http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/04/100416094050.htm
By ScienceDaily with materials from CSIRO Australia
Written on April 18, 2010
This article's purpose is to sh
ow that the global water cycle has accellerated, or gotten faster. The people who did this research believe that because the water is warmer from global warming, the water is evaporated more quickly, and therefore can be deposited as precipitation in earlier than it used to be. They know that the water is being evaporated more quickly because the salinity is higher. This information is useful in validating ideas about global climate change. Simulations were apparently done years ago about global climate change affecting ocean salinity that match what has been found by the CSIRO. Basically, they are saying that because the earth is warmer, ocean water is being evaporated more quickly and deposited in other places more quickly. In other words, the water cycle is happening faster than it used to. This also means that areas that were already pretty wet are now even wetter, and areas that were pretty dry and evaporation happened quickly are now even drier!
Reading this article gave me a different look on global warming. It didn't say that global warming is bad and we need to stop it now, or that global warming is just the way the earth works. It just said that global warming speeds up the water cycle. I found it interesting that global warming can affect that as well, but I guess when you really think about it you can see how this can happen. It does make sense.
1) Will a faster water cycle cause any environmental concerns? What are they?
2) Could this be a way that global warming is good for the environment? How so?
3) Do you think that the water cycle will continue to accelerate, or will it slow down again?
By ScienceDaily with materials from CSIRO Australia
Written on April 18, 2010
This article's purpose is to sh
ow that the global water cycle has accellerated, or gotten faster. The people who did this research believe that because the water is warmer from global warming, the water is evaporated more quickly, and therefore can be deposited as precipitation in earlier than it used to be. They know that the water is being evaporated more quickly because the salinity is higher. This information is useful in validating ideas about global climate change. Simulations were apparently done years ago about global climate change affecting ocean salinity that match what has been found by the CSIRO. Basically, they are saying that because the earth is warmer, ocean water is being evaporated more quickly and deposited in other places more quickly. In other words, the water cycle is happening faster than it used to. This also means that areas that were already pretty wet are now even wetter, and areas that were pretty dry and evaporation happened quickly are now even drier!Reading this article gave me a different look on global warming. It didn't say that global warming is bad and we need to stop it now, or that global warming is just the way the earth works. It just said that global warming speeds up the water cycle. I found it interesting that global warming can affect that as well, but I guess when you really think about it you can see how this can happen. It does make sense.
1) Will a faster water cycle cause any environmental concerns? What are they?
2) Could this be a way that global warming is good for the environment? How so?
3) Do you think that the water cycle will continue to accelerate, or will it slow down again?
Excellent point Erika. This article might not say that global warming is bad, but when they explain the possible and occuring outcomes, It does lead to environmental issues. Places that are now even wetter, there soil might not be able to suport plant growth, because the plant would just slip out of the soil with no sturdy dirt for the roots to grab.Few plants in these environments, could lead to a lower biodiversity, and even extrapolation of species.
ReplyDeleteI have a few questions my self:
1. What do you think would happen to an environment where the terrain became even drier?
2. How long do you think it will be before this causes environmental disasters? What would they be?
3. What are other negative impacts of Global warming? Are there any positives? What are they?
Yea, I think it's great that someone is actually writing an article based on the facts, and not their opinion. the media is so biased about global warming these days. The water cycle becoming faster may cause some environmental concerns such as animals having to relocate, or even dying out, aquatic creatures dying because of increased salinity, but there will always be the same amount of water in total. So, somewhere, increased or decreased water will obviously effect the creatures that live there, as well. To answer the question about how long it will be until the water cycle speeding up will cause environmental disaster, I don't neccesarially think this will cause a "disaster," i mean, there's going to be some disruption within ecosystems, but I don't think it is going to reach the piont of disaster. Global warming is a natural cycle that the earth goes through, and although the ozone is getting thinner and thinner every day, that's not to say that global warming will not turn into global cooling after a while.
ReplyDeleteLastly, of course there are other negitive effects of global warming!! Aside from the water cycle speeding up there are species dying out, glaciers melting, which means less habitat for arctic animals, and more harmfull rays of the sun coming through the broken ozone. On the contrary, there is a positive I can think of: the glaciers melting means more liquid water.
I agree 100% with you erika! This article does not state that global warming is bad. It just gets you thinking about whether or not this is going to be good for the environment or bad. Personally, I think it could go either way. Sometimes it may be considered bad, because as kyle said, it will be making environmental issues with the wetness and dryness of areas. But also, maybe this will make dry areas more wet so that plants can grow and very wet areas a little less saturated so that the plants won't be drowning in water. I'm not sure about that point but it is a thought that came up.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question, "Do you think that the water cycle will continue to accelerate, or will it slow down again?", i think that if global warming keeps getting worse than no the water cycle won't slow down. It will either accelerate or stay the same depending on what is going on with global warming. Until we can get a handle on global warming than the water cycle is not going to slow down for a long time, maybe never.
i think this is really interesting! This showed me that global warming isn't all bad. This doesn't do much good, but it's not bad either. It could potentially turn bad though. It just speeds up the water cycle.
ReplyDeleteI found this article: http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/seminars/971105DD.html
it talks about global warming and how it affected the water cycle!