ENVIRON 157 Chapter Notes - Chapter N/A: Sea Level Rise, Permafrost, West Antarctica
Document Summary
Climate change means not only changes in globally averaged surface temperature, but also changes in atmospheric circulation, in the size and patterns of natural climate variations, and in local weather. Ni a events shift weather patterns so that some regions are made wetter, and wet summers are generally cooler. Stronger winds from polar regions can contribute to an occasional colder winter. Atmospheric and ocean circulation patterns will evolve as earth warms and will influence storm tracks and many other aspects of the weather. Global warming tilts the odds in favour of more warm days and seasons and fewer cold days and seasons. For example, across the continental united states in the. 1960s there were more daily record low temperatures than record highs, but in the 2000s there were more than twice as many record highs as record lows. Ice cover expands again each arctic winter, but the ice is thinner than it used to be.
