Solar Storms Affirmative – 4 Week Lab [1/3]
Impact – Reefs (AT: Sea Levels)
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Impact – Reefs (AT: Sea Levels)Flooding overpowers reef adaptability, suppressing growth P.W. Glynn, professor in the Division of Marine Biology and Fisheries, Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, 19 June 1992 “Coral reef bleaching: ecological perspectives” Coral Reefs 12:1-17 Some workers have suggested that sea level rise that would accompany global warming might initially favor vertical reef flat accretion when coral growth could keep pace with the flooding (Buddemeier and Smith 1988; Hopley and Kinsey 1988). This prediction is based on a globally averaged most probable sea level rise of 15+_3 ram/year (Hoffman et al. i983). Predictions of coral reef growth responses to sea level rise are complicated, however, by the high susceptibility of important reef-building coral species to the sea warming events observed in the 1980s (Williams and Bunkley-Williams 1990; Glynn 1991). It is probable that sustained elevated sea temperatures that would accompany sea level rise would suppress coral growth or kill many reef flat corals before they could respond to reef flooding. If coral growth is retarded, it may be more susceptible to the de- structive effects of corallivores and bioeroders that would probably not be affected by higher temperatures. Com- pared with the mass coral mortalities in Panama caused by the 1982-83 ENSO warming event, most corallivores, herbivores, and bioeroding sea urchin populations remained at pre-1983 abundances or increased in size after that disturbance (Glynn 1985 a, 1988 c, 1990). Impact – FloodingWarming causes massive global flooding Peter Schwartz, president of the Global Business Network an international think tank and consulting firm, and Doug Randall, senior practitioner at GBN with over ten years of scenario planning. October 2003 “An Abrupt Climate Change Scenario and Its Implications for United States National Security” By 2005 the climatic impact of the shift is felt more intensely in certain regions around the world. More severe storms and typhoons bring about higher storm surges and floods in low-lying islands such as Tarawa and Tuvalu (near New Zealand). In 2007, a particularly severe storm causes the ocean to break through levees in the Netherlands making a few key coastal cities such as The Hague unlivable. Failures of the delta island levees in the Sacramento River region in the Central Valley of California creates an inland sea and disrupts the aqueduct system transporting water from northern to southern California because salt water can no longer be kept out of the area during the dry season. Melting along the Himalayan glaciers accelerates, causing some Tibetan people to relocate. Floating ice in the northern polar seas, which had already lost 40% of its mass from 1970 to 2003, is mostly gone during summer by 2010. As glacial ice melts, sea levels rise and as wintertime sea extent decreases, ocean waves increase in intensity, damaging coastal cities. Additionally millions of people are put at risk of flooding around the globe (roughly 4 times 2003 levels), and fisheries are disrupted as water temperature changes cause fish to migrate to new locations and habitats, increasing tensions over fishing rights. Each of these local disasters caused by severe weather impacts surrounding areas whose natural, human, and economic resources are tapped to aid in recovery. The positive feedback loops and acceleration of the warming pattern begin to trigger responses that weren’t previously imagined, as natural disasters and stormy weather occur in both developed and lesser-developed nations. Their impacts are greatest in less-resilient developing nations, which do not have the capacity built into their social, economic, and agricultural systems to absorb change. Impact – DroughtsClimate change distorts rain patterns and destroys water sources, causing massive droughts CNA, a non-profit research organization that operates the Center for Naval Analyses and the Institute for Public Research. 2007 “National Security and the threat of Climate Change” http://securityandclimate.cna.org/ Adequate supplies of fresh water for drinking, irrigation, and sanitation are the most basic prerequisite for human habitation. Changes in rainfall, snowfall, snowmelt, and glacial melt have significant effects on fresh water supplies, and climate change is likely to affect all of those things. In some areas of the Middle East, tensions over water already exist. Mountain glaciers are an especially threatened source of fresh water [3]. A modest rise in temperature of about 2° to 4°F in mountainous regions can dramatically alter the precipitation mix by increasing the share falling as rain while decreasing the share falling as snow. The result is more flooding during the rainy season, a shrinking snow/ice mass, and less snowmelt to feed rivers during the dry season [4]. Forty percent of the world’s population derives at least half of its drinking water from the summer melt of mountain glaciers, but these glaciers are shrinking and some could disappear within decades. Several of Asia’s major rivers—the Indus, Ganges, Mekong, Yangtze, and Yellow—originate in the Himalayas [4]. If the massive snow/ice sheet in the Himalayas—the third-largest ice sheet in the world, after those in Antarctic and Greenland—continues to melt, it will dramatically reduce the water supply of much of Asia. Most countries in the Middle East and northern Africa are already considered water scarce, and the International Water Resource Management Institute projects that by 2025, Pakistan, South Africa, and large parts of India and China will also be water scarce [5]. To put this in perspective: the U.S. would have to suffer a decrease in water supply that produces an 80 percent decrease in per capita water consumption to reach the United Nations definition of “water scarce.” These projections do not factor in climate change, which is expected to exacerbate water problems in many areas. Directory: file -> view view -> Western Europe after wwii view -> Author study: paul fleischman view -> Qpa1 7ela study Guide view -> Arctic Oil/Gas Neg view -> November 1970 Approximately 150,000-500,000 deaths Bhola Cyclone Bangladesh view -> Grade Level: 6 Unit of Study: Caribbean glce view -> Citation: Duffield, Katy view -> Table of Contents Lesson # view -> Chinese Wind Energy Disad Download 0.93 Mb. 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