A new indicator has joined the century-long rise in temperature to signal that the planet's climate is changing: the global water cycle is speeding up. With global warming the earth’s temperature is rising and the ice caps are melting. In the past 12 years 18% more water is being added to the oceans. The findings, which appear in this week's Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, say that the amount of water running off the land toward the sea is expanding by roughly one Mississippi River each year. This is adding a ton more water to the sea. The amount of extra water might sound like a good thing but it is in areas where no more water is needed. Why is the water cycle speeding up? As the atmosphere warms from the extra amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that are being added to the atmosphere, it can hold more moisture. As a result, more water evaporates from the oceans, leading to thicker clouds that then dump more rainfall over the land. That heavier-than-normal rain can then cause massive flooding as it runs back toward the sea, where the cycle repeats itself.
Opinion:
I think that it is horrible that pakistan is facing these horrible floods. We caused this mess and i can't help feeling somewhat responsible for what is going on. I hope that we can fix the problem of global warming and fix these floods. If this keeps going on we are going to drown. The continents will flood eventually and we would have wished that we took action sooner. We as a planet all need to contribute and help the earth.
- When will this slow down?
- Will the water engulf the whole nation of pakistan?
- How much time will we have if that happens?
- what can we do to stop this problem?
- Is it slowing down or accelerating?
I think that this terrible flooding has caused many bad damages to the Pakistan land. It has effected the people and other things around like the lifesyles and cultures. People now need to find new homes, new belongings, food, water and other necessities to survive. But what I think is so terrible about this is that we were the cause of it. We are the ones who cause global warming and it is our responsibiliy that we help fix these floods in Pakistan. Here is a link to a picture of the horrible floods in Pakistan.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10896849
Answers to questions: Curtis Sumner
ReplyDelete1. This should slow down when and IF we find a way to replenish the Ozone layer and ultimately find a way to stop global warming, and bring the cold back to the poles.
2. That depends on how high the elevation of Pakistan is. It very well could, if enough water is added to the oceans.
3. It's hard to say exactly, but I am guessing at most about 2 decades. At the rate the polar caps are melting, by this time much if not most of the water trapped in icebergs will have melted and released into the ocean.
4. We can stop polluting, give more money to the scientists who are trying to repair the Ozone, or at least put a few thousand air conditioners in the Arctic and Antarctic zones. That one probably won't help much, but it'll accomplish more than we're doing now.
5. It's accelerating.