The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently reported the findings of scientists who’ve been analyzing the changes in the climate system. The changes have been taking place across all regions, to which the rise of sea levels are deemed for hundreds to thousands of years. Other changes noted by the scientists are said to be “unprecedented” when compared with the events that transpired thousands of years ago.
Based on IPCC’s report, reductions of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases would allow the curbing of said climate changes. However, the report stated that it would take two to three decades before such reductions result in the stabilization of global temperatures.
IPCC Working Group Co-Chair Panmao Zhai mentioned that climate change is already affecting the planet in many ways and that more changes will happen. Yet the characteristics of the climate changes depend on the level of global warming in an area. While in some regions, global warming level on land is already higher than the average, the level occurring in the Arctic region is twice as high.
However, the IPCC report also stated that climate change is not just about the continuously increasing warming temperatures.
Intense Climate Change Events Happening in All Regions
Climate alterations also include extreme dryness and extreme wetness affecting coastal areas, oceans and different weather elements like wind, snow, and ice. The climate changes that have been taking place across regions include:
1. Intensified water cycle resulting in increased level of rainfall, have caused intense flooding in some regions or intense drought in other parts of the globe
2. The water cycle affects rainfall patterns depending on the region, where those with high latitudes experience increased precipitation, while large parts of the sub tropics have been experiencing drought due to lack of rainfall.
3. Throughout the entire 21st century, sea levels rise continuously in coastal areas. Adding to the intense and prevailing coastal erosion and coastal flooding that has been occurring in low-lying areas;
4. As global warming continues, it has been amplifying the magnitude of permafrost thawing, including melting of seasonal snow cover, summer Arctic sea ice, ice sheets and glaciers;
5. Oceans also experience changes usually brought about by human influence. Changes include frequent marine heatwaves, reduced oxygen levels, intense warming and increased acidification in oceans;
6. Urban areas in coastal cities experience sea level rise in coastal cities, warmer surroundings, and flooding due to heavy precipitation events.
