no because the tropics relates to the angle which sunlight strikes them and is defined by the points where the sun is directly overhead. When you get outside the tropics the sun will still never be directly overhead so you'll still have deserts, temperate forests, tundra and grasslands etc, but the boundaries of these ecosystems may shift as climate is one of the influences on where they are.
It depends of the rate at which the earth is warming. The rate has to be slow enough that migration of plants can occur, and the balance between plant migration and predation is in balance. On top of that, warmer requires more water, and you cannot assume that rainfall will increase. In the lower coastal plains of the US (where Southern yellow pines grow - the wood basket of the US), drought will become more common. This means that the lower coastal plain could become more like a savannah instead of a tropical rain forest. Also, the soils of an area also make a big difference.
You can't assume that if the world gets warmer, humanity will all live in a lush tropical paradise. There is some concern that areas that are grassland now (the US prairie states for example) are likely to become more desert-like, and other areas (the lower coastal plain in the SE US) more savannah-like. This would be very detrimental to citizens in the US.
At the current rate of warming, it is unlikely that many plant species can adapt in time. We have some evidence of this in the current rate of extinction is more than a thousand times greater than "background." The human species will survive, but it is very unlikely to be better of because of global warming and climate change.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/evolution/librar...
I hope that it is not possible for the world to turn tropical. If climate sensitivity is low, it would probably not be possible for Earth to turn tropical. It would not be a good thing if Earth became tropical. The ice in Antarctica and Greenland would melt, raising sea levels by 70 metres and flooding millions of square miles of land.
If you like the idea of living in a tropical clilmate, move to the tropics.
As far as I know, we don't hope the world will be warm. Because scientists foresee a lot of disasters in the case the global temperature reach to a degree. A article published in scirp website argue that if the world to turn tropical the sustainable tourism will suffer.
Tropical can also mean pests and disease.
The world has been quite a bit warmer. The key difference is there has never been even a small fraction of 7 billion+ people alive at those times that needed to be fed and clothed.
DK
Possible, maybe. Probable, no. And, no, it would not be a good thing. Think of all the plants and wildlife that would be lost.
As an aside, "tropical" does not mean rainforest. Deserts can be tropical (Sahara), temperate (Atacama), or damned cold (Gobi). Tropical refers to temperature, not rainfall.
It is entirely possible for the world to turn towards another mini ice age period in which there would be higher frequency of snow and colder than normal temperatures each winter. Sequestering of carbon dioxide in the precipitation would contribute to a lowering of concentrations in the atmosphere, as well as the eventual impacts of colder ocean waters able to hold more carbon dioxide in them.
Ever wonder why Greenland is called that considering it is covered in ice and can't grow anything? It was once farmland when the earth was warmer than it is now. What is worrisome is that the CO2 levels now are higher than they were back then. It appears the world's deserts will expand and the frozen tundra will become mild, or even sub-tropical. Unfortunately, most people live where it will become desert. Can you imagine 5 billion people migrating to Canada and Siberia and Greenland and Iceland to live?
Actually yes it is a good thing. All one has to look back into earth's history to see that the world was once much warmer than it is today and atmospheric concetrations of CO2 were much, much higher than today and the earth had no polar ice caps. Antarctica was then a lush forest teaming with life as was most everywhere else at the time.
True climate change deniers will not acknowledge this even with the facts and evidence right in front of their faces. These climate change alarmists dwell in their theoretical paradox as they explain contradictions between not only their theories but contradictions between their failed theories and proven science fact. These alarmists are the true climate change deniers.
Yes the world could turn towards more tropical like conditions.
I think that would be good, less deserts, more habitable land, more plant life, more oxygen in the atmosphere. more food crops grown.
And if so, wouldn't that be a good thing?
It COULD, as it HAS been warmer before.
BUT, the current "temperate" zones, where most people live and most crops are grown would no longer BE temperate zones.
possibly, in areas, in other areas would be dessert
Yes. Yes.
