Finally, I would like to present some basic consequences and predictions of Earth atmosphere

changes. The most common consequence is the worldwide climate crisis. The less known thing
are changes in the ozone layer. I‘m going to mark out exactly these two aspects.

Firstly, I would like to analyse the problem of the climate crisis. We usually talk about it a lot,
but if we really know what it is? According to many sources, climate change includes
both global warming and its impacts on Earth's weather patterns. The global warming is
usually referred as long-term heating of Earth’s climate system observed since the pre-industrial
period (between 1850 and 1900) due to human activities, which increases heat-trapping
greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere. It’s caused by fossil fuel burning, deforestation,
industrial advancement and using transport with high levels of CO2 emission. Greenhouse gas,
such as CO2, metane and nitrous oxide concentrations in the atmosphere will continue to
increase unless the billions of tons of our annual emissions decrease substantially

Climate crisis obviously affects all regions around the world. Polar ice shields are melting and the
sea level is rising. In some regions extreme weather events and rainfall are becoming more common
while others are experiencing more extreme heat waves and droughts.

These impacts are expected to intensify in the coming decades.

Melting ice shields and rising sea levels

Simply, if water warms up its condition changes. At the same time the global warming causes polar
ice sheets’ and glaciers’ melting. The combination of these changes is causing sea levels rising. As
a result, floods and erosion of coastal and low lying areas appear.

There in these maps we can see changes of Arctic Ocean ice cover concentration from 1984 to
2012. In 2012 it was reported that ice covering had reached the record low.
 Extreme weather, shifting rainfall
Heavy rain and other extreme weather events are becoming more frequent. It is enabled to
lead floods and decreasing water quality, but also decreasing availability of water resources in
some regions.

Consequences for Europe

 Southern and central Europe are seeing more frequent heat waves, forest fires and droughts.
 The Mediterranean area is becoming drier, making it even more vulnerable to drought and
wildfires.
 Northern Europe is getting significantly wetter, and winter floods could become common.
 Urban areas, where 4 out of 5 Europeans now live, are exposed to heat waves, flooding or rising
sea levels, but they are often ill-equipped for adapting to climate change.

There you can see a map showing temperature rising predictions in Europe from 2011 to
2100.

Consequences for developing countries

 Many poor developing countries are among the most affected ones. Local people are often heavily
depended on their natural environment and they have the least amount of resources to cope with
the changing climate.

Risks for human health

Climate crisis is already having an impact on health:

Increasing number of allergic people, diseases carried by vectors, food and waterborn
diarrheal diseases.

 There has been an increase in the number of heat-related deaths in some regions and a decrease
in cold-related deaths in others.
 Now we can point out that some water-borne illnesses and disease vectors is a result of changes.

Costs for society and economy

Damage to property and infrastructure and to human health imposes heavy costs on society and the
economy.

Between 1980 and 2011 floods affected more than 5.5 million people and caused direct economic
losses of more than €90 billion.

Sectors that rely strongly on certain temperatures and precipitation levels such as agriculture,
forestry, energy and tourism are particularly affected.

Risks for wildlife

Climate crisis is happening so fast that many plants and animal species are struggling to cope.

Many terrestrial, freshwater and marine species have already moved to the new locations. Some
plants and animals species will be at increased risk of extinction if global average temperatures
continue to rise unchecked.

In this particular picture we can see polar bears. It’s safe to say that they are in the southern place
but not in their natural living area. Polar bears are forced by melting ice sheets to search new areas
for food. That is the basic reason of polar bears moving to the south and arriving to urbanized areas.
As I mentioned earlier, another important aspect is the ozone layer, and concretely – the ozone
depletion. It is gradual thinning of Earth’s ozone layer in the stratosphere caused by the release of
chemical compounds containing gaseous chlorine or bromine from industry and other human
activities. The thinning is most pronounced in the polar regions, especially over Antarctica.
Ozone depletion is a major environmental problem because it increases the amount of ultraviolet
(UV) radiation that reaches Earth’s surface, which strengthens the climate crisis and, what is more,
increases the rate of skin cancer, eye cataracts, and genetic and immune system damage. It is
predicted that in particularly cold future Arctic winters there exists the danger of a strong thinning
of the ozone layer above densely populated areas in spring.
There we can see models based on predictions on how the ozone concentration would have changed
if the amounts of chlorofluorocarbons wouldn’t have been started reducing.
Conclusion
Since the Archean eon, the Earth’s atmosphere has significantly changed. It has evoluted from a
non-living chaotic gas mixture to a unique structured formation that creates an ability for all live
organisms to exist.
Sources
https://www.todayonline.com/commentary/how-climate-change-worsening-human-wildlife-conflicts

https://www.cdc.gov/climateandhealth/effects/default.htm

https://toolkit.climate.gov/image/916

https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/energy-and-the-environment/greenhouse-gases.php

https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/

https://ec.europa.eu/clima/climate-change/climate-change-consequences_en