6.8B Effects of Increased Temperature

• Effects of Increasing Temperatures:

  • Global warming is increasing global temperatures which affects evaporation rates and increases the amount of water in the atmosphere
  • These changes can have impacts on the hydrological cycle, for example:
  • Precipitation patterns
  • River Regimes
  • Water Stores (cryosphere and drainage basin)
• The Arctic:

  • The Arctic plays an important role in global climate, as its sea ice regulates evaporation and precipitation
  • The Earth’s cryosphere has already been affected by rising temperatures, for example: 
  • Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets have lost mass and glaciers are shrinking
  • Arctic sea ice and spring snow cover in the northern hemisphere continue to decrease in extent and thickness 
• The Arctic acts as a barometer or early warning system for the environmental impacts resulting from the burning of fossil fuels:

  • Arctic temperatures have risen twice as fast as the global average in the past few decades
  • Significant loss of sea ice e.g., the North-west Passage can now be navigated in the summer
  • Permafrost is melting
  • Carbon uptake by plants is increasing because of the lengthening of their growing season
  • A loss of albedo as the ice that once covered the land is replaced by tundra and tundra is replaced by taiga (further encouraging global warming)