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Photo by: Isobel Pearsall
Chapter 6 – Climate Change
As a result of increased atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, the world is facing
unprecedented climatic changes and British Columbia is no exception . In Eastern and
Southern Vancouver Island specifically, we are already experiencing warmer air and sea
surface temperatures and rising sea levels . Extreme events, such as the record shattering
‘heat dome’ of summer 2021, and the record flooding of fall 2021, will also be more common .
Predicting the exact changes we will experience
into the future is complex due to uncertain future
emission scenarios, differences in model outputs, Photos by: Mitch Miller
and natural climate variability such as periodic
large-scale climate phenomena such as ENSO
(El Niño Southern Oscillation) . Other unpredictable
events, such as the polar ice sheet melting dynamics
could greatly alter sea level rise .
Despite uncertainties, climate scientists have
modeled the changes that we can expect so
we can anticipate and prepare for the possible
consequences . The following is a summary of the
projections and impacts for coastal British Columbia .
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