Wildfires, Sea Level Rise, Coral Bleaching Denote 2016 Was The Hottest Year Ever Recorded
The rapid growth of human civilization is now directly affecting on Nature. Wildfires, melting the ice of Antarctica, sea level rising all are the result of global warming. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced on Wednesday that,2016 was the hottest year ever recorded.
Both agencies admitted that the temperature rising is caused by the human. Carbon Dioxide(CO2), Carbon Monoxide(CO), Sulphur Dioxide (SO2) and other greenhouse gas emitted by various automobile vehicles, factories, power plants are causing temperatures to climb upward. Here is a list of some effects caused by the global temperature rising:
Wildfire in the west
The rate of wildfires dramatically increased over the last 30 years in the west. Since 1980’s human-caused warming doubled the area of the burn. According to Los Angeles Times, over 16,000 square miles of the area got burned which is equivalent to the combined area of Massachusetts and Connecticut.
Plants and trees get dry quickly in warm weather condition and dry leaves and twigs are burn prone when it just get a spark it starts to burn and spreads fire like a chain reaction.
Melting Arctic ice and sea level rising
Rising temperature melts glaciers and polar ice and melting ice ends up with rising up sea levels. Over the last century, sea level has increased 6 inches and its still increasing. Current temperature suggests that waters could rise by 6 feet or more by the end of the century. This height can threaten 13.1 million US coastal residents with flooding. Researchers found average American produces almost 16 metric tons of CO2 in a year which is enough to melt 50 square meters of Arctic sea ice.
Undersea ecosystem problem
Not only land but also undersea creatures are in trouble for this global warming. It's also affecting the ecosystem of seawater. Ocean water absorbs heat and carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Diluted CO2 make the water acidic. It makes sea creatures behave abnormally and decays shells of shell fishes and corals.
There are so many species of plants and animals who lives in cold environments. It is really hard to survive in warm condition for those species. As per the Wired report, animals have to migrate from their ancestral home to survive but sometimes their new home doesn’t seem habitable which leads them to mass extinction.
Warmer temperature of the atmosphere
80 percent of the US population reported that they are feeling more pleasant weather over the last 40 years. It is happening because the temperature of those places was risen up. So, it feels good but it is not a good message for the citizens. In 2006 California, 650 people were reported dead due to cardiovascular disease and asthma caused by high temperature of the atmosphere.
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