Climate Change And Global Warming

In the last 100 years, Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4°F. The rising global temperatures have caused changes in weather and climate. Global warming refers to the ongoing rise in the average temperature near Earth’s surface. This is causing a climate change, which refers to any significant change (major change in temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns) in the measures of climate lasting for an extended period of time (several decades or longer). Due to this, it is projected that the temperature will rise from 2 to 11.5°F in the next hundred years (US EPA, 2014). The “drivers,” which are the principal causes making this occur, are very controversial. It is debated whether a change in temperature is due to the work of nature itself, or if it is based on the influence of humans on the environment. Both human and natural factors can affect Earth’s energy balance; Earth’s temperature relies on that energy’s balance when entering and leaving the planet’s system.

A natural factor that influences temperature change is the variations in the sun’s energy reaching Earth. The intensity of the sunlight that actually reaches Earth plays a role. During periods of stronger solar intensity, warming occurs. On the other hand, during periods of weaker solar intensity this is called cooling. A solar cycle, the natural 11-year cycle of change in the intensity of the sun, can affect Earth’s temperature. According to Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States, starting in 1978 the amount of energy that Earth received at the top of the atmosphere was measured by satellites during its solar cycle. There was no net increase in the energy received, but during that same period of time the global temperature had risen markedly (Karl...

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...s has a very thin atmosphere which is nearly all carbon dioxide. With little to no methane or water vapor to reinforce the Greenhouse Effect, the planet has a largely frozen surface. Similarly, Venus’s atmosphere is composed of nearly all carbon dioxide. The difference is that the planet has about 300 times as much carbon dioxide in its atmosphere as Earth and Mars do, causing an excessive case of the Greenhouse Effect; it has a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead (NASA). Ultimately, predictions of what is to come regarding global temperature change are hard to make, but there are certainly some effects that are very likely. Earth will become warmer, leading to more evaporation and precipitation overall. If the greenhouse effect becomes stronger the oceans will become warm, glaciers will partially melt, and ocean water will expand, all increasing sea level.