming. This would lead to grave consequences at homes and workplaces as well as the agricultural sector of the different countries.
Hence, we should sit up and take note of this predicament that is threatening our existence. Only our joint endeavor would help our race to survive the threat of global warming. – Great article by theglobalwarmingoverview.com.

GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE EXPLAINED

Global warming refers to an increase in the Earth’s average surface air temperature. Global warming and cooling in themselves are not necessarily bad, since the Earth has gone through cycles of temperature change many times in its 4.5 billion years. However, as used today, global warming usually means a fast, unnatural increase that is enough to cause the expected climate conditions to change rapidly and often cataclysmically. Our planet is warmed by radiant energy from the sun that reaches the surface through the atmosphere. As the surface warms, heat energy reflects back toward space; meanwhile, gases in the atmosphere absorb some of this energy and reradiate it near the surface. This is often called the greenhouse effect, named for the way heat increases inside a glass enclosure. In the greenhouse effect around Earth, the atmosphere can be visualized as a blanket that is made thicker by the action of a small amount of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, nitrous oxide, other gases, and soot; it thus holds in more heat, forcing air temperature higher. The scientific term for this action is, in fact, “forcing.” On an average day, this effect is caused by water vapor and clouds (75 percent) and carbon dioxide (20 percent), with the rest fthe heating caused by other gases. Relatively small additions of carbon dioxide and methane force more heat, and that heat allows the air to hold more water vapor, creating a feedback loop that magnifies the effect. Although water vapor is naturally prevalent in the atmosphere, it does not trap as much heat per molecule as carbon dioxide and methane. Also, water vapor molecules cycle through the atmosphere in only a few days, a brief period compared to the residence time of CO2,which persists for many decades and creates some warming even after as long as three hundred years. Dust and aerosol chemicals in the air cause some cooling (negative forcing); they are also very short lived. Even though the gases are measured only in parts per million (ppm) or billion (ppb), they have been powerfully, and naturally, influencing the Earth’s temperature for millions of years. Without them, instead of an average air temperature of about 58°F (14.5°C), the Earth would be below the freezing point. Life as we know it now would be impossible. Earth’s temperature is also subject to natural forcing cycles from solar radiation and the movement of the planet around the sun. Scientists think these cycles, which have left a visible signature extending back millions of years, arewhat led to past iceages and the warming that ended them. Currently, we are in a period between major iceages. The last great glaciation, when temperatures were about 10°to 12°F (6°to7°C) cooler than today, began fading away about 18,000 yearsago. The initial transition out of the ice age was unstable,with many rapid temperature shifts. As temperatures warmed, climate was affected. Climate is the accumulation of weather effects—wind, rainfall, heat, cold—experienced in a place over many years, an average of thousands of days’ worth of weather. Climate is what one expects in a certain place; weather is what occurs day by day. One result of global temperature increase or decrease is climate change, referring to a shift in not only average local temperature but also rain- and snowfall, cloudiness and storms, the seasons, and river flow, with associated impacts on the biosphere, the portion of the Earth and its atmosphere that supports life. Although in our daily lives we are attuned to day-by-day swings of temperature and weather, the long-term changes of climate and average Earth temperature are more difficult to apprehend. During most of the more recent past (say, 10-11,000 years), the concentration of greenhouse gases remained relatively stable, and so did the Earth’s temperature and climate. This was the time when humans developed civilizations and learned how to build cities, grow food, and invent machines. It is possible that early farming and forest clearing had a warming effect on the Earth beginning five thousand to eight thousand years ago. There are also a few examples of natural temperature shifts, such as the Medieval Warm Period, which was followed by the Little Ice Age in the fifteenth through eighteenth centuries. These were possibly not global in extent, and there is scientific disagreement over their causes which seem to have included periods of solar radiation increase and decrease and volcanic eruptions. During the Industrial Revolution, people began to use coal and, later, petroleum, to heat cities and run machines. Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, a by-product of burning both coal and oil, began to increase. Since then, levels of carbon dioxide have risen by almost 35 percent, methane concentrations (coming from ricefields, cattle, landfills, and leaks of natural gas) have more than doubled, and nitrous oxide concentrations (another by-product of oil) have gone up by about 15 percent. Some chemicals invented by humans, like chlorofluorocarbons, are also greenhouse gases. Increased greenhouse gases mean more heat is kept in the atmosphere, which led beginning in the late 1800s to arise in both ocean and air temperature. Between then and 1945, world temperature rose but then leveled off and even decreased a little through the 1960s. The best explanation for that dip appears to be the rise in industrial air pollution during and after the war years, including dust and sulfur, which, as aerosols, cool the atmosphere. Beginning in the 60s, laws mandated the reduction of aerosol pollution. The sun’s luminosity varied a little through these years, but this appears to have had only minor influence The recent increase in atmospheric CO2 is 200 times as great as any previous change known and the current level is 385 parts per million, the highest seen in 800,000 years of deep glacier ice core records. It shows no signs of decreasing. Since the 1970s atmospheric heat has been rapidly increasing. Whereas the average temperature of the planet rose about 1°F (0.6°C) between the mid-nineteenth century and the end of the twentieth, in the past twenty-five years alone the temperature has risen just over 0.8°F (0.5°C). (The last ice age would have ended in only four hundred years—instead of many thousands—at this rate of heating.) The total heating from the late nineteenth century to 2005 is 1.4°F (0.8°C). The ocean has actually absorbed most of the added CO2 and heat -- becoming warmer and very slightly more acidic. The only explanation that comports with data and observations of sun, atmosphere and ocean is the steep rise in greenhouse gases. This rise has been shown to be the result not of natural changes but of human activities ( "antropogenic"), primarily the burning of fossil fuels but also farming and forest clearing. Extensive urbanization, air pollution, forrest fires and increased pumping of water have caused regional change as well. Furthermore, scientists know the added carbon dioxide comes from our actions because this CO2 has an unmistakable chemical signature. This research has created what has become the single most powerful icon of climate change, the so-called "hockey-stick" graph of temperatures. In 2005-6 it was subjected to intense re-analysis. Evidence of previous cool and warm periods has increased, but the rapid and sustained heat gain especially since the 1970s remains unparalleled in recent earth history. All this evidence, plus the vast range of changes to plants, animals, storms and glaciers which correlate strongly to the measured temperature rise, caused world climate scientists to declare in 2007 that "Warming of the climate system is unequivocal," and that there is more than a 90 percent assurance that "most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is ... due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations." (see below) These increases have a giant effect on weather, climate zones, plants and animals, sea life, glaciers and river flow. In response, our planet has been changing with warming winds and rising seas. The 10 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1997, according to meteorologists. 2005 and 1998 were the warmest. At the poles and in mountains, ice is melting and glaciers are receding. Arctic sea ice reach the smallest summer extent ever recorded in the past few years. Even in Antarctica, where winter sea ice has been larger in extent recently, it melts back much more than before in the summers, affecting the food supply of whales and penguins. The planet has heavier downpours now but also deeper droughts. Down into the temperate zone, change is rearranging the boundaries of life. The plants and animals with whom we share the planet are adapting and moving -- some even going extinct -- because they have no choice. We six billion humans are being affected, too. Coastal towns are suffering from rising sea level, storms are getting more intense and 35,000 people died in European heat waves in 2003. However, we have choices to make to help correct and ameliorate global warming. This is a story of frightening scale and and great urgency that is just beginning to be told. Locations documented by Gary Braasch in World View of Global Warming, 1999-2010 Resource :www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org

Observations of Ozone Depleting Gases

Ozone Depleting Gases

The ODGI is estimated directly from observations at Earth’s surface of the most abundant long-lived, chlorine and bromine containing gases regulated by the Montreal Protocol (15 individual chemicals). These ongoing surface-based observations provide a measure of the total number of chlorine and bromine atoms in the atmosphere that are likely to reach the stratosphere and contribute to ozone depletion in the near future. Because air reaching the Antarctic stratosphere has been isolated from the troposphere for a long period (~6 years on average), nearly all of the halocarbons reaching the Antarctic stratosphere during springtime have degraded to inorganic forms that are potential ozone-depleting agents. When the enhanced efficiency of bromine to destroy ozone compared to chlorine is also considered, this total halogen amount is called the Equivalent Chlorine (ECl) burden of the atmosphere (Montzka et al., 1996).

The calculation of the ODGI for mid-latitudes of both hemispheres is different than for Antarctica primarily because air in the mid-latitude stratosphere has a younger mean ‘stratospheric age’ (~3 years) compared to air above Antarctica. As a result, halocarbons in the mid-latitude stratosphere have had less time to become degraded by high-energy solar radiation. By accounting for compound-dependent degradation rates in the stratosphere, a younger mean stratospheric air age, and the enhanced efficiency for bromine to destroy ozone compared to chlorine, a quantity known as the Equivalent Effective Chlorine (EECl) can be derived to represent how the burden of ozone-depleting halogenated gases is changing in the mid-latitude stratosphere (Daniel et al., 1995; Montzka et al., 1996).

Figure 2 shows ECl (for Antarctica) and EECl (for midlatitudes) vs time calculated primarily from NOAA’s surface-based measurements and compares them with future projections provided by the 2007 WMO/UNEP Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion baseline scenario (Daniel et al., 2007). Different lag times have been applied to observed and projected tropospheric changes (indicated as solid lines and points) to approximate stratospheric changes in different regions (dashed lines). While a lag time of 6 years is used here to account for the time it takes for gases at Earth’s surface to reach the Antarctic stratosphere, a mean lag of about 3 years is more appropriate when considering air transport to the stratosphere at mid-latitudes.
READ MORE....at http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/odgi

Some Global warming Issues

Global warming Issues

Sea Level rising
The deep ocean seafloor is often a cold, dark place, barren of life. But from time to time a large bounty such as a whale carcass will drift down from the surface. Then sea life explodes: all manner of worms and other invertebrates arrive in larval form to colonize the dead organic matter and population increases dramatically — for a short time. Inevitably the resource dwindles and the population collapses.
In a similar fashion, humans now live upon the resource of dead organic matter. We’ve found our dead whale below ground, in the form of oil, gas and coal — the fossil remains of plants that lived long ago.
Fossil energy has fueled the advent and development of the industrial age and allowed human population to explode. The product of our industrial respiration, carbon dioxide (CO2), has increased in the atmosphere and now threatens to spoil our nest. The atmosphere does more than provide us with oxygen to breathe, it controls the heat balance of the world. The trouble is, compared to the ocean, the atmosphere is relatively small in mass, so human-induced changes can affect it dramatically. READ MORE....

Global warming effects on glaciers

Alaska one of the most amazing states that is a part of world’s most powerful country USA has something for everyone. In true means many have described this part of world as the ultimate nature’s gift to earth. If someone has not visited and felt the beauty of Alaska then he/she needs to explore it at least once in his/her lifespan. Nature’s beauty is something that can’t be understood until and unless you experience it physically! So, it’s the right time for you to explore Alaska with Alaska cruise lines. The inhibit beauty among its mountains, glaciers, and ocean has dragged many attention since long days. Alaska as a perfect destination to spend holidays has a romance about it. This exact romance has really differentiated Alaska from other vacation spots. When comparing to rest of the United States, Alaska remains at the top slot as far as the nature’s gift to this land are concerned. It appears to be quite dissimilar to the other vacation spots present on United States.
Alaska cruise is something that many nature tourists prefer to book in the main season so that they can explore the nature more closely. Any other way is not that much effective for a nature tourist to accomplish his/her desire and this is the reason why the popularity of Alaska cruise is too high among travelers that seeks to pay a visit to the wonderful land of Alaska. As a traveler on an Alaska cruise you will find more good reasons such as getting up close and personal to the wonderful views of the Alaskan glaciers and sea creatures that gets more active during the month of May to September.

Global warming is another important fact that has certainly propelled many to see the glaciers at Alaska. The subsequent increase in temperature has really affected glaciers all around the world and Alaskan glaciers are not far from it. These formations that slowly grew over million of years have started melting. This single fact has certainly fueled interest in watching these great glaciers.

NEWS BY ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2010)

Global warming News

Cloud Study Predicts More Global Warming

ScienceDaily (Nov. 23, 2010) — Current state-of-the-art global climate models predict substantial warming in response to increases in greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide. The models, though, disagree widely in the magnitude of the warming we can expect. The disagreement among models is mainly due to the different representation of clouds. Some models predict that global mean cloud cover will increase in a warmer climate and the increased reflection of solar radiation will limit the predicted global warming. Other models predict reduced cloudiness and magnified warming.

In a paper that has just appeared in the Journal of Climate, researchers from the University of Hawaii Manoa (UHM) have assessed the performance of current global models in simulating clouds and have presented a new approach to determining the expected cloud feedbacks in a warmer climate.



Lead author Axel Lauer at the International Pacific Research Center (IPRC) at UHM notes, "All the global climate models we analyzed have serious deficiencies in simulating the properties of clouds in present-day climate. It is unfortunate that the global models' greatest weakness may be in the one aspect that is most critical for predicting the magnitude of global warming."



To study the clouds, the researchers applied a model representing only a limited region of the atmosphere over the eastern Pacific Ocean and adjacent land areas. The clouds in this region are known to greatly influence present climate, yet current global models do poorly in representing them. The regional model, developed at the IPRC, successfully simulates key features of the region's present-day cloud fields, including the observed response of clouds to El Nino. Having evaluated the model's simulation of present-day conditions, the researchers examined the response of simulated clouds in a warmer climate such as it might be in 100 years from now. The tendency for clouds to thin and cloud cover to reduce was more pronounced in this model than in any of the current global models.

Co-author Kevin Hamilton concludes, "If our model results prove to be representative of the real global climate, then climate is actually more sensitive to perturbations by greenhouse gases than current global models predict, and even the highest warming predictions would underestimate the real change we could see."



This research was supported by the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), by NASA through Grant NNX07AG53G, and by NOAA through Grant NA09OAR4320075, which sponsor research at the International Pacific Research Center. This research was also supported by NOAA/CPPA Grant NA07OAR4310257 and DOE Regional and Global Climate Modeling (RCGM) Program Grant ER64840

FOR MORE DETAILS : http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/11/101122172010.htm

Global Warming Facts

Global warming is caused by green house gases, which trap in the sun’s infrared rays in the earth’s atmosphere, which in turn heat up the earth’s atmosphere. These green house effect warming is called as global warming. The effects of green house effect are visible more prominently in the recent years, with number of natural calamities on the rise in the whole world.

The global warming has happened in the past few years and is evident from the rise in mean temperature of the earth’s atmosphere. The main causes for the global warming are attributed to release of green house gases by human activities. The main gases contributing to green house effect are carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane and nitrous oxide. The largest producers of these gases are the thermal power plants, which burn the fossil fuels and produce these gases in large quantities. The second biggest sources of these green house gases are the road vehicles and industries.
The global warming has led to increase in mean earth surface temperature and thus melting of polar ice. There are frequent melt down of glaciers that result in floods and other natural calamities. The melting of ice at the poles had led the mean sea level. And further increase in temperature may further melt the ice and lead to further increase in mean sea level, which will engulf low lying countries.


The effect of global warming is very evident on the animal kingdom also. Some animals have become extinct due to loss of their natural habitat or their inability to evolve to the rapid changes in the climate. Also there is a change in their life style because of the changes in the seasons. The migrating birds have changed their time of travel and also their place of migration.

The effect of global warming can be felt on seasons too. There is shift in season cycle, as the summers are getting longer than the winters. This has affected the animals and made them to change their lifestyle accordingly, and those who failed to do so have perished or on the verge of extinction.

The global warming is also responsible for the introduction of some new diseases. The bacteria are more effective and multiply much faster in warmer temperatures compared to cold temperatures. The increase in temperature has led to increase in the microbes that cause diseases.

Global warming is also effecting the crop production, as the crops are getting destroyed by the sudden change in temperatures or sudden on set of rains. Also the flash floods and other natural calamities affect the crop.

As a matter of fact, because of global warming, the earth’s atmosphere is getting more unpredictable with heavy rains in the areas, which have scanty rainfall or drought in the areas, which received good annual rainfall. The months of rainfall has also getting affected.

But there are some people on the other side of the wall also, they believe that the global warming is a natural process and cannot disturb our ecosystem. The earth’s surface mean temperature was even higher a long time ago, and the ecosystem has evolved from that temperature to this. So it can evolve further. But the changes that are happening now are rather fast compared to earlier times.
For more information visit -www.globalwarming.org.in