Endangered Earth (Scientific American Special Online Issue by Scientific American

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These results mesh beautifully with another recent report, by Eric Rignot of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. Using radar interferometry, a technique capable of detecting ice movement as small as a few millimeters, Rignot observed that both glaciers are delivering ice increasingly quickly to the Amundsen Sea and shrinking toward the continent’s interior. 2 Turning Up the Heat the vulnerability of the Amundsen Sea sector is but one of several unknowns that scientists still must address.

Those trends bode ill for human health in the 21st century. E. Indian Ocean to the Horn of Africa in 1997 and 1998 offer an example of how people will be affected as global warming spawns added flooding. The downpours set off epidemics of cholera as well as two mosquito-borne infections: malaria and Rift Valley fever (a flulike disease that can be lethal to livestock and people alike). To the west, Hurricane Mitch stalled over Central America in October 1998 for three days. Fueled by a heated Caribbean, the storm unleashed torrents that killed at least 11,000 people.

Warmer air increases evaporation from the oceans and carries more moisture than cooler air does. So as global warming increases, more evaporated seawater from temperate areas could be transported to polar areas, where it would fall as snow. This process would be further enhanced if global warming were to melt significant amounts of sea ice and expose more of the ocean surface to the atmosphere. All else being equal, ocean water could be preserved as snow faster than it would reenter the sea, alleviating some of the rise in sea level.

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