How climate change affects the Pacific Northwest

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How climate change affects the Pacific Northwest
by Harrison Wang \| 28-03-2022 07:19 0
Climate change affects regions around the world in a variety of ways. In the Pacific Northwest, it affects bodies of water and forests significantly. This is due to the abundance of these resources in this region. Specifically, climate change can disrupt water flow, increase the sea level, and cause wildfires. These can then damage other systems, further worsening the issue. The Pacific Northwest has many sources of water and relies heavily on it. One of these sources is snowpack from mountains. Rising temperatures can cause the snow to melt much faster than normal, which negatively affects the water cycle. This then causes snowpack to decrease significantly in the summer. Snowpack in the Cascade Mountains has decreased by around 20% since 1950. Snowpack is also beginning to melt far quicker than normal, disrupting timing and how streams are flowing. This can not only affect people who rely on these water sources, but also people who rely on hydropower. This is because the Pacific Northwest contributes to 40% of the nation's hydropower. Less water during the summer would then have very negative economic consequences as well, and not just in the Pacific Northwest, but around the nation. Another cause of climate change is increased sea level rise, which is considered a very important issue. Global sea levels are predicted to rise as much as 3 feet by the end of the century. This may not sound like a large amount, but it puts areas close to the water at heavy risk, as around 140,000 acres of the region are within 3.3 feet of high tide. Regions such as the Puget Sound would be especially at risk of sea level rise, with flooding and erosion damaging homes and public systems. This will also affect and threaten ecosystems and wildlife. Finally, forests have seen a significant increase in wildfires due to climate change. To understand how significant this issue is, forests make up almost 50% of the Pacific Northwest. Rising temperatures, lowered amounts of rain, and reduced water flow are all causes of climate change that contribute to this. As mentioned before, snowpack is reduced heavily during this time, which reduces water flow. As a result, forests become incredibly dry and burn easily, especially in the summer. This has an incredibly large impact, affecting local ecosystems and wildlife, as well as causing heavy pollution in areas near forests. This issue has become so significant that wildfires have been banned during the summer in recent years, and will cause heavy destruction of forests if the problem is not reversed, and can contribute to climate change even more due to the loss of trees and the benefits they provide.

Dormant user Harrison Wang

5 Comments

Nayoung Kim says :
Thank you for such useful information!
Posted 02-08-2022 06:44

Chelwoon Mentor says :
Hello Harrison, this is your mentor Chelwoon.

The daily increase of global sea level will affect the island countries around the world. Japan, which is very close to my country, is really worried about that as they are an island country itself. Apart from Japan, most countries which have several islands around their territories are worried about climate change regardless of the islands?? size. As a result of climate change, the size of glaciers has been decreasing, and it is also threatening the habitats of animals living in the polar regions. We have to slow down the speed of the temperature rise.

Thank you for the article!
Regards,
Chelwoon

Posted 01-04-2022 06:21

Joon Mentor says :
Hello Harrison, this is your mentor Joon.

There are more than thousands of consequences of climate change. It is negatively affecting our lives in various means. Ice is melting, as mentioned in your article, and gas is emitted to atmosphere increasing greenhouse gas level again making bad cycle. Wild fires are occurring in record breaking level, and millions of wildlife is loosing its place of living. It is only accelerating the breakdown of our environment, so we should work on it now before it is too late.

Well read your article, and let's keep up!

Best,

Joon
Posted 30-03-2022 20:42

Sagar Koirala says :
Hello Harrison
Greetings from Nepal

I loved your report. It is very much informative. Keep Writing.

Regards,
Sagar Koirala
Posted 28-03-2022 18:15

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