Environment

Launching a satellite to investigate the role of clouds in changing the Earth’s climate

Published

4 months ago

29/05/2024

pouyan

The satellite for investigating the role of clouds in the Earth’s climate, which is a joint mission between the European Space Agency and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, was launched into the earth’s orbit by the Falcon 9 rocket of the SpaceX company.

Launching a satellite to investigate the role of clouds in changing the Earth’s climate

May 28 was a busy day for SpaceX.

According to Space, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched at 6:20 pm EST with the Cloud-Aerosol and Earth Radiation Probe or EarthCARE satellite from the base. Vandenberg Space Force took off in California.

The Earthcore satellite is a joint mission between the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). According to the European Space Agency, the mission will investigate the role of clouds and aerosols in reflecting sunlight into space and trapping infrared radiation emitted from the Earth’s surface.

The European Space Agency added: “Learning about the balance of solar radiation on our planet is very important to address climate problems, and it can only be done from space.”

This mission operates at the same orbital altitude as the International Space Station, but with a different program. Arthkar satellite will travel in a sun-synchronous polar orbit. The satellite will look at particles in clouds and aerosol molecules in the atmosphere to see how they interact with precipitation and how fast they fall to our planet.

The officials of the European Space Agency said: “Earthker” satellite will record the distribution of water droplets and ice crystals and how they move in the clouds. Inherent data will improve the accuracy of models of cloud development and their behavior, composition, and interaction with aerosols. Also, they improve future climate models and support numerical weather forecasting.

This satellite has four types of scientific equipment, which include an atmospheric lidar for detailed investigation of clouds and cloud and aerosol characteristics, a cloud-characterizing radar for learning about the movement dynamics and structure of clouds, a broadband radiometer for investigating solar radiation and infrared radiation, and a Multispectral imager.

Arthkar satellite was designed for the first time in 2004 and was designed and built by Airbus and 75 subsidiary companies.

European Space Agency Director General Josef Aschbacher said: I am relieved that the launch was successful. I am very happy for all the people who have worked on this project for decades. I know how much blood, sweat, and tears have gone into this mission to get to where it is today.

Simonetta Cheli, the current director of the European Space Agency’s Earth observation programs, believes that although this satellite was first designed 20 years ago, it appears more relevant today than imagined.

“Earthcare’s mission showcases the relevance of environmental sustainability and shows that climate, in general, is something that is at the top of our member countries’ agenda, both in terms of support programs and participation in projects, as well as the continuation of existing data,” Chelley said. We found that last year was the hottest year on record. Also, all months of 2024 were the warmest on record.

He added: If we want to evaluate the sun’s radiation towards the earth and examine the effect of clouds in terms of cooling, it is necessary to have accurate and innovative information about clouds, aerosols, and precipitation. All of these issues can be explored in more depth today with the data obtained from the four EarthKer satellite instruments.

After launch, Earthcore is expected to undergo a six-month commissioning period, and its initial mission is expected to last at least three years.

This was the second launch of May 28 for SpaceX. The company launched a group of its Starlink internet satellites into Earth orbit this morning from Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.

According to the SpaceX mission description, the Falcon 9 first-stage booster that was flown in this mission has reached space seven times so far. Among its previous missions, was the launch of the “Dragon” manned capsule in the “Crew-7” mission to the “International Space Station”, the cargo flight of “CRS-29” to the International Space Station. And there were two Starlink missions.

The first stage of the “Falcon 9” rocket was placed on the landing platform shortly after the launch of the “Arthkar” satellite.

The mission booster successfully landed at Vandenberg Space Force Base on May 28, approximately eight minutes after launch. About 2.5 minutes later, the Falcon 9 upper stage placed the Erthkar satellite into orbit as planned.

Environment

If the dinosaurs did not become extinct, what would our world be like today?

Published

2 months ago

26/07/2024

pouyan

Have you ever wondered what our world would be like if the dinosaurs had not gone extinct? Join us in this article to answer this question.

If the dinosaurs did not become extinct, what would our world be like today?

Sixty-six million years ago, an asteroid with the power of 10 billion atomic bombs hit Earth and changed the course of evolution forever. The sky became dark and the photosynthesis of plants stopped. First, the plants and then the animals that fed on them were destroyed, the food chain collapsed and more than 90% of the species disappeared. As the dust settled in the Earth’s atmosphere, all dinosaurs became extinct except for a group of birds. But this catastrophic event paved the way for human evolution. The surviving mammals, especially the early primates, multiplied, and then humans evolved.

Strangely, Odysseus lived about 66 million years ago and was one of the last dinosaurs on earth.

Now suppose that the said asteroid had not hit the earth and the dinosaurs would have been saved. Imagine evolved raptors flying their flag on the moon. Dinosaur scientists discover relativity or discussing a hypothetical world dominated by mammals.

This hypothesis may seem like a science fiction story, but it contains deep philosophical questions about evolution. Did humans evolve purely by chance, or was the evolution of intelligent tool-using creatures inevitable?

Brains, tools, language, and large social groups have made humans the dominant species on the planet. Eight billion wise humans (homosapiens) live on the seven continents of the earth. According to the same weight, the number of humans is more than all the wild animals in the world. Humans have changed half of the earth’s land to feed themselves. In the 1980s, paleontologist Dale Russell proposed a thought experiment in which a carnivorous dinosaur evolved into an intelligent, tool-using creature. This dinosauroid has a big brain and walks on two legs.

Dinosauroid model

This hypothesis is not impossible but unlikely. The biology of an animal limits its evolutionary path. Your starting point determines your ending point. If you get kicked out of college, you can’t become a brain surgeon, a lawyer, or a NASA rocket scientist; But you may become an artist, actor, or entrepreneur. The paths we take in life open doors and close others. This also applies to evolution.

For example, consider the dimensions of dinosaurs. Sauropod dinosaurs, such as Brontosaurus and its relatives, weighed 30-50 tons and grew up to 30 meters in length during the Jurassic period. Their weight was ten times the weight of current elephants and their length was as long as a blue whale. This evolution has been seen in several groups such as Diplodocidae, Brachiosaurdiea, Turiasaurdiea, Mamenchisaurdiae, and Titanosauria.

Giant dinosaurs and mammals through time

This evolutionary process was also repeated in different continents at different times and in diverse climates from deserts to rainforests, But the other dinosaurs that lived in these environments did not become gigantic giants. The common point of all the above dinosaurs was that they were all sauropods. Anatomical features of sauropods, such as lungs, hollow bones with a high strength-to-weight ratio, metabolism, or all of these, enhanced their evolutionary potential. In this way, these dinosaurs grew in an unprecedented way.

On the other hand, carnivorous dinosaurs evolved into multi-ton hunters with huge ten-meter bodies. During more than 100 million years, megalosaurids, allosaurids, carcharodontosaurids, neovenatorids, and finally tyrannosaurs evolved into giant apex predators.

Brain size relative to body mass in dinosaurs, mammals, and birds

Dinosaurs had huge bodies, But they did not have a big brains. In fact, dinosaur brains rarely grew over time. Jurassic dinosaurs such as Allosaurus, Stegosaurus, and Brachiosaurus had small brains. 80 million years later, in the late Cretaceous period, tyrannosaurus and duck-billed dinosaurs evolved with larger brains; But the weight of the T-Rex brain, despite its gigantic body, was only 400 grams. The brain of Volareceptor was only 15 grams. Meanwhile, the average weight of the human brain reaches 1.3 kg.

Dinosaurs entered a new era over time. Small herbivores became more common and bird biodiversity increased. Later long-legged species evolved. It also seems that dinosaurs had a complex social life. They began a herd life and evolved with heavy horns for fighting. However, dinosaurs seem to have replicated themselves, usually evolving into giant herbivores and small-brained carnivores.

In the span of 100 million years of the history of dinosaurs, no trace of progress can be seen in them. Giant long-necked herbivores and massive tyrannosaur-like predators recurred during this interval. Maybe dinosaurs’ brains got a little bigger over time, but there is little evidence for their evolution into geniuses. It is even unlikely that mammals would have banished them. Dinosaurs were one of the dominant species in their environment until the asteroid hit.

However, mammals had different limitations. They never evolved into giant herbivores and carnivores. Rather, they repeatedly evolved with larger brains. Examples of large brains (human brain size or larger) are seen in orcas, sperm whales, baleen whales, elephants, leopards, and monkeys.

Golden lion tamarin, South American monkey

Today, few descendants of dinosaurs (birds such as crows and parrots) have complex brains. They can use tools, talk, and count; But mammals such as monkeys, elephants, and dolphins evolved with larger brains and more complex behaviors; So can we say that the elimination of dinosaurs ensured the evolution of mammalian intelligence? maybe not

The starting point can determine the ending point, but it cannot guarantee it. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerberg were all expelled from the university; But not every expulsion from the university leads to this fate. Even if you start at the right point, you need opportunity and luck to continue. The evolutionary history of primates shows that our evolution was not inevitable. African primates evolved in the form of monkeys with big brains in a span of seven million years and ended up with modern humans, But the evolution of primates took a different path in other places.

When monkeys arrived in the Americas about 35 million years ago, they evolved into other monkey species, and primates arrived in North America at least three separate times, 55 million, 50 million, and 20 million years ago. However, they did not become the species that made weapons and smartphones. Rather, they became extinct for reasons we do not know.

Only in Africa did evolution take a unique path. Perhaps something special about the fauna and flora or the geography of Africa caused apes to take a different evolutionary path and become tool-using primates with large bodies and brains. Even with the extinction of the dinosaurs, human evolution required the right combination of opportunity and luck.

Environment

How is the dark extinction quietly wiping out life on Earth?

Published

4 months ago

27/05/2024

pouyan

How is the dark extinction quietly wiping out life on Earth? The species that we don’t even know exist are gradually disappearing from the earth and we need to try to deal with this.

How is the dark extinction quietly wiping out life on Earth?

One of the creatures on earth is gone forever, but we don’t know what it is. Like trees falling to the ground in the silence of an empty forest, entire species disappear without anyone witnessing or even realizing their existence. This phenomenon, known as the “dark extinction,” severely undermines our ability to catalog the world’s biodiversity or understand human impact on the web of life on Earth.

What is dark extinction?

The term dark extinction refers to the extinction of species that we don’t even know exist. In other words, the term is used for life forms that become extinct before we can discover or scientifically describe them. These creatures do not find their place in the classification system of living things on Earth.

Typically, the label dark extinction is applied to those plants and animals that have disappeared as a direct result of human-induced habitat changes. Therefore, undiscovered dinosaurs do not count as the dark extinction. However, unknown extinctions are not limited to the modern age and also go back to prehistoric times, when our ancestors first occupied the world’s continents and hunted some of the large animals to extinction.

The term dark extinction refers to the extinction of species that we don’t even know exist

Many human-caused extinctions of large animals are well represented in the fossil record, however, there are probably a few large animal extinctions in the past ten thousand years that we are not aware of.

A major wave of human-caused extinction began around the 14th century across the planet. It was at this time that advances in European maritime technology allowed Westerners to go to remote oceanic islands and bring rats, cats, and other non-native mammals to new lands and destroy native life. Since this period was before the classification of animals at the beginning of the 19th century, many species that disappeared during this period were not scientifically described or recorded in any catalog, meaning that we do not know how many species were lost.

Even since the beginning of the classification period, an unknown number of species have disappeared before anyone had a chance to record their existence. Many of these life forms disappeared without a trace, and others left behind fossils that were discovered after the extinction or have yet to be discovered.

“Great unknowns are things that went extinct before the science of taxonomy began,” Dr. Alexander Lees of Manchester Metropolitan University told IFL Science.

To fill in all the blanks, we’d have to find the remains of any extinct species, though that’s highly unlikely. For many species we have to resort to fossils. Thus, species that fossilize well may have a better record of historical extinctions. For example, birds do not fossilize as well as mammals, and most invertebrates are rare in the fossil record. In other words, we don’t really know how many dark extinctions have occurred throughout human history, although scientists have speculated and the numbers are staggering.

How many species are extinct?

The official IUCN list of extinct flora and fauna currently includes only 909 species. However, this figure is an understatement because it does not account for unknown extinctions or undiscovered species.

Researchers have attempted to develop statistical models to calculate the number of dark extinctions that accompanied these confirmed extinctions. For example, the results of a study have shown that about 1430 species of birds may have disappeared due to human activities, while another study shows that 60% of the total extinctions in some groups of animals may be undiscovered species. Another paper concluded that we may have lost 260,000 species of invertebrates over the past 500 years.

We do not know that there have been several dark extinctions throughout human history

All of the above estimates are very approximate and mostly guesswork, in the sense that we don’t really have any exact numbers to represent all the creatures that disappeared from the face of the earth.

While there have been theoretical studies of dark extinctions, every now and then scientists find actual physical evidence for the phenomenon, and most of them show how wrong our numerical estimates have been. For example, in 2013 a lineage of extinct land snails was discovered in French Polynesia, increasing the total number of confirmed mollusk extinctions by about two percent.

Given that most estimates of dark extinction are based on extrapolations of known extinctions, such findings can have a significant impact on statistical modeling.

Each newly confirmed historical extinction opens up endless possibilities for the loss of companion species that may have been associated with the extinct species, Lee explains. On the other hand, while it may be easy to identify large ancient animals in the fossil record when it comes to the parasites that lived in the bodies of these species, as well as the creatures that consumed their feces, we realize how much we know about We are unaware of the species that have been lost.

How can we prevent the dark extinction?

Extinction is an integral part of the process of natural selection, and even without the help of humans, the world is thought to lose about one species per million each year, known as the background extinction rate.

Current estimates suggest that the world is losing species thousands of times faster than the background extinction rate, leading to the suggestion that we are in the midst of the planet’s sixth mass extinction. Therefore, it is clear that we have not been successful in protecting Earth’s biodiversity, and if we are to reverse this trend, we need major investments in habitat protection now.

Nowhere on Earth is the condition of species destruction more urgent than in the Brazilian Atlas Forest; Where there is the highest abundance of endangered vertebrates in the Americas. This forest, which once covered 1.2 million square kilometers of land, is now reduced to small patches that cannot help sustain the species’ population. “A pair of species might live in the same patch of forest, but there’s no genetic sharing between the patches, and if one of those mojowats is lost, we’ll lose that species,” Liz explains.

86% of terrestrial organisms and 91% of marine organisms have not yet been officially discovered

The problem is so severe that Lees believes many of the region’s threatened species are unlikely to survive in captivity without breeding programs. However, these efforts will be fruitless if there is no immediate plan to rehabilitate forest patches create connections between them, and increase the size of those patches.

Out-of-habitat breeding and propagation programs are designed to save known species but do not directly contribute to mitigating the dark extinction crisis. However, by restoring habitats, we can indirectly bring many undiscovered species back from the brink of extinction.

If we have a more complete list of the world’s inhabitants, the dark extinction will no longer make sense. We may not be able to prevent the extinction of many of these species, but if we describe them all, at least we know what we are missing.

There are thought to be about 8.7 million animal species on Earth, and in more than two centuries of taxonomy, we have described only about 1.2 million of them. According to some calculations, 86% of all terrestrial organisms and 91% of organisms that live in the ocean have not yet been officially discovered.

It is clear that we need to discover the diversity of life, but the pace of work is slow and the science of taxonomy is no longer very popular. “We want to catalog Earth’s biodiversity before it goes extinct, but it’s really slow because there’s not a lot of funding going into taxonomy,” says Lees. The more organisms we identify, the fewer extinctions will fall into the dark category. “You will never be able to find and describe all the creatures, but we hope to reach the target above ten percent.”

Environment

What is global warming and what are its consequences?

Published

4 months ago

25/05/2024

pouyan

Global warming has been one of the hottest topics in recent years. But what exactly is this phenomenon, what are its driving factors and what are its consequences for us and the planet?

What is global warming and what are its consequences?

The discussion of global warming and ways to deal with it has become one of the hot topics around the world. Researchers around the globe warn about the irreparable consequences of this phenomenon and ask those in power to do the necessary cooperation to deal with this phenomenon; But what is global warming? What are the reasons and what are the consequences for life on earth? In this article, we will answer these questions in the simplest possible way.

Table of Contents

What is global warming?

What factors lead to global warming?

How do greenhouse gases cause global warming?

What are the effects of global warming?

An increase in unusual climatic events

Melting of ice

Sea level rise and ocean acidification

Widespread effects on plants and animals

Social effects

What is global warming?

Global warming is an increase in the average temperature around the world that has been going on since at least 1880 when temperature records were kept. In the following, we review some statistics provided by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA):

Between 1880 and 1980, the global temperature increased by 0.07 degrees Celsius per decade.
Since 1981, the rate of global warming has increased to 0.18 degrees Celsius.
The upward trend of temperature led to an increase in the current temperature of the earth by 2 degrees Celsius compared to the pre-industrial era.
So far, 2023 has been recorded as the hottest year on earth. The summer of that year was the hottest summer in the last two thousand years.
The average global temperature on land and ocean in 2020 was 0.98 degrees Celsius warmer than the average temperature of the 20th century (13.19 degrees Celsius).

The main culprit of modern global warming is man; Because burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. These gases trap the sun’s heat and lead to an increase in surface and air temperatures. Currently, global warming is considered synonymous with climate change, and scientists prefer this term more.

What factors lead to global warming?

The main cause of global warming today is the combustion of fossil fuels. These hydrocarbons heat our planet through the greenhouse effect caused by the interaction between the Earth’s atmosphere and the radiation received from the sun.

Burning fossil fuels is the main cause of global warming

“The basic physics of the greenhouse effect was discovered more than 100 years ago by a brilliant man using pencil and paper,” says Joseph Verne, a professor of geology and environmental science at the University of Pittsburgh. That brilliant man was Svante Arrhenius, a Swedish scientist who eventually won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The greenhouse effect, in simple terms, means that solar radiation hits the earth’s surface and then returns to the atmosphere as heat. After the heat returns to the atmosphere, the gases in the atmosphere trap this heat and prevent it from escaping into the vacuum environment. In a paper presented in 1985, Arrhenius concluded that greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide can trap heat near the Earth’s surface and that small changes in the amount of these gases can make a big difference in the amount of heat trapped.

How do greenhouse gases cause global warming?

Since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, mankind has been rapidly changing the balance of gases in the atmosphere. Burning fossil fuels such as coal and oil releases water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), ozone, and nitrogen oxide (N2O), which are primary greenhouse gases. Among these gases, carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas.

From almost 800,000 years ago until the beginning of the industrial revolution, the amount of CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere was about 280 parts per million; This means that there were about 280 CO2 molecules in every one million air molecules. The global average of carbon in the atmosphere reached a record-breaking 421.08 parts per million in 2023, according to the latest Statista website.

The announced numbers may not seem like a lot; But according to the Scripps Research Institute, the amount of carbon dioxide gas has not been this high since the Pliocene (that is, about 5.3 to 2.6 million years ago). According to a study published in 2013 in the journal Science, until then the Arctic was free of ice at least for some time of the year and was significantly warmer than today.

According to a 2016 analysis by the Environmental Protection Agency, about 81.6% of all US greenhouse gases are carbon dioxide. “We now know with high-precision instrumental measurements that there is an unprecedented increase in CO2 in the atmosphere,” said Keith Peterman, professor of chemistry at York College of Pennsylvania, and his research partner Gregory Foy, associate professor of chemistry at York College. “We know that CO2 absorbs infrared radiation (heat) and therefore the average global temperature is increasing.”

Carbon enters the atmosphere in different ways. Burning fossil fuels releases CO2, and the United States is by far the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions and global warming. According to a 2018 EPA report, fossil fuel combustion in the United States, such as electricity generation, released more than 5.8 billion tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in 2016. Other processes such as the use of fuels for non-energy purposes, iron and steel production, cement production, and waste incineration add 7 billion tons of annual carbon dioxide emissions in the United States.

Methane is the second most abundant greenhouse gas and the most stable gas. Cattle are the largest source of methane production.

Deforestation is the second human source of CO2 production

Another big and influential factor in the presence of excess carbon in the earth’s atmosphere is deforestation; In fact, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), deforestation is the second largest human source of carbon dioxide gas production. After the trees die, they release all the carbon dioxide they stored during their photosynthesis. Converting forested land to residential, ranching, residential, or agricultural land also means that fewer trees absorb carbon from the atmosphere.

According to the United Nations Global Assessment in 2020, from 1994 to that time, about 1,040 hectares of existing forests have been lost due to deforestation; But the good news is that since 2015, the rate of forest loss has been decreasing. Methane is the second most common greenhouse gas globally and is more efficient at trapping heat. According to the EPA, methane is 25 times more efficient at trapping heat than carbon dioxide. According to the organization’s 2016 report, methane accounted for about 10 percent of all greenhouse gases emitted by the United States.

Methane is obtained from many natural sources; But humans emit a large part of the existing methane gas through mining, using natural gas, raising livestock, and using landfills. According to the EPA, approximately 26 percent of existing methane gas is produced by animals, and cattle are the largest source of methane production in the United States.

What are the effects of global warming?

The effects of global warming can be seen and felt all over the planet. Global warming means the gradual warming of the earth’s surface, oceans, and atmosphere, which results from human activities, including burning fossil fuels and introducing carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

“We can see global warming in many places,” says Joseph Verne, a professor of geology and environmental science at the University of Pittsburgh. The ice is melting both in the poles and in the mountain glaciers. Lakes around the world, including Lake Superior, are warming as fast, and in some cases faster, than their surroundings. Animals are changing their migration patterns and plants are changing their activity history; For example, we can point to trees whose leaves grow early in the spring season, and in the fall season, the trees lose these leaves early.”

A graph showing the global temperature in 10 of the hottest years on earth.

One of the immediate and obvious consequences of global warming is the increase in temperature around the world. According to the report of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), during the last 100 years, the average temperature of the earth has increased by about 0.8 degrees Celsius. Data from NOAA and NASA show that 2023 will be the hottest year on record worldwide since temperature records began in 1895. In the following, we will review the most important consequences of global warming.

An increase in unusual climatic events

As the average global temperature is warming, weather patterns are changing and extreme weather is one of the immediate consequences of global warming. Abnormal weather comes in many forms, and one paradoxical effect is colder-than-normal winters in some regions.

Climate change may cause the polar jet stream or currents (the boundary between cold arctic air and warm tropical air) to shift southward, bringing cold arctic air to these regions. That’s why some regions may experience cold snaps or colder than usual even during long-term global warming trends, Verne said.

Global warming changes the intensity of hurricanes. According to the findings of NOAA’s Geophysical Fluid Dynamics Laboratory, hurricanes are becoming more intense in the warming world. Most computer models show that the frequency of storms will stay roughly the same; But the storms that form, due to having warmer air, hold more moisture and have more rain capacity.

On the other hand, future storms will hit the coasts that are currently prone to flooding due to the rising sea level. This means that any future storms will likely cause more damage than if there was no global warming.

The lightning that lit up the sky of Montevideo in Uruguay on February 20, 2020.

For every one minute of warming of the earth’s atmosphere, the activity of thunderstorms increases by about 12%.

Lightning is another weather event that has been affected by global warming. According to a study conducted in 2014, if the trend of increasing global temperature continues, we are expected to see a 50% increase in the number of lightning strikes in the United States by 2100. The researchers of this study finally found that for every minute of warming of the earth’s atmosphere, the activity of thunderstorms will increase by about 12%.

Melting of ice

One of the first consequences of climate change is the melting of ice. According to a study published in 2016, North America, Europe, and Asia saw a decrease in snow cover between 1960 and 2015. On the other hand, according to the National Ice and Power Data Center, currently the amount of frozen soil in the Northern Hemisphere is about 10% less than in the early 1900s.

Thawing of frozen soil may cause landslides and other sudden falls. On the other hand, this issue can also release buried microbes; As in the case that happened in 2016, anthrax disease spread as a result of the melting of a tank of carcasses belonging to mountain deer.

One of the most significant effects of global warming is the reduction of Arctic sea ice. The ice of this sea reached a record low in the fall and winter of 2015 and 2016; It means that its amount was lower than expected when it should have been at its peak. Melting means that there is less thick sea ice that will remain for only a few years.

Aerial view of melting icebergs in front of Russell Glacier on September 8, 2021.

Melting ice means that less heat will be reflected back into the atmosphere by the shiny surface of the ice, and more of that heat will be absorbed by the relatively dark ocean, ultimately creating a feedback loop that leads to more melting. The retreat of glaciers is another effect of global warming. According to statistics provided by the United States, only 25 glaciers larger than 25 hectares are currently found in Montana Glacier National Park; Where there were once about 150 natural glaciers.

In a study published in 2016, it is stated that there is a 99% probability of the retreat of natural glaciers due to climate changes caused by human activities. The study’s researchers found that some glaciers have retreated up to 15 times more than they would have if the planet hadn’t warmed.

Sea level rise and ocean acidification

In general, the sea level rises as the ice melts. According to the World Meteorological Organization’s report in 2021, the rate of sea level rise has doubled from 2.1 mm in the years between 1993 and 2003 to 4.4 mm in the years between 2013 and 2021. Melting polar ice in the Arctic and Antarctic, along with melting ice and glaciers across Greenland, North America, South America, Europe, and Asia, is expected to significantly raise sea levels.

According to the EPA, global sea levels have risen by about 20.32 cm since 1870 and are expected to rise even faster in the coming years. If the current trend continues, many coastal areas, where almost half of the world’s population lives, will unfortunately be submerged.

Researchers predict that by 2100, average sea levels will be 0.7 meters higher in New York City, 0.88 meters higher in Hampton Roads, Virginia, and 1.06 meters higher in Galveston, Texas. According to the IPCC report, if greenhouse gas emissions remain unchecked, the sea level will rise by 0.9 meters by 2100. This estimate is an increase between 0.3 and 0.8 meters that the IPCC predicted in the 2007 report.

Sea level rise is not the only thing happening to the oceans due to global warming. As the level of carbon dioxide increases, the oceans absorb some of that gas, and this increases the acidity of seawater. Explaining this situation, Verne says: “By dissolving carbon dioxide in water, carbonic acid is obtained. This is exactly what happens in soda cans.”

According to the EPA, since the industrial revolution began in the early 1700s, ocean acidity has increased by about 25 percent. “This is largely a big problem for the oceans,” Warne says. Many marine organisms such as corals and oysters make a shell from calcium carbonate and this shell dissolves in an acidic solution. Considering this, the more carbon dioxide is added to the oceans, the more acidic their water becomes, and the more animal shells dissolve in the ocean’s acidic waters; This is not good for their health.”

Bleaching of the coral reefs of the Society Islands in 2019.

If current ocean acidification trends continue, coral reefs are expected to become increasingly rare in areas such as US waters where they are currently abundant, according to the EPA. In 2016 and 2017, parts of the Great Barrier Reef in Australia were bleached. This is actually a phenomenon in which corals expel their symbiotic algae. Whitening is a sign of stress from too hot water, unbalanced pH, or pollution. Corals can recover after bleaching, But consecutive courses reduce the chance of recovery.

Widespread effects on plants and animals

The effects of global warming on ecosystems are expected to be significant and widespread. According to the report of the National Academy of Sciences, many plant and animal species move to higher altitudes as a result of warming temperatures.

According to Warne, plants and animals do not only move north, they also move from the equator to the poles. They are looking for a comfortable temperature range that is moving poleward as global average temperatures warm. If the speed of climate change is higher than the speed of migration of many living organisms, such a problem will appear; Therefore, some animals may not have the power to compete in the new climate and become extinct.

According to the EPA, birds, and insects are now arriving at their summer feeding and nesting sites several days earlier than at the same time in the 20th century. On the other hand, higher temperatures expand the range of many pathogenic agents that were once limited to tropical and subtropical regions and destroy some plant and animal species that were previously immune to these diseases.

Reindeer in the Arctic migrate earlier due to climate change.

In the current situation, the animals living in polar regions are also facing serious threats. The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has noted that declining sea ice and changes in Arctic ice melt are seriously threatening ice-dependent species such as right-horned whales, polar bears, and porpoises.

Animals in Antarctica are currently facing serious challenges. In October 2022, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service declared emperor penguins endangered due to the threat of climate change. A study conducted in 2020 showed that one out of every three plant and animal species is at risk of extinction by 2070 due to climate change.

Social effects

Just as the effects of climate change on the natural world are expected to be dramatic, the projected changes in human society may be even more devastating. Agricultural systems will probably suffer a crippling blow from these changes. Despite the expansion of growing seasons in some areas, the combined effects of drought, extreme and unusual weather, lack of recharged runoff, more number and diversity of pests, and loss of arable land can lead to severe crop failures and livestock shortages worldwide.

North Carolina State University emphasizes that carbon dioxide affects plant growth. CO2 can increase plant growth, But sometimes the plants may be less nutritious than before. According to analyses from sources as diverse as the US Department of Defense, the Center for American Progress, and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Experts, the loss of food security in turn could wreak havoc on international food markets, sparking famine, food riots, political instability and civil unrest around the world. to bring along

Global warming is expected to affect human health in addition to nutrients. According to the American Medical Association, mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and chronic diseases such as asthma have increased, most likely as a direct result of global warming.

The 2016 outbreak of the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease, highlighted the dangers of climate change. According to experts, infection of pregnant women with this virus causes very devastating birth defects in the fetus. Climate change could make areas at higher latitudes more habitable for the mosquitoes that carry the disease.

As you can see, global warming has a much greater impact on the lives of us humans and other creatures living on the planet than you can imagine. Considering the irreparable effects of this phenomenon and endangering life on the planet, researchers are trying to save the lives of various species living on the planet from certain destruction by knowing the ways to control this phenomenon and even reduce it.