Climate Change

• Climate change impacts the formation of glaciers by causing a decrease in snowfall and an increase in melting, leading to a reduction in glacier size and mass.
• Climate change is causing sea levels to rise due to the melting of glaciers and ice sheets, as well as the expansion of seawater as it warms.
• The main factors contributing to glacial retreat are rising global temperatures, reduced snowfall, and increased melting due to the greenhouse effect.
• Potential consequences of glacial retreat for human communities include water scarcity, increased risk of natural disasters such as floods and landslides, and loss of freshwater ecosystems.
• Glacial retreat is a result of rising global temperatures.
• Climate change can increase erosion rates by altering precipitation patterns, leading to more intense rainfall events and increased runoff, as well as by causing sea-level rise and increased storm surges that erode coastal areas.
• The greenhouse effect is the retention of heat in the atmosphere.
• The greenhouse gases include water vapor, CO2, methane, NO2, and CFCs.
• Global warming is the heating of the planet.
• Climate change is the result of global warming
• The effects of global warming includes rising sea level, rising temperature, melting ice, and expanding desert.
• Weather is short-term changes while climate is long-term trends over decades.
• Polar vortex is a large area of low pressure and cold air around the earth’s North Pole.
• When the polar vortex is stable, the vortex remains closer to the north pole constrained by a polar jet stream.
• A jet stream keeps the cold air from moving into the lower continents.
• The polar jet stream is sustained by temperature difference between the warmer mid-latitude and the polar regions, and the earth’s rotation.
• Large temperature difference keeps the vortex stable while small difference makes the vortex unstable.
• Glacial erosion creates landforms such as U-shaped valleys, cirques, arêtes, and moraines.