10 Things Global Warming Could Change Forever

[Leon]

Great Barrier Reef may be gone in 20 years[/U]



The Great Barrier Reef will be so degraded by warming waters that it will be unrecognizable within 20 years. Charlie Veron, former chief scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science, told The Times: “There is no way out, no loopholes. The Great Barrier Reef will be over within 20 years or so.” Once carbon dioxide had hit the levels predicted for between 2030 and 2060, all coral reefs were doomed to extinction, he said. “They would be the world's first global ecosystem to collapse. I have the backing of every coral reef scientist, every research organization. I've spoken to them all. This is critical. This is reality.”

[Leon]

Amazon Rain Forest may turn into a desert



Teeming with millions of species and one-fifth of the world's fresh water, the Amazon is the world's largest tropical rainforest. However, global warming and deforestation are reversing the forest's role as a carbon sink, converting 30-60% of the rainforest into dry savannah. Projections show the forest could disappear completely by 2050

[Leon]

Sahara Desert may become green




Scientists are seeing signals that the Sahara desert and surrounding regions are greening due to increasing rainfall. If sustained, these rains could revitalize drought-ravaged regions, reclaiming them for farming communities. This desert-shrinking trend is supported by climate models, which predict a return to conditions that turned the Sahara into a lush savanna some 12,000 years ago

[Leon]

Hurricanes may became more devastating than Katrina



It has not been determined whether Katrina was linked to global warming. But there are indications that global warming will produce more Category 5 hurricanes --and Katrina was only Category 4 when it hit Louisiana. Hurricanes derive their power in part from warm water, and so forecasting models show future hurricanes becoming more severe as sea surface temperatures rise. Global warming also makes hurricanes more destructive by raising the sea level, which leads to more serious coastal flooding. (According to the EPA, a two-foot rise would swallow a chunk of the U.S. bigger than Massachusett

[Leon]

London may disappear underwater by 2100




It isn't only reefs and low-lying islands that are under threat from global warming. In fact, a major threat is for those large urban areas which are at risk of eventually being submerged underwater. This is caused by a change in sea levels that occurs when global warming takes place, resulting in coastal cities being destroyed by flooding. Dozens of the world's cities, including London and New York, could be flooded by the end of the century, according to research which suggests that global warming will increase sea levels more rapidly than was previously thought. London is one of the major world capitals at high risk of this type of flooding, as depicted in this shot from the 2007 movie Flood. Scientists say that the city could be under water as early as within the next one hundred years.

[Leon]

Animals may shrink




Warming climate may favor small species over large ones. The research, based on analysis of body mass of fish, plankton, and bacteria in European ecosystems, comes just weeks after scientists reported that sheep on a Scottish island are shrinking due to warmer conditions.

The new study reveals that individual species lost an average of 50 percent of their body mass over the past 30 years. The reduced body size is the third universal ecological response to global warming. An earlier sheep study suggested that shorter and milder winters mean lambs do not need to put on as much as weight as they once did in order to survive their first year of life, a factor that could also impact fish populations. Nonetheless the researchers say the shift could alter food chains, with apex predators being particularly affected by shrinking prey

[Leon]

2,000 Indonesian islands may disappear



A]t least 2,000 small islands across archipelagic Indonesia may disappear by 2030 as a consequence of excessive mining and other environment-damaging activities. Indonesia has already lost 24 of its more than 17,500 islands

[Dark_Lord]

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[bakr124]

  nice post