Curated playlist
Effects of climate change
- Soil carbon feedbackThe world's soils hold roughly two to three times as much carbon as the entire atmosphere.
- Ice–albedo feedbackIce reflects most sunlight back to space, while open ocean absorbs it. This drives ice-albedo feedback.
- Marine heatwaveMarine heatwaves got their name from a 2011 event off Western Australia.
- Food securityBy most measures, the world has enough food for everyone, yet hunger persists.
- Effects of climate change on oceansBering Sea snow crabs fell 84% between 2018 and 2022 after a marine heatwave.
- Sea level riseSea level has risen more than 125 meters since the Last Glacial Maximum roughly 20,000 years ago.
- Atlantic meridional overturning circulationIn October 2024, 44 scientists warned the Atlantic's overturning current could collapse within decades.
- Effects of climate change on human healthIn June 2015, over 2,000 people died in Karachi, Pakistan, in temperatures as high as 49 degrees Celsius.
- Effects of climate changeMelting Arctic sea ice speeds up its own loss. Ice reflects 50% to 70% of sunlight, but open ocean reflects only 6%.
- Coral bleachingCorals turn white when their tiny algae partners leave. Those algae can supply up to 90 percent of a coral's energy.
- Effects of climate change on the water cycleIn 2023, glaciers lost more than 600 gigatons of water, the most in at least fifty years.
- Tropical cyclones and climate changeBetween 1982 and 2019, the number of cyclones in the Arabian Sea increased by 52 percent.
- Extreme weatherCyclone Amphan in 2020 killed 120 people, while a 1970 cyclone of similar size killed 300,000.
- Climate change in the ArcticBeavers are moving north into Arctic rivers once locked in ice. Their dams flood permafrost and speed its thaw.
- Extinction risk from climate changeIn 2019 the Australian government made it official: the Bramble Cay melomys, a small mammal that lived on an island in the Great Barrier Reef, was extinct. It was the first mammal known to have died out because of human-induced sea level…
- El Niño–Southern OscillationThe strongest El Niño on record, as of early 2026, struck in 1877 and 1878. It led to a global famine that killed more than 50 million people, about 3-4 percent of everyone alive. El Niño is the warm half of the El Niño-Southern…
- Effects of climate change on agricultureExtra carbon dioxide helps crops grow but makes them less nutritious. By 2050, protein, iron and zinc could drop 3-17%.
- Greenhouse effectEarth's air lets sunlight through but traps 90% of the heat rising off the ground. That is the greenhouse effect.
- Retreat of glaciers since 1850Argentina's Perito Moreno Glacier has advanced since 1947. It is one of only three glaciers in Patagonia to do so.