Regent’s Canal, in Camden in London 12/22/09. British media attributed the work to acclaimed British street artist Banksy (Credit: REUTERS)
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate Change is very real. It is a grim picture, but a picture that is largely described in scientific literature of what the future holds if humans don’t make concerted efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions (among other efforts) to halt or at least slow climate change.
Water is the primary medium through which we will feel the effects of climate change. In fact “most of the climate change impacts come down to water,” says Upmanu Lall, director of the Columbia Water Center at Columbia University. When people talk about climate change affecting agricultural output, sea level rise, wildfires and extreme weather — “they’re all essentially a water story,” says Lall.
Higher temperatures and more extreme, less predictable, weather conditions are projected to affect availability and distribution of rainfall, snowmelt, river flows and groundwater, and further deteriorate water quality and amplify contamination.
Climate change is making heavy intense downpours, droughts and rising water temperatures more common. This can alter the quality of our drinking and recreational water. Bacteria and viruses thrive in these new conditions and when they come into contact with humans, can cause numerous illnesses.
A large wave crashes into a seawall in Winthrop, Mass., Saturday, March 3, 2018, a day after a nor’easter pounded the Atlantic coast. Officials in eastern Massachusetts, where dozens of people were rescued from high waters overnight, warned of another round of flooding during high tides expected at midday. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)
Climate Science.
Flooding
According to the Climate Science Special Report (issued as part of the Fourth National Climate Assessment, which reports on climate change in America), more flooding in the United States is occurring in the Mississippi River Valley, Midwest, and Northeast, while U.S. coastal flooding has doubled in a matter of decades.
A warmer atmosphere holds and subsequently dumps more water. Looking forward, heavy precipitation events are projected to increase (along with temperatures) through the 21st century, to a level from 50 percent to as much as three times the historical average.
Fremont County, Iowa (Credit: South Dakota Civil Air Patrol / Iowa Homeland Security / AP)
In Fremont County, Iowa on March 18, 2019 floodwaters inundated thousands of acres, threatened stockpiled grain, killed livestock and caused three deaths. More than a million bushels of corn and half a million bushels of soybeans were lost. The financial loss was estimated at more than $7 million in grain alone for 28 farmers in the immediate area.
Flooding Effects on Water Supply and Health
Flooding also brings contamination and disease. Floodwaters can carry raw sewage, leaked toxic chemicals, and runoff from hazardous waste sites and factory farms. They can pollute drinking water supplies and cause eye, ear, skin, and gastrointestinal infections. When floodwaters recede, bacteria and mold may remain, increasing rates of respiratory illnesses, such as asthma. Flooding can also cause deaths, contribute to mental health problems, lead to enormous economic loss and uproot whole communities.
More-Frequent Hurricanes
Climate change is increasing the frequency of our strongest storms, a trend expected to continue through this century. In the Atlantic basin, an 80 percent increase in the frequency of category 4 and 5 hurricanes (the most destructive) is expected over the next 80 years.
The Great Galveston Hurricane September 9, 1900 (Credit: Wikimedia – Public Domain)
Although recent hurricanes are more frequent and cause more economic damage, the Cat 4 Great Galveston hurricane, known regionally as the Great Storm of 1900, is still the deadliest natural disaster in United States history, killing thousands.
Higher Seas
As ocean temperatures rise and the world’s glaciers and ice sheets melt (phenomena exacerbated by climate change), global sea levels are rising. Our oceans are approximately seven to eight inches higher than they were in 1900 (with about three of those inches added since 1993 alone)—a rate of rise per century greater than for any other century in at least the past 2,000 years.
East Coast could see seas as much as 9.8 feet higher by 2100. (Check out NOAA’s interactive map that demonstrates where flooding will occur as sea levels rise.)
Map of High Risk Flood Areas in U.S.
Climate Change: High risk flood areas with sea level rise (Climate Central)
In the U.S., 39 percent of the population, or 123 million people, live near a coastline. As the oceans rise due to climate change, many of those residents will eventually find water lapping at their doors. Entire communities will likely become unlivable. New York City will be ravaged by floods; Miami may cease to be a city.
Forest Fires. The incidence of large forest fires in the western contiguous United States and Alaska has increased since the early 1980s and is projected to further increase in those regions as the climate warms, with profound changes to regional ecosystems. The frequency of large wildfires is influenced by a complex combination of natural and human factors.
Terrified race horses gallop from San Luis Rey Downs as the Lilac Fire sweeps through the horse-training facility in San Diego. (Paul Sisson/The San Diego Union-Tribune via AP)
The 2018 wildfire season was the deadliest and most destructive wildfire season ever recorded in California, with a total of 8,527 fires burning an area of 1,893,913 acres (766,439 ha), the largest area of burned acreage recorded in a fire season, according Cal Fire.
Drought
Annual trends toward earlier spring snowmelt and reduced snowpack are already affecting water resources in the western United States, with adverse effects for fisheries and electricity generation. These trends are expected to continue. Under the highest emissions scenarios and assuming no change in current water resources management, chronic, long-duration hydrological drought is increasingly possible before the end of this century.