A couple of news stories this week highlighted the impacts of recent warming trends on the Arctic and Amazon regions. Each of these stories points out that the impacts of the warming extend far beyond their local areas.
Wired magazine has an article about how scientists are studying the Amazon rain forest to see how the trees respond to increases in pollution as well as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. The article details the difficulties the scientists are having in collecting good data, but also says that they are finding some interesting results. They have found that so far the trees are growing more quickly in response to recent increases in carbon dioxide, as expected, and that the Amazon is sucking up more carbon than it is releasing, but that trees are also dying younger and so releasing their carbon back to the atmosphere more quickly than expected. This may affect global levels of carbon dioxide in the future, which will impact conditions all across the globe.
The Washington Post published an article this week on changes in the Arctic due to the warming there that may affect climate and agriculture beyond the local region. They mention four ways in which the impacts might be felt, including changes in weather patterns, changes in fish harvest, increased sea levels, and amplified greenhouse warming through the melting of permafrost and release of methane.
