Overall Rating: Water Availability and Pollution\" Note: Online students please
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Overall Rating: Water Availability and Pollution" Note: Online students please respond to one () of the follovwing three (3) bulleted options . Describe three (3) ways that global warming may affect the hydrological cycle and water availabity in the future. Next, predict one (1) long-term effect that may arise if we don't properly plan for global warming effects Justify your response. consumption. Estimate the total amount of water you foresee being saved by using each of these techniques piakce s of ncor maton that io tuended wioug stanme ho youenent aher polusco netou oa personad esaperienge? s of your estimated personal water use, and then propose three (3) ways that you can reduce your personal water pieces of information that influenced your stance on this statement Then, describe one (1) way that your own personal expe opinion on this subject Reply QuoteExplanation / Answer
There are a number of factors affecting rising sea levels, including the thermal expansion of seawater, the melting of glaciers and ice sheets on land, and possibly human changes to groundwater storage.
The consensus of many studies of coastal tide gauge records is that during the past century sea level has risen worldwide at an average rate of 1–2 mm/yr reflecting a net flux of heat into the surface of the land and oceans. Corresponding studies based on satellite altimetry shows that this rate has increased to closer to 3 mm/yr during the more completely monitored past 20 years.A recent review of the literature suggests that 30% of the sea level rise since 1993 is due to thermal expansion and 55% due to continental ice melt, both resulting from warming global temperatures. In another study, results estimate the heat content of the ocean in the upper 700 meters has increased significantly from 1955–2010. Observations of the changes in heat content of the ocean are important for providing realistic estimates of how the ocean is changing with global warming. An even more recent study of the contributions to global sea level due to melting of the two large ice sheets based on satellite measurements of gravity fluctuations suggests that the melting of these alone are causing global sea level to about 1 mm/yr.in a recent modeling study, scientists used an earth system model to study several variables of the ocean, one of which was the heat content of the oceans over the past several hundred years. The earth system model incorporated the atmosphere, land surface processes, and other earth components to make it more realistic and similar to observations. Results of their model simulation showed that since 1500, the ocean heat content of the upper 500 m has increased.
The connection between sea level rise and ocean thermal expansion follows from Charles's law (also known as the law of volumes) put simply states that the volume of a given mass is proportional to its temperature. This contribution to sea level is monitored by oceanographers using a succession of temperature measuring profiling instruments, which is then compiled at national data centers such as the United States National Oceanographic Data Center. The International Panel on Climate Change(IPCC) Fifth Assessment Report estimates that the upper ocean (surface to 750 m deep) has warmed by 0.09 to 0.13 degrees C per decade over the past 40 years.Other processes important in influencing global sea level include changes to groundwater storage including dams and reservoirs.
Global warming also has an enormous impact with respect to melting glaciers and ice sheets. Higher global temperatures melt glaciers such as the one in Greenland,which flow into the oceans, adding to the amount of seawater. A large rise (on the order of several feet) in global sea levels poses many threats. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), “such a rise would inundate coastal wetlands and lowlands, erode beaches, increase the risk of flooding, and increase the salinity of estuaries, aquifers, and wetlands.”
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