Projected Impacts of Future Climate Change
Climate models are conservative. If Earth responds a bit unexpectedly to our unwitting experiment with it, we could witness, and have to cope with, a cascade of changes beyond what the models currently project (which are already on the gnarly side).
Urgent (Open Mind, Sept 2009): Even if we stopped emitting excess carbon today, its effects on global climate will persist for hundreds of years (summarizes Solomon et al. in 2009 Proceedings of the NAS).
Abrupt Climate Change: Report for the 2008 U.S. Climate Change Science Program focuses on four possibilities: (1) rapid change in glaciers, ice sheets, and hence sea level; (2) widespread, sustained changes to the hydrologic cycle; (3) abrupt change in currents in the Atlantic Ocean; and (4) rapid release to the atmosphere of methane trapped in permafrost and on continental margins. Recommended use: download the Executive Summary, then more if you so desire.
Regional Climate Impacts: Four U.S. Case Studies (Pew Center, Dec 2007): Analysis of midwest heatwaves, western wildfires, Gulf coast wetlands, and Chesapeake Bay.
Animation showing Arctic sea-ice coverage, 1860 to 2100 (Royal Meteorological Office)
Diagram showing projected loss of permafrost, 2050 and 2100. This stand-alone graph (no accompanying article) almost certainly assumes current warming trends.
Water World: Excellent post that examines temperature changes since 20,000 years ago, the effects on sea level, and probable sea-level rise in our future.
Interactive global maps of flooding due to variable sea-level rise.
Ocean Acidification: Long, detailed report from the German Advisory Council on Climate Change (in English; 2006).
On the bright (?) side: Perhaps we the scarcity and cost of fossil fuels will cap atmospheric CO2 at levels below those that are typically projected.