how is global warming creating natural disasters?

Answer 1

It's pretty complicated and other people understand it better than I do, but basically it's because a global increase in temperatures changes weather patterns. The air in the atmosphere of our planet is always moving around, getting warmer in one place, cooler in another and changes in the pressure and density of the atmospheric air always accompany changes in the temperature. This makes the weather more volitile when the air doesn't cool as much in all the right places. There is also the matter of ice melting in places where there has always been ice, which causes the sea levels to be higher and so the oceans reach higher levels in coastal areas. It is difficult to measure sea levels precisely. What we use as a "sea level" measurement is actually an average measurement between low and high tide conditions over a course of time, but people who measure the elevations of places on the land use the average sea level as a guide when they design things like shipping locks, levees and ocean-front resorts. The tsunami from a few years ago and some of the recent hurricanes have been devatating because the level of water in the oceans got higher than anyone expected. There is quite a bit more to it than what I've explained, but it is a very complex, global phenomenon and even the people who understand it very well don't have a complete idea of what all the changes mean. What all the ecology people agree on is that it is hydrocarbons in the atmosphere caused by the burning of carbon-based fuels that is causing global warming and that no one is sure how to make a significant reduction in the amount of hydrocarbons that we (as a world of humans) keep pumping into the air. No matter what fuel we decide to use, we keep putting hydrocarbons in the air. I hope this will help you begin to understand the problem, because we need some smart people to come up with workable solutions.
Another related thought: The amount of heat that the earth captures and retains from sunlight is another factor. Dark colors soak up more heat than light colors, so the white ice in the polar regions of earth take on less heat that the darker forests. Globally, the weather patterns that we have learned to depend on depends in turn on the planet being warmer at the equator and cooler at the poles. The rain forests are naturally near the equatorial regions, but rain forests are being de-forested and developed into living space for humans. At the equator, what we are calling "global warming" seems more like cooling, but it contributes to a global change in the weather and makes the weather more dangerous. It is difficult to get a good idea locally of the damage that is happening globally. People in Chicago joke that they like global warming if it makes wintertime in Chicago less cold, because they can't see the big picture.

Answer 2

It has very visible effects. If you download Google earth, you can easily see some of them. In Greenland, for instance, there are thousands of huge icebergs breaking off into the ocean because the glaciers are melting. This already causes the water to rise, but then it melts and contributes even more water. As the water rises, the warmth gets to places it couldn't before, like further in Greenland, and the problem grows even worse. The first places to go will be the Netherlands, New Orleans (can't say I'll miss it), and other places below sea level. Speaking of New Orleans, the recent hurricanes were strengthened by global warming. The Gulf stream increases in influence, which affects hurricanes, etc. to make them bigger.

Answer 3

Are you certain that there is indeed global warming? I realize that people have been tugging at the issue for years, but there is no substantial proof that this warming effect is not a cyclical phenomena. We have no proof about the last 50,000 years from the estimated period of the Ice Age. Counting tree rings is hardly an answer and the oldest know trees are less than 3,000 years...perhaps this situation occurs every ten thousand years. Fossils date much further back and we know that some cataclysmic event, a massive volcano or perhaps even a meteorite created so much dust that the earth was blanketed and brought about the sudden extinction of the dinosaurs. That took place about 65,000,000 years ago...just days ago, Norwegian paleontologists announced the discovery of a dinosaur 'graveyard' with the fossils of ichthyosaurs and pleisosaurs (perhaps cousins of the Loch Ness Monster) on an Island about 800 miles from the North Pole. Because both types of dinosaurs were marine (living in salt water), we then can assume they died in the water...but the 'graveyard' is now situated on a hillside some distance from the sea, but also that the water level was much higher at that time...Global Warming? Island can rise and sink because of volcanic activity but the island shows no geological suggestion that that was so. Perhaps too, this is a natural event in that as the temperature increases, so does evaporation and thusly more rain, so could it be that it is a cleansing system to remove pollutants from the atmosphere? There are many far-fetched theories and one is from Australia where scientists claim that cows are a major source of pollution. Herbivores produce methane gas as they digest grasses, fodder and such, and with the vast number of cows and other herbivores, our atmosphere is contaminated. It makes little sense as in America were vast herds of bison, and the plains of Africa still have millions of grazing animals...both past and present. The die-off of marine organisms is often linked to man-made problems...oil spills, dredging, sewage and such...i.e. the Thames River of England was so polluted years ago that no fish could exist...the environmental agency cleaned it up by stopping sewage, etc and now 10 species of fish have returned. We build dams and prevent floods and deprive vital nutrients to the sea. In Asia, DDT was introduced to protect the crops and successfully killed many species of fish and birds (most potent when used with oil as the solvent). Few people understand that a tree does many things besides provide wood, it retains soil but also transpires a substantial amount of moisture into the air...and we cut down the forests. We cover vast areas with tarmac and concrete and deaden the soil. On my last visit to Mt. Kilimanjaro, I noticed the reduction of the ice caps and glaciers but I didn't come away with any firm conviction of a drastic change. In Tibet, I visited the glacial rivers but they seemed much unchanged, and the peak of Mt. Everest seems to have the same amount of snow and ice. The only tangible proof I have found is that some of the tropical marine life in the Sea of Cortez have move further north, but that could be explained by a shifting of currents, rather than an actual change in the climate. Many scientists and indeed researchers need to 'publish or perish' to justify their tenure and make statements couched with the word 'MAY'...rather than definitive statements....that justifies grants and bequests....and now the medical community is falling guilty of the same...Japanese researchers found that drinking green tea may prolong life...etc. Take things with a very large grain of salt and don't depend on the media to be either honest or truthful. At the very worst, it is theorized that the temperature will increase by about 5 degrees F. in the next 100 years. If so, there may be coastal flooding, and the deserts are predicted to be drier.

Answer 4

it may someday but it isn't now ( glaciers have receded before and that is a small scale disaster compared to one bad winter or drought - less life affected )

at the moment the globe has warmed a few degrees over the last 100 years it is too soon to say the trend will continue - the subject has become politicized so read all with that in mind

look up ICE AGE ARTICLES 1970-1980 and you will see that the ice age is coming too ( lol )

Answer 5

Global warming is melting all the glaciers that are in due course in Antarctica. The ultra violet rays are accelarating and the ozone layer is being destroyed oftenly and there is more possibilities to being burned off.

Answer 6

what scientists "owned" global warming to begin with? no1 owns it in the first place for it to be disowned. and whoever thinks the earth isnt warming is an idiot.

Answer 7

Global warming is a crock. Many reputable scientists disown it.

Answer 8

well it depends on the way u look at it
in sum ways it is benefitial and in sum it is very disastrous
it will increase the water level in the seas and drown th eares of the world which are more closer to the sea.
as our growing population we need more water so it is necessry for us to have water melted and meet the needs of our ppl on the planet. :)

Answer 9

It's not theres a pattern of heat.