
Here's another article about the IPCC report released Monday, from the Anchorage Daily News. From the article, "In the U.S., Alaska, the Southwest, California and the Atlantic and Gulf coasts are the most seriously threatened, the authors of the new report said at a Washington news conference on Monday...
"The North American section, Chapter 14, describes what's happening now and what the authors think will occur as the world heats up. Here are some of the developments it forecasts as 'likely' or 'very likely':
"-- By 2039, average temperatures across North America will rise by 1.8 to 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit. By 2100, the warming will be 3.6 to 5.4 degrees in the West, South and East, but more than 9 degrees in the far North.
"-- Less rain will fall in the Southwest, but more will fall in the rest of the continent. The chances of extreme precipitation and flooding will increase.
"-- Trends in hurricane frequency and intensity are uncertain, but there will be more intense mid-latitude storms and extreme wave heights.
"-- Shrinking western mountain snowpacks will melt earlier, causing spring floods and drier summers. The Columbia and Colorado rivers will be especially vulnerable. Southwestern states will battle for water.
"-- Water levels in the Great Lakes will drop, affecting ship navigation and fishing and exposing buried pollutants.
"-- Warmer lake and river water will threaten fish and spread pollution. Surface temperatures in Midwestern lakes could reach 86 degrees.
"-- Growing seasons will lengthen for most of the 21st century. Forests will increase by 10 percent to 20 percent. As much as one-third of plant and animal species may be doomed to extinction.
"--Sea levels will rise 9 to 18 inches by 2100 along U.S. coasts, higher in Canada and Alaska. Up to 21 percent of coastal wetlands in the mid-Atlantic region will be lost. Higher seas and accompanying storm surges will harm transportation along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts.
"-- Severe heat waves and more pollution will threaten human health. Chicago can expect 25 percent more heat waves annually. Los Angeles will experience four to eight times as many heat-wave days. Severe hay fever, asthma and other lung disease will mount."
Meanwhile, according to Science Daily, "U.S. scientists are preparing a North Pole study, readying instruments that will make year-round observations of the water beneath the Arctic ice cap. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researchers will investigate changes in the waters of the upper layers of the Arctic Ocean that insulate surface ice from warmer, deeper waters. The expedition is part of a multiyear, multi-institutional program to establish a real-time, autonomous Arctic Observing Network. Two autonomous ice-based observatories will be anchored to the ice and will drift with the natural movement of the ice while observing water properties in the top 2,625 feet of the Arctic Ocean. The buoys are designed to last three years -- about the same lifespan as the ice floes that support them."
Category: 2008 Presidential Election
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