What will happen when global warming reaching its maximum?

Question

Lets assume that summer tempertues in europe averaging 35 c in summer and 20 c in winter. Let assume that global warming has reach a peak in tempertures around the world. What will happen next.

Answer 1

I'll assume that you mean what will happen if we change nothing and it all unfolds without intervention.

There's only so just much fossil fuel for us to burn, so there's a limiting factor right there. My gues is that , as a first approximation, when we burn it all, we'll be back to the atmospheric CO2 situation before the catastophic event that killed and buried the dinosaurs about 65 million years ago and sequestered all lthat carbon.

Here's a graph showing temperature over the last 65 million years: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:65_Myr_Climate_Change.png

The graph shows temp rising to an average 12 c (22 F) warmer gloablly than we have today. That's an average increase. I can't even begin to guess what that means in terms of number of days with temperature over 50 c (122 F) over how much of the planet, but I don't think summers will be much fun. Just to provide a reality check on the what a change of this magnitude means, the difference between our average global temp and that of most of the ice ages at their coldest is ONLY 6 DEGRESS C! -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Five_Myr_Climate_Change.png

The graph shows the polar ice caps completely melted at about half that increase (6 c warmer, same picture). So they will be gone. A balll park estimate for sea level rise is 65 meters (ignoring volume change of ice to water and thermal expansion of existing water which tend to cancel each other out)

Here's a map showing a 30 meter rise on the US east coast (http://resumbrae.com/archive/warming/EastCoast030-960.jpg ) We lose Boston, New York, Phildelphia, Washington DC, Richmond, Savannah, Houston and most of Florida and Luisiana. Looks like to the north, we lose Toronto, Montreal and Quebec.

Here's a website discusing consequences: http://www.lightblueline.org/taxonomy/term/34 It says "More than 1.2 billion people, representing 23 percent of the world’s population live on coastal plains"

Another easily predicted effect will be more moisture in the air. Deserts will beome drier and rain storms will be much heavier. Heavier storms will wash away topsoil at a greater rate. Many of the worlds rivers that depend on melting ice will dry up. As the sea level rises, now fertile river deltas will be lost to agriculture.

I don't mean to be alarmist, but you did ask about GW reaching it's maximum.

Answer 2

Where to begin?

First of all, we have far stronger hurricanes. Hurricanes form in water where the temperature exceeds 86 degrees F. A hotter climate makes that far more likely. Can you imagine every hurricane being a Catagory 4 or 5? These will go far more northernly.

Massive die-offs. Ecological areas will be flooded or too hot for various creatures. They will be pushed into smaller areas to live. Many species of fish may well go extinct.

Rising water levels. If the Ross Ice shelf and Greenland melt, water levels will rise about six meters, world wide. This will displace over 100,000,000 people from where they live now. Do you think that resettlement of that large number of people, particularly in developing nations, will be done without warfare?

Global Warming at that rate will kill millions of people worldwide. In 2003, Europe had a unusually hot summer, and experienced 3000 excess deaths. This is in a first world, rich, industrialized, mature nations. Other nations will fare far worse.

Answer 3

Well actually our Earth is suffering from global dimming too..Based on de research of some scientists in Isreal,our Earth's temperature is dropping.But due to de global warming the temperature is kept on a suitable degree for human to live.

So global warming can cbe said to reach its maximum now.And the temperature will not go higher than 40c for sure.

Anyway if the Earth's temperature reach an extremely high degree tht won allow for humans to live,ya,we will die.But of course if tht will happen,it will take a long time...

Answer 4

I guess it would suck to live in Florida when that happens lol! If that does happen, lot's of people might die because they can't handle the warm weather in countries that are usually cold, and the arctic will start to melt and the east coast will get flooded in some parts.

Answer 5

The short answer: The biggest problem will be flooding and more tropical storms. Rent "An Inconvenient Truth", the Al Gore move. It's not political and very factual.

Answer 6

it will get hotter and hotter and if reaches to its maximum you won see any winters but summers every month , and also the creature from different countries travelling over here from different countries

Answer 7

we will be up the creek without a paddle.
Not nly would we have rising sea levels and population displacement due to flooding, but food crops would be hit hard and our weather will become more extreme.

Answer 8

according to the movie "day after tomorrow" tsunami will hit new york and it will be frozen to ice city

Answer 9

We'll all be underwater swimming with melted icecaps.

Answer 10

carry on for a long time then die down then we can start a fresh