Tropics Expanding Faster Than All Predictions

A study by U.S. scientists shows that the tropics have expanded in the past 25 years to a point not expected to be reached until the end of this century, even accounting for global warming.

The expansion toward the poles of the tropical zone hugging the equator has pushed the sub-tropical zone ahead of it, affecting weather patterns across a vast swath of the globe, approaching even the Southern United States, according to the London Telegraph.

Global warming computer models had predicted this kind of worldwide shift, but hadn't predicted the tropics would have expanded this much until the end of the 21st century. It's a sign that global warming isn't just affecting the Earth's poles, or the northern hemisphere, and it also points to another climate shift that seems to have occurred due to global warming and ahead of all predictions.

While world leaders meet in Bali to discuss how the world should react the global warming, they would be wise to remember that even the dire scenarios outlined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have failed to account for some changes that are showing up faster, by generations, than expected.

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