Ocean Acidification
The National Environment Research Council on how higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide acidify oceans.

Melting polar icecaps
The United States Environment Protection Agency EPA gives a detailed description of the effects of climate change on the polar regions including an explanation of why these regions are experiencing the greatest rate of warming. To illustrate the resulting rise in sea levels there is also an animation showing shrinkage of Arctic sea ice.

Thawing permafrost
Subarctic regions have rich peat deposits beneath permafrost. As the ice melts, methane is released which warms the atmosphere which melts more ice. This phenomenon is known as positive feed back. A NASA feature discusses how methane came to prominence as a potent greenhouse gas.

Increased seismic activity
A cubic metre of ice weighs almost a tonne and some glaciers in e.g. Greenland are over a kilometre thick. The loss of pressure on the Earth's crust triggers earthquakes and tsunamis. The link between melting glaciers and earthquakes is described in a NASA news feature.

Cooling of European climate
Regions in the northern hemisphere have a warmer climate than would be expected because of the thermohaline circulation involving the rising and sinking of the different densities of water. As climate changes, glaciers melt and add fresh water to the sea, disrupting the circulation. The National Environment Reasearch Council describes the phenomenon and the consequences of alterations to the circulation.

Desertification
A document from the World Meteorological Society describing why climate change and desertification are inextricably linked.

Extreme weather events
Slides from the UK Met Office's Hadley Research Centre for Climate Prediction and Research on the consequences of extreme weather

Food supplies
Climate change has a profound effects on agriculture and therefore on food supplies. The Food and Agriculture Association of the United Nations provides a simple but highly informative diagram to illustrate this.

Population displacement in low elevation coastal zones
For thousands of years many cities have developed in low lying areas, many not more than 10 metres above sea level. A publication from the International Institute for Environment and Development IIED gives worldwide facts and figures on the populations most at risk from the consequences of climate change.

Health and Disease
As the global surface temperature increases there will be a greater prevalence of diseases and general ill health including malaria, food poisoning; cataracts and cancers gives more details

Loss of biodiversity
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) advises the Government on UK and international nature conservation. Many species of flora and fauna will disappear as a result of climate change because they are adapted to specific climates, as are their food sources.

Thermal expansion of the sea
As oceans warm the density decreases and the volume increases so the sea level rises. More details and observations of interior ocean temperature changes and steric (rise and fall with variation of temperature and salinity) sea level changes during the 20th century from a collaboration between the United Nations Environmental Program UNEP, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the World Meteorological Societyl

Water availability
The Atmosphere, Climate and Environment Information Programme in conjunction with the Department of Food Agriculture and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) considers the effect of climate change on water resources.