20 - Disruption of the Water Cycle
This card is important. It alone shows why we used to talk about global warming and now about climate change. Temperature increase is in itself a problem, but you can see on the Fresk at the end that disruption of the water cycle has much more effect.
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2Causes
6Consequences
1Other possible cause
Deforestation can perturb local precipitation.
2Other possible consequences
It's a bit technical, but the blue part of the map of Antarctica on card 19 represents a gain in mass due to an increase of precipitations. The red part represents a loss in mass. In total, Antarctica is losing mass.
The Vectors of disease card is generally linked to the Terrestrial Biodiversity card because disease vectors are a sub-part of biodiversity, but it can also be linked to the same causes as the biodiversity card, i.e. Disruption of the Water Cycle and Rising Air Temperatures.
1Wrong cause
The melting of the Arctic ice pack, but also the melting of Greenland's glaciers may lead, in the distant future, to a disruption of the thermohaline circulation (which gives rise to the Gulf Stream). But beware, the "Water Cycle" card does not refer at all to the thermohaline circulation.
1Wrong consequence
No, more rain is not going to cause the oceans to overflow! This is a rare mistake to be made, but if it happens to you, ask the players where rainclouds come from...