Global Warming: Changes We Can Already See In The World

By Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer:

Over the last 100 years, global temperatures have warmed by about 1.33 degrees Fahrenheit (0.74 degrees Celsius) on average. The change may seem minor, but it's happening very quickly — more than half of it since 1979, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Though it can still be difficult to tease out how much climate change plays in any given weather event, changes are occurring.

In the spirit of Earth day, here's a look at our marvelous blue marble and the ways people and other living things are responding to global warming. [50 Amazing Facts About Earth]

1. Moving the military northward
As the Arctic ice opens up, the world turns its attention to the resources below. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, 30 percent of the world's undiscovered natural gas and 13 percent of its undiscovered oil are under this region. As a result, military action in the Arctic is heating up, with the United States, Russia, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Iceland, Sweden and Canada holding talks about regional security and border issues. Several nations, including the U.S., are also drilling troops in the far north, preparing for increased border patrol and disaster response efforts in a busier Arctic.

2. Altering breeding seasons
As temperatures shift, penguins are shifting their breeding seasons, too. A March 2012 study found that gentoo penguins are adapting more quickly to warmer weather, because they aren't as dependent on sea ice for breeding as other species.

It's not just penguins that seem to be responding to climate change. Animal shelters in the U.S. have reported increasing numbers of stray cats and kittens attributed to a longer breeding season for the felines.

3. High-country changes
Decreased winter snowfall on mountaintops is allowing elk in northern Arizona to forage at higher elevations all winter, contributing to a decline in seasonal plants. Elk have ravaged trees such as maples and aspens, which in turn has led to a decline in songbirds that rely on these trees for habitat.

4. Altered Thoreau's stomping grounds
The writer Henry David Thoreau once lovingly documented nature in and around Concord, Mass. Reading those diaries today has shown researchers just how much spring has changed in the last century or so.

Compared to the late 1800s, the first flowering dates for 43 of the most common plant species in the area have moved forward an average of 10 days. Other plants have simply disappeared, including 15 species of orchids.

5. Changed "high season" at national parks
When's the busiest time to see the Grand Canyon? The answer has changed over the decades as spring has started earlier. Peak national park attendance has shifted forward more than four days, on average, since 1979. Today, the highest number of visitors now swarm the Grand Canyon on June 24, compared with July 4 in 1979.

6. Genetic changes
Even fruit flies are feeling the heat. According to a 2006 study, fruit fly genetic patterns normally seen at hot latitudes are showing up more frequently at higher latitudes. According to the research, the gene patterns of Drosophila subobscura, a common fruit fly, are changing so that populations look about one degree closer in latitude to the equator than they actually are. In other words, genotypes are shifting so that a fly in the Northern Hemisphere has a genome that looks more like a fly 75 to 100 miles (120 to 161 kilometers) south.

7. Hurting polar bears
Polar bear cubs are struggling to swim increasingly long distances in search of stable sea ice, according to a 2011 study. The rapid loss of sea ice in the Arctic is forcing bears to sometimes swim up to more than 12 days at a time, the research found. Cubs of adult bears that had to swim more than 30 miles (48 kilometers) had a 45 percent mortality rate, compared with 18 percent for cubs that had to swim shorter distances.

8. More mobile animals
Species are straying from their native habitats at an unprecedented rate: 11 miles (17.6 km) toward the poles per decade. Areas where temperature is increasing the most show the most straying by native organisms. The Cetti's warbler, for example, has moved north over the last two decades by more than 90 miles (150 km).

You can follow LiveScience senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience and on Facebook.

• Image Gallery: One-of-a-Kind Places on Earth
• Top 10 Surprising Results of Global Warming
• Gallery: Polar Bears Swimming in the Arctic Ocean

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Comments

[StephenBP]

07:28 AM on 04/30/2012

Since most people around here aren’t very well connected to the earth other than through the wheels of their petroleum powered vehicles, and since most people do not have Ph.D.’s in climatology or computer modeling or data analysis or atmospheric science, the average Joe needs concrete examples to be able to assess whether or not the climate is warming or not . The article gives a number of concrete pieces of evidence that strongly suggest that the climate is warming.

And how do people respond to this type of article? Sticking their fingers in your ears and going “lalalalalalalaal” ala Stephen Colbert is one way to deal with this type of evidence. Claiming that the evidence bearers are terrible, horrible, awful “ alarmists” bent on trying to scare people is another. Another way of dealing with this type of evidence is to put on tinfoil and hypothesize about a world wide conspiracy of scientists who are gaming the system for some end or another. One other common response is to claim a supposed leveling off of the rate of global warming, by picking suitably short intervals of data to examine. Note to investors: Be very cautious about financial advisors who use this kind of analysis.

There is a boat load of change coming down the pike. You can take that to the bank.

[jcbmack]

01:50 AM on 06/12/2012

There is no climate catastrophe. A little natural warming is all we have and the polar bears are doing just fine.

[jenniferkizzy]

03:52 PM on 04/25/2012

earth quakes tornados hurricanes tsunami's plagues viruses parasites even when mother earth attack's she sends the best too start the party with all the activity going on don't you think she is trying too tell us something were nothing more than mere fleas too her she'll one day shake us loose and then what will we have too gleam from destroying the only planet we have in our solar system that support's life is earth and earth alone and don't tell me well we can logically colonize other planet's it would take billions if not more too successfully colonize another planet bye

[jenniferkizzy]

03:44 PM on 04/25/2012

climactic change is happening at a far faster more alarming rate with the over use of fossil fuels and the population boom how long do you think mother earth will be able too hold out she's already taxed as is with all that is currently going on the world may not end in december two thousand twelve but it sure as hell feel's like it will see ya bye in other word's non green head's and green head's alike we aint getting out alive if we fuck this up simple bye

[canuckhoser]

04:26 PM on 04/25/2012

interesting...I post a polite response with links to verifiable research and it doesn't get through..but this grammar-less, profanity-laden, run on sentence does...?

[jenniferkizzy]

07:05 PM on 04/25/2012

ok so hate me because i think maybe just maybe we screwed it up yeah i think so

[HopeisEternal]

03:16 PM on 04/25/2012

Thru the Lens of Justice
April 25, 2012

“It’s 3:23 in the morning and I’m awake, because my great, great grandchildren won’t let me sleep. My great, great grandchildren ask me in dreams. What did you do while the planet was plundered? What did you do when the Earth was unraveling? Surely you did something when the seasons started failing, as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying….What did you do, once you knew?” ~Drew Dellinger

Earth Day Continuing….
• Handprints, not Footprints
• Earth Summit in Rio 2012

[Publicola]

01:08 PM on 04/25/2012

AGW "Skeptics": God Protects Us From Global Warming
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Prominent global warming "skeptics" including Roy Spencer (a climate scientist favored by "skeptics"), Ross McKitrick (economist and purported "hockey stick" slayer), and Joseph D'Aleo (weatherman / Icecap blog) and other fundamentalist Christian signatories of the Cornwall Alliance For The Stewardship Of Creation's "Evangelical Declaration on Global Warming" preach that per the Bible God protects from global warming:

http://www.cornwallalliance.org/blog/item/prominent-signers-of-an-evangelical-declaration-on-global-warming/

Roy Spencer is also on the Cornwall Alliance's Board of Advisers:

http://www.cornwallalliance.org/about/board-of-advisors/

More from the Cornwall Alliance on their belief that per Biblical prophesy God will protect us from global warming:

-----------------------
The world is in the grip of an idea: that burning fossil fuels... is causing global warming that will be so dangerous that we must stop it by reducing our use...

We believe that idea... fails the tests of theology... with a worldview of the Earth and its climate system contrary to that taught in the Bible...

God’s wisdom, power, and faithfulness justify confidence that Earth’s ecosystems are robust and will, by God’s providence, accomplish the purposes He set for them.
------------------------
http://tinyurl.com/27murl6 (pdf)

BrucePatrickBigelow: "...Anthropogenic Global Warming... truly is a religion..."

Science denier irony is eternal.

[BrucePatrickBigelow]

06:20 AM on 04/25/2012

It is sad to see that most of the alarmists are dismissive of anyone even remotely skeptical about Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming. It truly is a religion with them now.

[MJinCanada]

11:27 AM on 04/25/2012

It would make a difference if the "skeptics" had any evidence on their side.

[BrucePatrickBigelow]

02:22 PM on 04/25/2012

You mean like RSS and UAH satellite temps showing no significant warming for the past 15 years? Antartic sea ice extent increasing for the past decade? Current arctic sea ice extent recovery? No alarming rate in sea level rise for the past 100 years? Evidence like that?

[Publicola]

04:22 PM on 04/25/2012

BrucePatrickBigelow: "You mean like RSS and UAH satellite temps showing no significant warming for the past 15 years?"

Nope - your grossly misleading data cherry-picking is scientifically-invalid.

First off and most importantly, 15 years is too short of a time interval scientifically valid - that is too short of a time interval to control for short-term influences such as (ahem) El Ninos.

Pick say 17 years and both datasets show warming:

http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/uah/from:1995/plot/uah/from:1995/trend/plot/rss-land/from:1995/plot/uah/from:1995/trend

Second, the UAH data shows warming over the past 15 years in any event:

http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/uah/from:1997/plot/uah/from:1997/trend

Third, pick say 13 years -- which doesn't include the (ahem) very strong 1998 El Nino -- and both datasets again show warming:

http://www.woodfortrees.org/plot/uah/from:1999/plot/uah/from:1999/trend/plot/rss-land/from:1999/plot/uah/from:1999/trend

Hope this helps.

[ Rest of BrucePatrickBigelow's misleading statements & cherry-picked half-truths snipped. ]

[Publicola]

12:52 PM on 04/25/2012

"Catastrophic Anthropogenic Global Warming" is not a scientifically valid term.

Please define what you mean by "Catastrophic" in this context in a scientifically-testable manner - thank you.

[canuckhoser]

01:16 PM on 04/25/2012

I have seen this term only here so far, but enough to see they have come up with a new script and handed it out to their lemmings...looks like they have moved the goalposts again...

[Publicola]

01:49 PM on 04/25/2012

canuckhoser: "I have seen this term only here so far"

The unscientific term -- usually referred to by its "CAGW" acronym -- is now all the rage on climate science denier blogs.

canuckhoser: "looks like they have moved the goalposts again..."

Yup.

The 4 Stages of Global Warming Denial
---------------------------------------------------------------------

1) GW deniers: "There is no global warming!"

GW deniers + acknowledgment that the globe is warming =

2) AGW deniers: "Of course there is global warming - we skeptics have never said otherwise. But humans aren't causing it!"

AGW deniers + acknowledgment that humans are causing global warming =

3) "CAGW" deniers: "Ok, sure, humans are causing global warming. But AGW can't cause a catastrophe!"

"CAGW" deniers + irrefutably AGW-related catastrophe =

4) "CAGWW" ("CAGW" warning) deniers:

"Why didn't you warn us?"

[Blackchips]

03:30 PM on 04/24/2012

How will you alarmists ever lose your tails if we don't evolve? Perhaps in the evolution your brains will become larger and you'll have the ability to reason. Nah, doubt it.

[Daniel Hicks]

11:59 PM on 04/24/2012

Looks like we've got a semi-coherent denier attempting English sentences. Let's take a closer look in this week's Breakdown:

i) "How will you alarmists ever lose your tails..." So global warming "alarmists" have tails. FALSE.

ii) "...if we don't evolve?" So, apparently you think global warming "alarmists" don't believe in evolution? This is an odd thought, as the denial of global warming and the denial of evolution go hand in hand, coupled with the denial of reality. FALSE.

iii) "Perhaps in the evolution your brains will become larger..." While this is certainly possible via evolution, and we could probably do this, people aren't going to sign up for a forced breeding program. FALSE.

iv) "...and you'll have the ability to reason." Brain size does not correlate absolutely with intelligence. Neanderthal brains were larger than ours, and we certainly outcompeted them. It's quite hypocritical for someone to claim their opponents can't reason when, in fact, literally MILLIONS of individuals who have personally dedicated their lives to being right on the subject oppose you. But feel free to assume your non-expertise qualifies you to dismiss anything. It just means you're arrogant enough to forget that pride goes before a fall. Point is, your side is not supported by the facts, decimating any argument you make. FALSE.

v) "Nah, doubt it." We've already established your definition of truth is meaningless, so I'll neglect to consider your opinion here.

[Publicola]

12:55 PM on 04/25/2012

Looks like we've got a semi-coherent denier attempting English sentences."

From a brand new HuffPo account too - who woulda thunk it.

[north of 60]

02:27 PM on 04/24/2012

James Lovelock is the creator of the "Gaia" theory and one of the worshipped by the Climate Alarmists. In his latest interview he has admitted to being "alarmist", his word. He says Al Gore, Tim Flannery and others have been alarmists as well. He admits to erroneous extrapolation and that global warming has not happened as expected. There's more, much more. One quote of many "...some alarmist books...it hasn't happened. The climate is doing its usual tricks. There's not nothing much really happening yet. The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time (of monitoring), it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant."

The coup de grace "I made a mistake". As "an independent and a loner," he said he did not mind saying "All right, I made a mistake." He claimed a university or government scientist might fear an admission of a mistake would lead to the loss of funding.

This is from an interview on MSNBC with the man Times magazine named 1 of 13 Heros of the Environment. This man, MSNBC and Times are hardly the rabid "deniers" the alarmist hate mongers label so as to stifle debate on the subject.

http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/04/23/11144098-gaia-scientist-james-lovelock-i-was-alarmist-about-climate-change?lite

[canuckhoser]

05:14 PM on 04/24/2012

White noise

[Publicola]

01:22 PM on 04/25/2012

Apparently according to climate science "skeptics" like "north of 60", extreme predictions of a book peddler that were never adopted as scientific consensus not coming true somehow invalidates scientific consensus.

Gotta love climate science "skeptic" "logic". Or not.

[Daniel Hicks]

12:04 AM on 04/25/2012

And I bet you can articulate exactly how global warming relies on the crackpot Gaia theory as a critical assumption, so that all of global warming falls apart if just one hippie idea is wrong.

I'll wait.

[sote001]

01:20 PM on 04/24/2012

The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books - mine included - because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened. - James Lovelock.

nuff said.

[alteredstory]

02:00 PM on 04/24/2012

Lovelock's alarmism was not based in science, and neither is his current position.

[Lenape105]

02:02 PM on 04/24/2012

What hasn't happened?
If I make a prediction that doesn't come true, but observations show that adverse changes have occurred anyway, that only shows that I'm a bad predictor.
Observations show that climate change is occurring, and it is having adverse effects.

[north of 60]

02:31 PM on 04/24/2012

Yes, climate change is occurring, and it's happened before. Climate isn't static, it's always changing.

[james corbett]

01:00 PM on 04/24/2012

People forget about the sun flares that cause the planet to over heat it has nothing to do with the Al Gore theroy of emissions, look what happens when a volcano erupts filling the atmosphere with polution it's worse than all the vehicles in the USA poluting, so look at the rear science of the problem.

[alteredstory]

02:01 PM on 04/24/2012

People do NOT forget about the solar flares, or anything else to do with the sun. The same people who gave you the knowledge and updates about solar activity are the ones saying that it's not causing the warming.

Why would you insult them by lying about what they say?

[james corbett]

02:32 PM on 04/25/2012

No these are not the same quacks that say sun flares have nothing to do with solar flares, this info comes from a very creditable sourse, that measure the impact from the sun when the flares happen.I do not insult or lie about about peoples opinions, because they are like assh___'s everybody has one.

[Lenape105]

02:03 PM on 04/24/2012

Sun flares causing the planet to overheat?
Have you been watch Fox so-called Science News again?

[james corbett]

03:44 PM on 04/25/2012

No but I bet you have.

[Nate35]

10:47 AM on 04/24/2012

I wonder if by the time you can visit the North Pole by rowboat some people will come around to the fact that things are changing pretty fast.

[Lenape105]

02:04 PM on 04/24/2012

No. They won't.

[Daniel Hicks]

12:23 AM on 04/25/2012

Seriously. Soon enough, deniers won't just be out to whitewash evolution and global warming out of science classes, they'll have to go after the Age of Exploration in history as well. I mean, how could all of those explorers fail to find the Northwest Passage in the 1500-1700's? We have cruise ships sailing through it today!

[Rob Vann]

10:18 AM on 04/24/2012

I've noticed changes in bird migration patterns in my area in that some of our winter birds are now wintering much further north. These are direct changes which can be easily seen. What is also happening is that higher temperatures are triggering the spread of pathogens. In my area we now have large patches of dying spruce trees which are dying from tomentosus, a fungus like root disease which is accelerated when trees are stressed.

[kareemachan]

03:06 PM on 04/24/2012

And the spread of bats' white nose fungus is getting faster as well. We have more Anna's hummingbirds overwintering than before.

[ASRock78]

09:24 AM on 04/24/2012

If the fact that animals are reacting and shifting their normal patterns of behavior isn't proof enough we are experiencing a change...I don't know what will!

As fascinating as it is to know they are adapting, it's also rather scary there is a shift happening!

[alteredstory]

02:01 PM on 04/24/2012

The thing is - many of them AREN'T adapting. Many of them won't be able to keep up.

[north of 60]

05:16 AM on 04/24/2012

"We need to get some broad based support, to capture the public's imagination... So we have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified, dramatic statements and make little mention of any doubts... Each of us has to decide what the right balance is between being effective and being honest." - Stephen Schneider, lead author of many IPCC reports

"Unless we announce disasters no one will listen." - Sir John Houghton, first chairman of IPCC

"It doesn't matter what is true, it only matters what people believe is true." - Paul Watson, co-founder of Greenpeace

"We've got to ride this global warming issue. Even if the theory of global warming is wrong, we will be doing the right thing in terms of economic and environmental policy." - Timothy Wirth, President of the UN Foundation

"No matter if the science of global warming is all phony... climate change provides the greatest opportunity to bring about justice and equality in the world." - Christine Stewart, fmr Canadian Minister of the Environment

"The only way to get our society to truly change is to frighten people with the possibility of a catastrophe." - emeritus professor Daniel Botkin

"Isn't the only hope for the planet that the industrialized civilizations collapse? Isn't it our responsibility to bring that about?" - Maurice Strong, founder of the UN Environment Program

[Jeremyewilliams]

09:40 AM on 04/24/2012

Holy everything out of context Batman.

Expected, though.

[Lenape105]

02:06 PM on 04/24/2012

Great quotes. You didn't even have to learn how to use Photoshop.

[earthman don]

10:40 PM on 04/23/2012

Just as with denial of our moon landing, the truth can be determined by asking the Russians. They knew we really went to the moon and they know what's happening in the arctic. Vital self interest would have demanded denunciation of our lunar claims in 1969. They are now exercising their vital self interest by quickly moving into the arctic to exploit resources made accessible by warming of the globe. You deniers need a reality check. This is not sunspot activity or solar flares, it's anthropogenic global warming.

[Vote Republican]

11:48 PM on 04/23/2012

I believe global warming is real - I just don't care. Are you happy now? Haven't you just been dying to hear one of us say that?

[canuckhoser]

02:05 AM on 04/24/2012

telling us you are sociopaths is nothing new...Singer, Lindzen, Spencer, the majority of the gop have been displaying that behavior for decades...you're a little late

[Jeremyewilliams]

09:41 AM on 04/24/2012

No one is surprised that Republicans do not care about the future of our children and humanity in general.