With climate change, US ecosystems have shifted hundreds of miles north.
Researchers in Nebraska analyzed 46 years’ worth of bird data collected for the North American Breeding Bird Survey, a program designed to track bird populations. The survey discovered the areas where specific species of birds lived had changed across the United States. Researchers found that coinciding with climate change, the habitats of birds have shifted. The northernmost ecosystem shifted more than 366 miles north – the length of an entire state. The southernmost boundary moved about 160 miles northward. The northernmost ecosystem shifted more than the southernmost area because of a well-known phenomenon known as Arctic amplification. Arctic amplification, or polar amplification, is a phenomenon that any change in the balance of solar radiation across the plant tends to produce a larger change near the…
How does global warming cause changes to our normal weather patterns?
The jet stream drives weather patterns The jet stream is a strong wind current flowing about 10 miles above the ground. In the Northern Hemisphere, it almost always blows from west to east and always in a fairly straight line. The jet stream is extremely important to weather systems – it drives the weather patterns throughout the year. The strength of the jet stream, and to what degree it impacts our weather, is determined by the temperature difference between the Arctic and the southern half of the world. CO2 causes temperatures to rise The level of CO2 in our atmosphere has been measured atop the Mauna Loa volcano in Hawaii since around 1958. At the time measurements began, the CO2 measured 315 parts per million…
This company is trying to solve climate change by using giant machines to suck CO2 out of the air.
As we consume oil (by driving cars) and coal (by generating electricity) that we extracted from the ground, it releases large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which causes our planet to heat up. Kids around the world say the same thing – “Let’s just remove all the carbon dioxide from the air and put it back into the ground where it came from.” Meanwhile, scientists pooh-poohed the “silly idea” saying, “They’re just kids! What do they know!” Well today kids can triumphantly raise their fists in the air and shout “We told you so!” A company out of British Columbia has created a machine that can suck carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere and put it back into the ground! The company is…
Scientists warn Earth faces global mass extinction of wildlife – here’s a mind-boggling list that illustrates the seriousness
Conservationists issued a chilling warning this week telling New Scientists magazine that global wildlife populations are set to have fallen by more than two thirds of 1970 levels by the year 2020 – and there is no sign that declining wildlife numbers will slow down in our lifetime. Researchers say mammal, bird, fish, amphibian, and reptile populations have fallen by 58% from 1970 to 2012. At the current rate (about 2% reduction per year), by 2020, the populations will have declined by more than 67%. This has prompted experts to warn that we are facing a global “mass extinction” for the first time since the demise of the dinosaurs. Mike Barrett, director of science and policy at World Wildlife Foundation, said: “For the first time since…
Grab your bathing suits and sunscreen – ocean levels are rising much faster than we thought
Scientists this week admit that they goofed (again) when estimating the increasing sea levels that result from global warming. If you live in any of the eleven of the fifteen largest cities in the world, you might want to make sure you have a bathing suit handy. Eleven of the fifteen largest cities in the world are located on the coast with lovely oceanside views. Typically these seaside residents take great pride in their sunny beachfront locations, proclaiming with renewed fervor, “Nah, nah, nah, we live by the ocean and enjoy frolicking on the beach all day!” In 100 years however, these cries of joy may change tune and sound more like, “Blub, blub, blub” as the Oceanside residents wonder how the waters rose so fast…
What a sight! Three Category 4 hurricanes pass through Pacific at the same time! (Very rare event)
If the satellite image above doesn’t make your skin crawl then you’ve got eh, skin made of steel. A very rare meteorological event occurred on Saturday when three Category 4 hurricanes plowed through the Pacific Ocean at the same time. The three hurricanes, Hurricane Kilo, Hurricane Ignacio, and Hurricane Jimena had all reached sustained wind speeds of at least 130 MPH at the same time turning the Pacific Ocean into the world’s largest blender. How rare is this weather event? It is the first time in recorded history of three Category 4 hurricanes in central and eastern Pacific basins at the same time. In fact, it’s the first time with three major hurricanes (Category 3 or stronger) in those basins simultaneously. As of the time…
50 things you can do to help stop global warming (or 50 things you can do to guarantee seaside property after all the icebergs melt)
Global warming is a serious problem and if we wait for governments to propose a solution, it may be too late. In fact, it may already be too late to stop the unnatural warming of our planet. Many think the solution to the global warming problem lies in someone else's hands but there are things each of us can do to minimize the problem. Below are 50 simple things that Global Warming Facts has suggested we implement in order to combat the global warming problem. Replace a regular incandescent light bulb with a compact fluorescent light bulb. CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb. This simple switch will save about 300 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. Install a programmable thermostat Programmable thermostats…
Rising global temperatures is turning all the sea turtles into girls
Scientists have always known that reptiles, such as snakes, lizards, and turtles, are very sensitive to temperatures of the area that they live in. In fact, temperatures affect reptiles before they are even born and help determine whether the baby reptile will be born a boy or a girl. 84 degrees F is the preferred temperature for reptiles and if it gets hotter than that, the babies begin to be born as girls. At around 87 degrees F, all baby reptiles will be born girls (any hotter and they die altogether). Scientists have found that global warming, the continuing rise of the Earth’s temperature, is impacting the gender of baby sea turtles, warming their environment and causing more girls than boys to be born. Right…
Hate to bum you out but guess what? Global warming may be worse than we thought.
Here’s a call to all little scientists out there – we need to find a reasonable way to stop or slow the global warming trend occurring around the planet and today, that call just got a little louder. Scientists at Florida State University have found that global warming, believed to be caused by large quantities of “greenhouse gases” that have been released into the air, is getting increasingly worse because of, eh, global warming. Researchers found that the warming of the planet is thawing out the permafrost, the soil in the polar areas that used to remain frozen all year long (before Mother Nature got mad and decided to fight back). Specifically, what they found was that as the permafrost thaws, the organic material (dead…
