Heating up Fever is an early and usually reliable sign of illness – one of the first things any doctor looks for when a person is not feeling well. Our planet has a fever Specialist researchers at Britain's University of East Anglia have put together all the available data to produce a temperature chart for the last millennium. The warmest year on record was 1998, while the ten warmest years globally have all occurred in the last decade and half. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has also said that most of the observed warming over the last 50 years "is likely to have been due to the increase in greenhouse gas concentrations." The most significant of these gases is carbon dioxide (CO 2 ). And the single biggest source of it – 37% of all emissions worldwide – is the carbon-rich coal burnt in power plants. The global average temperature has increased by about 0.7°C in the last hundred years, according to the European Env...
Of all the ocean currents, the Gulf Stream is one of the strongest. It brings warmth to Europe and North America. In fact, average annual temperature in north-west Europe is about 9°C above the average for this latitude because of the Gulf Stream. How does it work? Surface water in the north Atlantic is cooled by winds from the Arctic. It becomes more salty and more dense, which makes it sink to the ocean floor. The cold water then moves towards the equator where it slowly warms. To replace all this cold water, the Gulf Stream moves warm water from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Atlantic. Could global warming affect the Gulf Stream? When the last Ice Age ended (10,000 years ago) and huge amounts of ice melted, the water in the North Atlantic became less salty because of all this new freshwater. As a result, the ocean water in the North Atlantic was less dense, and did not sink. This caused the Gulf Stream to shut down. Temperatures in north-west Europe fell by 5°C in just a few decade...
Climate Change impacts: Hurricanes In 2004 alone, 9 hurricanes affected the United States causing an estimated US$42 billion dollars in damage. Just one of these storms, Hurricane Ivan, destroyed 89% of the total housing stock in Grenada, with damages estimated to be nearly US$889 million, more than twice the value of Grenada’s Gross Domestic Product. And then came 2005. FIVE Records Broken by 2005 Atlantic Hurricane Season: Most Named Storms 26 named storms, exceeding the official name list and moving through the first 5 letters of the Greek alphabet. The United States National Hurricane Center had predicted a large year but estimated only 18-21. Most Hurricanes 14 became hurricanes, meaning that winds exceeded 119 km per hour (74 mph). The previous record was 12 hurricanes in one year. Most Category 5 Storms 5 storms had winds over 249 kph (155 mph). Most Storms Hitting the United States 4 storms made landfall. Most Expensive Hurricane Damage F...
Comments