Climate change influences environmental conditions across the globe Rates of precipitation, however, are expected to increase alongside temperature. California has been impacted greatly, with numerous severe droughts and heat waves. Several studies have shown that increasing global temperatures have correlated with longer recurrent drought periods and higher average temperatures across the state. This literature review will inspect climate change’s influence on California’s droughts using ten sources published within the last six years by first analyzing the relationships between Earth’s rising temperatures and California’s drought-stricken periods and then discussing precipitation’s rising rates and how it could be affecting drought situations and the ecosystem.
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Carbon dioxide emissions, along with other greenhouse gasses, only exacerbate the problem, as they correlate nearly exactly with the planet’s rising temperatures (“Global Climate Change Impacts,” 2009). Earth has steadily been getting warmer over the past few centuries, mostly after the 1970’s (NASA). The amount of frost days have been steadily decreasing since the mid-1900’s, and the number of warm spells has been increasing since the 1980’s (Alexander et al., 2006). Even with efforts to reduce our influence on the climate, we have experienced all ten of the warmest years in the past twelve. Cheng et al.’s (2016) paper states that it is unlikely that human-influenced climate change has caused California’s surprisingly low precipitation rates. Although temperatures have been increasing, it is not having a considerable effect on drought
Carbon dioxide emissions, along with other greenhouse gasses, only exacerbate the problem, as they correlate nearly exactly with the planet’s rising temperatures (“Global Climate Change Impacts,” 2009). Earth has steadily been getting warmer over the past few centuries, mostly after the 1970’s (NASA). The amount of frost days have been steadily decreasing since the mid-1900’s, and the number of warm spells has been increasing since the 1980’s (Alexander et al., 2006). Even with efforts to reduce our influence on the climate, we have experienced all ten of the warmest years in the past twelve. Cheng et al.’s (2016) paper states that it is unlikely that human-influenced climate change has caused California’s surprisingly low precipitation rates. Although temperatures have been increasing, it is not having a considerable effect on drought