10 Global Warming Facts

Global warming is a growing concern globally, with its effects beginning to be seen as sea levels rise and deserts expand. Here are 10 important facts about global warming.

Temperatures Rise

• Global temperatures by 2009 have risen 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 degree Celsius) in the past century, the majority of the changes occurring in the past few decades. Between 1997 and 2008, the 10 warmest years in recorded human history occurred.

Environmental Effects

• A rise in temperature has also been blamed for erratic weather patterns that are increasingly being recorded around the world, from hurricanes and tsunamis to wildfires and tornadoes. The ice of the Arctic region is disappearing, and the National Resources Defense Council predicts that if the trend continues, summer in the Arctic could be ice free within 80 years.

Human Attribution

• Through human activities including industrialization, deforestation and pollution, the atmospheric concentrations of water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide have increased, trapping more and more heat near Earth's surface. Even if such emissions were completely eliminated tomorrow, the gases would stay in the atmosphere for years, continuing the warming trend.

Primary Effects

• Food and water shortages are already being experienced in the developing world, agriculture suffering from increased heat and water resources drying up. Small island states, such as the Maldives, face total elimination as water levels rise and permanently flood multiple regions across the globe.

What's to Come

• Over 1 million species are at risk of extinction because of disappearing habitat, changes in ecosystems and growing acidity in oceans. Climate changes will be drastic by the end of the century, New Hampshire likely will have North Carolina's weather patterns, while deadly heat waves are expected to become annual crises.