Climate change has accelerated the rate of ice loss across the continent. Booming populations of bark beetles that feed on spruce and pine trees, for example, have devastated millions of forested acres in the U.S.Īn iceberg melts in the waters off Antarctica. Some species-including mosquitoes, ticks, jellyfish, and crop pests-are thriving.Yet some regions are experiencing more severe drought, increasing the risk of wildfires, lost crops, and drinking water shortages. Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe, on average.Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have migrated farther north or to higher, cooler areas. As temperatures change, many species are on the move.Vanishing ice has challenged species such as the Adélie penguin in Antarctica, where some populations on the western peninsula have collapsed by 90 percent or more. Rising temperatures are affecting wildlife and their habitats.
The rise is occurring at a faster rate in recent years and is predicted to accelerate in the coming decades. Global sea levels are rising 0.13 inches (3.2 millimeters) a year. Much of this melting ice contributes to sea-level rise.In Montana's Glacier National Park the number of glaciers has declined to fewer than 30 from more than 150 in 1910. This includes mountain glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice. Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles.Scientists already have documented these impacts of climate change: All of these changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Climate change encompasses not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas, and a range of other impacts. Many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms, but scientists prefer to use “climate change” when describing the complex shifts now affecting our planet’s weather and climate systems. The heat is melting glaciers and sea ice, shifting precipitation patterns, and setting animals on the move. And the impacts of rising temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future–the effects of global warming are appearing right now. Since 1906, the global average surface temperature has increased by more than 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius)- even more in sensitive polar regions. The planet is warming, from North Pole to South Pole.
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