click on picture to have large (450kb) version
The above map was published by Le Monde a couple of days ago. It shows the expected consequences of global warming by 2100.
See below for the translation and a few other pics.
The legend of the map:
- rising waters
flooded coastlines
submerged islands
main coastal cities - increasing temperatures
less than 0.5°C (0.9°F)
more than 3°C (5°F)
more than 5°C (8°F) - extension of deserts
damaged land
threatened land - melting ice
melting polar caps
glaciers retreating - flora and fauna
displacement of biogeographic areas.
And a few local maps:
average cumulative loss in ice thickness of glaciers in Patagonia
hazel trees (on the basis of temperature increase of 3.6°C/6.5°F and doubling of CO2 levels)
red: current area, will have disappeared by 2080
light green:: current area, will still grow in 2080
dark green: new area of growth in 2080
robusta coffee: current area of growth (yellow), and area of growth if temperatures increase by 2°C (3°F) (red)
Bangladesh: areas flooded by a 50cm (20in) rise in water levels / a 100cm (40in) rise. Water is expected to rise by 40-50 cm by 2100. It went up by 1.8mm per year this century, but 3mm/y since 1993
If you have a subscription to Le Monde, here’s the link
All the islands are submerged in about 90 years…
oh great…floods in New York City…
A picture is worth a thousand words – but this administration is blind. 🙁
Thanks for posting this – excellent information.
And thanks for the translations for us dumb Americans.
Here is another fantastic and pertinent article on the ever-fantastic site, worldchanging.
It contrasts the global health impacts of climate change with the global distribution of greenhouse gas production. Surprise – those who produce the least greenhouse, such as Africa, will be affected the worst.
Countries like India show up as a clear priority – as a nation that is both producing large quantities of greenhouse gases, and will also suffer significantly from climate-induced health impacts, it suggests there is an opening there for developed nations to press future-influential nations like India to lead the way. Enlightened self-interest is probably our best hope now.
The official website for the UN Climate Change Conference (underway through Dec. 9 in Montreal) contains links to a wealth of information being presented by environmental experts. Most of it is being posted to the internet concurrent with, or shortly after, the formal presentations themselves, so much is not yet available. Check back with them in another week and pretty much everything should be up.
And to recycle a comment of mine from several months ago:
The global rate of sea level rise was between 1 and 2 mm per year during the 20th Century. Even assuming that the effect would be no worse in the 21st Century, taking the midpoint of the range would generate an increase of 150mm, or about 6 inches. This is at the low edge of each of six estimated scenarios presented at the 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change sponsored by the UN and the World Meteorological Organization. Without spending too much time on the IPCC website, I couldn’t locate the source info for these six scenarios, but I trust they know whereof they speak. This slide shows the ranges for each scenario; the average for each scenario ranges from between 300mm to 470mm (12 to 18 inches). That may not sound like a whole lot, but it would most certainly have a devastating impact. Dutch polders, the city of Venice, Bangladesh, Florida and Pacific atolls (to name just a few places) would all suffer greatly.
Not to mention that if the average temperature of the oceans were to rise by one degree, thermal expansion will cause the overall volume of the oceans to grow (leaving aside any additional effect of melting ice caps). As the temperature rises, the average density drops (see these tables, for example), thus increasing the volume. And there’s really only one place for that extra volume to go: on top of the old sea level.
Kinda glad I won’t live to see it.
I do my little bit by trying not to drive much … recycling like a maniac! … and sticking my arm out the car window to give vigorous a thumbs down to every damn Hummer I see.
Then there are all those huge pickups around here…. such macho bullshit.
I have the same reaction – I’m glad that I won’t be around to see the continuing destruction of the planet & the loss of our large mammals such as the polar bear. What a horrible legacy we are leaving the generations to come.
Taht map is scary. Kiss the ‘cornlands’ of North America goodbye. Up 5 degrees centigradw in the area from the Appalacians to the Rockies where we grow corn, soybeans, wheat, canola oil, etc. Kiss our Ace-in-the-hole goodbye.
Hey global warming is just the US’ way to help Canada have even better weather and more farmable land.
🙂