Climate Change/Effects

Current revision (unreviewed)

[edit] Predicted outcomes

Global mean surface temperature rises
Global mean sea surface temperature rises
Surface temperature over land increases more than over ocean
Global mean precipitation increases, with a larger increase over the ocean.
Sea-ice concentration decreases, melt season comes earlier, freezing starts later
Regional temperature and salinity changes
Sea level rises, mostly due to thermal expansion of ocean water
More frequent and severe floods and droughts

Increased incidences of respiratory infections, malaria, and other diseases.
Changing growing seasons lead to bad harvests and widespread food shortages
Increased droughts cause regional water shortages
Sea levels rise more than expected (>1m), displacing millions of people
More frequent flooding leads to coastal destruction in developing nations, increasing the spread of diseases locally.

Release of methane clathrate from ocean bottom releases enormous amounts of methane to atmosphere, leading to runaway greenhouse effect
Thawing tundra releases methane trapped in permanently frozen organic matter, leading to enhanced warming
Increases in precipitation over Greenland, combined with other warming effects there, leads to pools of liquid water that melt into the ice sheet as moulins. Liquid water gets deep into the ice sheet, lubricating and destabilizing it, and huge discharges of ice spill into the north Atlantic.
Huge discharges of ice spill into the north Atlantic, chilling and freshening the surface water, stabilizing the upper ocean. This shuts down deep convection, and we experience a rapid climate change (not quite so fast as The Day After Tomorrow).