The effects of a warming climate could devastate urban areas by the end of the century, according to a report by researchers from NASA, Columbia University and other institutions.

Floods, droughts, disease, power outages and sweltering summers are just some of the effects listed by the researchers in new report, "Climate Change and a Global City," which focuses on the potential impacts of global warming.

"In the early decades of the century, the impacts are projected to be relatively small," said Dr. Cynthia Rosenzweig, a senior research scientist at NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies in New York, and co-author of the report. "But they increase and become primarily negative and significant by the end of this century."

The report says that temperatures in New York will rise a few degrees in the next 20 years, but could rise between 6 and 10 degrees by 2080. As a result of the heat, floodwaters could pour into cities, destroying subways, roadways and buildings. A lack of clean water could spread water-borne diseases, and the elderly could suffer from heat stroke and exhaustion in greater numbers.

The report is part of a federal study on the impact of climate changes nationwide, organized by the United States. A draft of the nationwide report predicts that the century will be marked by a period of floods and droughts.

The New York study, which examined 13,000 square miles (33,670 square kilometers) in the metropolitan area, is the only one of around a dozen regional reports to solely address the impacts on an urban area. It was drafted by researchers from NASA, Columbia University, Montclair State University, New York University and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Cities may be particularly susceptible to climate changes, the report says. "Large cities are at the forefront of both vulnerability and adaptation to climate impacts," it states. "These cities are commonly located on coastlines and are home to a rapidly growing percentage of the Earth's people."

Researchers have long shown that worldwide temperatures are climbing, and many believe that the climate change is a result of the greenhouse effect, a phenomenon in which pollutants in Earth's atmosphere trap solar radiation. If this hypothesis is correct, a decrease in pollution production could possibly stem the rise in temperatures.

The report's findings were based on historical environmental data and national projections. Also studied are the effects of recent disasters in New York City that may have been influenced by extreme weather -- floods, power outages and the appearance of disease-carrying mosquitoes.

The report's authors say that more work is needed to better understand the effects. Future research could make use of satellite imagery of Earth to study specific neighborhoods. By mapping these phenomena, researchers could see if their impacts affect wealthy and poor neighborhoods differently.