Climate Change

1
Climate Change

• Lesson 4 Physical Effects of Climate Change
• (8.2 of Textbook)

2
Effects in the Atmosphere

• Heat Waves
• More frequent
• More extreme heat alerts with cooling stations
  needed
• More air conditioning, which leads to more
  greenhouse gas emissions, leading to more
  warming, etc.
• Warm air leads to warm land - permafrost is
  thawing which causes soil to be come looser and
  house foundations no longer safe

3
Atmosphere

• Droughts
• Especially bad in desert areas
• Cause crop and food shortages

4
Atmosphere

• Wildfires
• Dry heat and wind can cause small fires to spread
• Camping and park restrictions on fires more
  frequent

5
Atmosphere

• Storms
• More severe and more frequent
• Includes hurricanes and tornados

6
Atmosphere

• Floods
• Warm air leads to warm water and snow melts
  quickly
• Damages homes and farmland

7
Effects in the Hydrosphere

• Melting Ice
• Sea and glacier ice is melting with warmer water.
  Leads to
• Flooding land above sea level
• Changing habitats of shoreline animals
• Loss of shoreline property
• Changing coastlines and changing shape of
  continents
• Reducing amount of fresh water available for
  drinking
• Changes salinity of oceans which can affect
  organisms

8
Hydrosphere (continued)

• Ocean Warming
• Warm water expands causing higher sea levels
• Less CO2 absorbed less of a carbon sink
• Less plankton growth (they perform
  photosynthesis) to start the aquatic food chain
• More intense hurricanes
• Ocean Current Changes
• Change in heat transfer - speed and direction
• Could global warming lead to global cooling?

9
Effects on Wildlife

• Range Shifts
• A range is where an organism lives
• Organisms are being found living in different
  areas
• Grey Jays (birds) are now found more north so
  that their stored food can last longer before
  going bad
• Many bird migration patterns have changed they
  dont need to fly as south as they used to and
  some lose their groups along the way
• Ticks, which can carry Lyme diseases, are now
  being found in northern areas where they were not
  found before

10
Wildlife (continued)

• Threatened Species
• Between 40-70 of all species are at risk of
  extinction if the global temperature increases
  only by 3.3C.
• Corals are threatened with increasing CO2
  emissions (increasing acidity) and ocean warming
• Pacific salmon fish stock declining reduces
  jobs and food
• Polar bears finding it harder to hunt seals with
  limited ice to stand on, and starving
• Frogs, toads, salamanders decreasing why these
  species?
• Organisms that Benefit
• Large jellyfish now can live worldwide with
  warmer temperatures increased population

11
Homework

• Page 319 2-7, 9-17
• Watch Videos on
• Wildlife Climate Change
• Climate Change Bees
• Climate Change Oceans
• Climate Change Heat Waves