which parts of the globe will be least effected by global warming?

[Gato Moteado]

i imagine anyone at or near sea level will have problems if the seas start to rise in our life time. what about mountainous regions....will the weather patterns there be effected greatly? what will the effects be near the equator as opposed to the more temperate zones?

[The Whiskey Priest]

1. Since the whole planet is a complex adaptive system

it is hard to say what the consequence will be, outside of it aint gonna be pretty.

[Spinzonner]

2. The brains of Republicans

They are impervious to and impenetrable by reality.

[arcane1]

3. the hot, molten core?

:shrug:

[HereSince1628]

4. Warmer air may not get intercepted by the mountains...

consequently there may be a loss of windward rains and loss of forests.

It's already happening to the cloud forests.

I personally feel OK being in SE Wisconsin...it may get weirdly extreme in summer and winter...more like western Iowa, but in addition to Lake Michigen we've got fossil water that will outlast the handful of decades that are what's left of my existance.

[AZBlue]

5. It affects everything - no place will be spared.

It causes the extremes to increase (the cold places get colder, the hot places get hotter) and changes weather patterns to increase or decrease precipitation and wind, thus affecting the locations and number of hurricanes and tornadoes even. No one will be spared its affects.

[Richard D]

6. Some of the worst places . . .

. . . will likely be the areas that depend on snow melt for water. India, parts of China, the Amazon basin, and a few other places are in deep trouble. Well, we're all in deep trouble really.

[Lisa]

7. I'm afraid the mountains won't escape ...

Nor will the high latitudes (polar regions). In fact, the poles are projected to see the largest temperature changes -- that's probably why some of the actual warning signs (disappearing sea ice, melting permafrost, etc.) are already evident.

A lot of mountain environments are rather delicate, and large, rapid changes in environmental conditions (like the loss of glaciers mentioned by an earlier poster) could destabilize them. Many species could be "squeezed out" as temperatures warm ... retreating uphill into cooler habitats won't work, if the changes are severe enough. Sooner or later you run out of mountain (and because your amount of habitat has shrunk, that could eventually lead to extinction too).

It's also bad to be in the middle of a continent, because the changes would tend to be exaggerated there. If you're next to a big heat sink, like the ocean, as long as you stay back from the coast enough to allow for an increase in sea level (at least 1 foot this century, plus maybe an increased chance of storm surges), that's probably one of the better places to be ... the temperature change will be buffered somewhat.


EPA website on mountain environments and climate change:

http://yosemite.epa.gov/oar/globalwarming.nsf/content/ImpactsMountains.html

[BushOut06]

8. Ironically most of Europe will freeze

As the Gulf Stream is disrupted, Europe will no longer benefit from the warm air & ocean currents. Eventually much of Europe will resemble Siberia.

I just wonder if this might somehow offset some of the warming by acting as some sort of giant global refrigerator? Just a thought that popped into my mind.

[Gato Moteado]

9. sounds like we need to start looking for another planet.....

....i hope the effects of global warming wait until after i'm long gone.

[Solon]

10. Sorry, too late for that...

Look at the Drought that has plagued the Midwest, and the breadbasket, of the United States for what, the better part of a decade now? We actually have grain stores, don't know if you know that, and they are down to maybe three or four months supply for emergencies. Global Climate Change is more than just warmer air and rising seas, its drought in the Oxygen producing area of the world, the Amazon, horrendious storms, rising in intensity and frequency in both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Not to mention that the Permafrost of the Siberian and Canadian tundras is melting, releasing millions of cubic meters of methane gas, which is even worst than CO2 at absorbing infrared light. So we are reaching a scenario a possible catastrophic breakdown of every single ecosystem that relies on the sun. The least effected would be the deep ocean vents based ecosystems that rely on the heat of the Earth rather than that of the Sun.

[htuttle]

11. I'm staying in the Great Lakes states

Right here in Central WI.

High enough to avoid flooding, near enough to one of the larget freshwater reservoirs on the planet, north enough to not get too hot. To some extent, the lakes help moderate the climate more than you see in Great Plains.

I DO expect to see insane weather -- tornados, storms, etc... more than normal. But overall, I think it will stay inhabitable for some time.