Climate change is the reason for the transformation in the visual appearance of the planet known as the Earth or Blue Planet. Based on current research and observations it has come to notice that the phase and colors that we have linked to various natural occurrences including the timing of the fall foliage and even the color of the oceans have shifted. These changes manifest themselves as observable signs that climate change is affecting the earth’s ecosystems, and can give scientists fresh approaches to using global warming to map climate shifts worldwide.
Shifting Seasons: The Changing Face of Fall
That most characteristic feature of autumn – the red and yellow of the leaves, is changing in some places. This biannual metamorphosis is being affected by warmer climatic conditions, with the best time to see fall foliage coming later compared to earlier decades. In Maine’s Acadia National Park, for example, the peak has shifted to nearly two weeks later than it was in the 1950s.
Weather stress is also impacting the intensity of the fall hues. Chicago tree specialists have opined that perhaps, dry weather experienced during the late summer months could be dampening the brightness of the fall colors. Such changes in the display of the fall foliage help to remind people how climate change is affecting nature’s clock which people are familiar with.
From Blue to Green: Ocean Colors in Flux
A surprising trend has emerged in our oceans: they’re becoming greener. A paper in Nature found out that more than half of the global’s oceans have changed color to green within the last two decades. This may be attributed to effects such as changes in the phytoplankton species distribution, and the ocean layering, factors that climatic change is known to affect.
Scientists employed climate models that compared ocean colors in the presence and absence of such human emitted greenhouse gases and determined the link between climate change and the observed greening. The simple change in color of the ocean can be seen as a sign of climate change but more profound are changes in marine ecosystem properties and processes.
