So we've learnt that global warming is heating our earth, but what does that mean for things on it?
Environmental effects
1. Cyclones.
As Earth's temperature rises, so do the oceans, and the warmth of oceans play a major part in the creation and sustainability of cyclones. Oceans draw heat from the sun by insolation, and with the sun being hotter than ever before, it is more likely for evaporation to occur, causing a chain of events that will create a cyclone. Once a cyclone is formed, it will follow the heat of the ocean until it dissipates, and with the ocean being so hot, it will go for a very long time.
2. Water levels
There are currently 9 290 742.912 square kilometres of water trapped in ice caps, glaciers, and permanent snow around the world, and with Earth's temperature rising, all of these could melt. A study by the National Snow and Ice Data Center shows that if all of the world's glaciers melted today, the sea level would rise about 230 feet. This increase in water levels is enough to threaten some low-lying islands like Vanuatu and Bermuda.
3. Fires
Dry areas of land that are susceptible to wildfires have a much higher chance of burning due to the increase in temperature. These fires will become a lot more common and more destructive, similar to the fires in Southeastern Europe in 2007. And to make matters worse, the very fine soot released by the fires (black carbon) pollutes the air, and the carbon dioxide released aid the greenhouse gas effect to further warm the earth to create even more fires, and so on.
4. Smog
Smog is named after its combination of smoke and fog. It is made up of vehicular fumes, industrial pollution, and ground level ozone that are a dangerous threat to human health in urban areas. It intensifies previous respiratory health conditions such as bronchitis and asthma, as well as hindering the body's immune system that helps fight against infectious diseases. Columbia and John Hopkins universities predict that smog-related deaths are increasing 4.5% from the 1990s to the 2050s due to the increase of pollution.
5. Volcanic Activity
Around the Earth, the intense sun will be melting vast ice sheets into water, this will shift pressure on Earth's crust, and move the plate boundaries. On these plate boundaries sit volcanoes, and the moving of the boundaries will disrupt the magma below, and cause eruptions in some unusual places. Ones like what happened in Iceland's Gjlap eruption, where the magma reached the surface at an unusual intermediary point between two volcanoes, and caused smoke to envelop the surrounding area of Europe.