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# Global warming

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Global warming is a world-wide climatic phenomenon - the temperature around the world is slowly increasing. This in turn means that ecosystems are changing, some species are being forced out of their habitats (possibly to extinction) because of changing conditions while others can spread. The sea levels are rising and the polar ice caps and glaciers are melting. Some small countries in the Pacific Ocean are expressing concerns that if this doesn't stop, they soon will be entirely under water.

Global warming can also have other, less obvious effects. The North Atlantic drift, for instance, is driven by temperature changes. It seems as if it is diminishing as the climate grows warmer, and this means that areas like Scandinavia and Britain that are warmed by it might face a colder climate in spite of the general global warming.

As the climate gets hotter, evaporation? will increase. This will cause heavier rainfall? and more erosion?. In general, there will probably be more extreme weather? as global warming progresses.

The reason for global warming is increased concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?, which causes more of the energy radiated from the Sun to be absorbed by the Earth.

There is no final consensus about the reasons for the increased concentrations of greenhouse gases, but many believe that the human consumption of fossil fuels is a major reason. Attempts are being made to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases with, for instance, the Kyoto protocol.

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Last edited August 1, 2001 11:28 am (diff)
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