The water cycle, the process by which water circulates through the planet’s atmosphere and waterways, helps make life here on Earth possible.
Climate change, however, caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions, is disrupting that process. It’s creating a vicious cycle in which higher temperatures, changes in rainfall and water contamination cause environmental consequences that make global warming worse and damage the health of the planet further.
The water cycle, the process by which water circulates through the planet’s atmosphere and waterways, helps make life here on Earth possible.
Climate change, however, caused by excessive greenhouse gas emissions, is disrupting that process. It’s creating a vicious cycle in which higher temperatures, changes in rainfall and water contamination cause environmental consequences that make global warming worse and damage the health of the planet further.
How Climate Change Impacts Earth’s Water
Climate change causes various changes in our water supply, which sometimes leads to pollution and other problems.
Changes in rainfall
Increased temperatures caused by climate change raise the rate of evaporation from both land and oceans, as well as enable the atmosphere to hold more water by about 4 percent for every 1 degree Fahrenheit increase.
This added evaporation will dry out some areas and fall as excess precipitation in others. Generally, dry areas are expected to get drier while wet areas become wetter. This will lead to increasing instances of drought in some areas and more flooding in others.
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