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GLOBAL WARMING MAP: Greenhouse Effects

Time Magazine

Unfortunately
g
lobal warming
is well
under way.
Here are some
telltale signs.

 

Carbon dioxide and other gases from the burning of fossil fuels collect in the atmosphere and act like the glass walls of a greenhouse, trapping heat on the earth's surface. Scientists predict that the planet's average temperature could rise as much as 6.3 degrees F (3.5 degrees C) over the next century, and we are already seeing heat waves, melting polar ice and rising seas.

Local impact remains unpredictable: some areas could suffer stronger storms and other places severe drought. Seven environmental groups -Environmental Defense Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, U.S. Public Interest Research Group, World Resources Institute and World Wildlife Fund- have put together a WORLD MAP showing "early-warning signs" of global warming.

Reviewed by a team of scientists, the signs fall into two categories: direct manifestations of warming, called FINGERPRINTS, and events that could become more frequent and widespread with climate change, which are labeled HARBINGERS. Here's an advance look at the highlights of the map:

THE HARBINGERS (Direct manifestations of warming)

Vanishing Animals
1 CALIFORNIA Edith's Checkerspot Butterfly has disappeared from the lower elevations and southern limits of its range.
2
ANTARCTICA
Adelie penguin populations have declined 33% in 25 years because the sea ice where they live is shrinking.
3
CANADIAN ARCTIC
Peary caribou numbers dropped from 24,000 in 1961 to as few as 1,100 in 1997, mostly because heavy snowfalls and freezing rain covered their food supply.

Storms and Floods
4 AUSTRALIA During August 15 to 17, 1998, a storm dumped nearly 1 ft. (30 cm) of rain on Sydney, three times as much as normally falls during that entire month.
5 KOREA Severe flooding struck during July and August 1998. On some days rainfall exceeded 10 in. (25 cm).
6
CALIFORNIA
In February 1998, 21.74 in. (55.22 cm) of rain fell on Santa Barbara, its highest monthly total on record.

Spreading Disease
7 KENYA In 1997 hundreds of people died of malaria in highlands where the population had not been previously exposed.
8 COLOMBIA
In the Andes, mosquitoes that can carry dengue and yellow fever, once limited to altitudes no higher than 3,300 ft. (1,000 m), appeared at altitudes of 7,200 ft. (2,195 m).
9 INDONESIA
In 1997 malaria was detected for the first time as high as 6,900 ft. (2,100 m) in Irian Jaya province.

Droughts and Fires
10 SPAIN More than 1.2 million acres (500,000 hectares) of forest burned in 1994.
11 MEXICO
In 1998 1.25 million acres (506,000 hectares) went up on flames during a severe drought.
12 INDONESIA
Up to 2 million acres (800,000 hectares) of land burned in 1998, including parts of the already devastated rain-forest habitat of the Kalimantan orangutan.

Earlier Spring
13 ENGLAND 31% of 65 bird species studied in 1995 laid their eggs earlier than in 1971 by an average of 8.8 days.
14 ALASKA
During 82 years on record, four out of the five earliest thaws on the Tanana River have occurred in the 1990s.
15 NEW HAMPSHIRE
The length of time Mirror Lake is covered with ice has declined about a half a day per year during the past 30 years.

THE FINGERPRINTS (Events that could become more frequent)

Heat Waves
16 TIBET In 1998 Lhasa had its warmest June on record. Temperatures exceeded 77 degrees F (25 degrees C) for 23 days.
17 CAIRO
1998 brought the warmest August since data have been kept. Temperatures reached 105.8 degrees F (41 degrees C) on August 6.
18 NEW YORK CITY
In 1999 the city had its warmest and driest July on record, with temperatures climbing above 95 degrees F (35 degrees C) for 11 days.

Rising Seas
19 BERMUDA Saltwater inundation from the intruding ocean is killing coastal mangrove forests.
20 HAWAII
Sea-level rise at Waimea Bay, along with coastal development, has contributed to considerable beach loss over the last 90 years.
21 FIJI
The shoreline has receded half a foot (15 cm) per year for 90 years, according to local reports.

Melting Glaciers
22 INDIA The Gangotri Glacier is retreating 98 ft. (30 m) per year.
23 RUSSIA
In the Caucasus Mountains half of all glacial ice has disappeared in the past 100 years.
24 PERU
The Qori Kalis glacier in the Andes Mountains is receding about 100 ft. (30.5 m) per year, a sevenfold increase in rate since the 1960s and 1970s.

Polar Warming
25 ALASKA In Barrow the average number of snowless days in summer has increased from fewer than 80 in the 1950s to more than 100 in the 1990s.
26 ARCTIC OCEAN The area covered by sea ice declined about 6% from 1978 to 1995.
27 ANTARCTICA
Nearly 1,150 sq. mi. (2,980 sq. km.) of the Larson B and Wilkins ice shelves collapsed from March 1998 to March 1999.

 

GLOSSARY

under way: in movement (en movimiento)
telltale: revealing, significant (reveladores)
trapping: confining (atrapando, aprisionando)
predict: foretell, make a prediction (predicen)
melting: changing from solid to liquid (derritiendo)
unpredictable: impossible to foretell, to predict (impredecible)
drought: a temporary shortage of rainfall (sequía)
early-warning signs: previnient or anticipatory message of danger (señales de advertencia)
fingerprints: identifying characteristics (características de identificación)
widespread: widely distributed (extenderse)
harbingers
: announcements; indications of the approach of something, presages (señales, indicativos)
highlights: the most interesting parts (las partes más importantes)
shrinking: becoming less or smaller (reduciéndose)
peary caribou: an arctic deer (ciervo del Artico)

dumped: dropped heavily (cayó copiosamente)
flooding
: inundation (inundaciones)
on record: as stated by statistics (de acuerdo con las estadísticas)
fires: process of combustion, something burning (incendios) 
went up on flames: started burning (comenzaron a incendiarse)
laid: put (pusieron)
thaws: process of changing from ice to water (heladas)
heat waves: a period of unusually hot weather (olas de calor)
mangrove forests: tropical tree forests (manglares, bosques de mangles)
receded: moved backwards (retrocediendo)
retreating: moving backwards (retrocediendo)
sevenfold: seven times (siete veces)
ice shelves: ice that is attached to land but projects out to sea (estratos de hielo)

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