Global warming is the rise in the earth’s average atmospheric temperature. When sunlight heats the ground surface, it releases most of the solar energy it has absorbed as infrared radiation. Then what is known as the “greenhouse effect” occurs, this is where the gases in the atmosphere absorb the re-radiated infrared radiation and the escape of these gases being released into space is prevented. As long as the composition of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere does not change, the heat in the atmosphere will remain constant by releasing the contained heat into space. It has been noted that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane, have been increasing steadily since the early 90’s, and around this time the average global …show more content…
Climatology is the study of the Earth’s climate over a long period of time and is done by using tree rings and by examining ice cores of glaciers. These studies show us how the climate has changed over the last hundred thousand years (Dunbar, B. (2016). With the Earth’s climate being a complex system to study and understand, one thing we do know that the change in Earth’s climate does affect our weather patterns. Some scientist believe the warming of Earth’s atmosphere, global warming, is the cause for changes such as heat, droughts, storms, and fires (Hagler, G. (2014). According to a study done by United Nations World Meteorological Organization, released in 2014, since 1997 we have had 13 of the warmest years, ever recorded and June 2012 marked 328 consecutive months with a global temperature above the 20th century average. In the year of 2012 alone, we had major record breaking events happen, we had the hottest January to June ever recorded in the continental United States. There were more than 22,000 daily high temperature records tied or broken, the largest drought declaration in over 50 years, one of the most destructive freak derecho storms in history, as well as fires in Colorado that destroyed more than 700 homes (Extreme weather 2015). Was this the …show more content…
For the first time in history 190 countries have committed to collectively work together to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions. On December 15, 2015 President Obama and leaders from countries around the world came together to adopt the most ambitious climate change agreement in history, known as the Paris Agreement. This agreement establishes the global framework to help reduce the greenhouse gas emissions and a way for each country to report their progress using a rigorous, standardized process of review. While the exact details of what each country plans to do, is not in this agreement, they all agree to work together to set a path to reducing a keeping global temperature rise below 2 degrees Celsius and reporting their efforts and results every five years (U.S. Leadership and the Historic Paris Agreement to Combat Climate Change (2015). While our leaders work on ways to reduce the greenhouse emissions as a whole there are things you can do as an individual such as, choosing a Green-e-certified energy supplier that generates at least half of its power from solar energy, wind and other natural sources. Drive less or drive smarter cars, build or convert homes and buildings to be green, by using proper insulation in your roof and walls, buying energy-efficient appliances, and replace your light bulbs with compact florescent
Antarctic’s ice melt and accelerating sea level rise, the growing number of large wildfires, intense heat wave shocks, severe drought and blizzards, disrupted and decreased food supply, and extreme storm events are increasing to happen in many areas world wide and these are just some of the consequences of global warming. The fossil fuel we burn for energy coal, natural gas, and oil plus the loss of forests due to disforestation, in the southern hemisphere are all contributors for climate change. In the past three decades, every single year was warmer then the previous year and the warmest 12 years were recorded since 1998. We are overloading our atmosphere with carbon dioxide and trapping the heat and recently, the carbon dioxide level in the atmosphere reached 400 pmm. Not just environmental issues are rising due to carbon dioxide increase but more and miscellaneous issues are appearing as climate change becomes more severe. For example, regional models and local analyses agree that Mongolia has become noticeably warmer and the climate change effect is damaging their millennial of historic nomadic lifestyle and even came to the peek of extinction. The Mongolian nomadic pastoralists became highly vulnerable to many an unusual climate impacts and extreme temperature fluctuation that have led to inadequate pasture land and loss of enormous number of livestock, often faces hostile environmental conditions that led o entrenched pastoral poverty. This essay focuses on how the climate change impacts the qualitative and quantitative value of indigenous culture and nomadic life style, and how the economy struggles in the magnitudes of massive migration of nomads to urban area while it fails to value t...
Global warming is a scientific, political, and controversial topic. Some believe it is catastrophic, a slow moving killer hiding in the shadows. Others do not even think twice about it as they race by in a Hummer. Global warming is the gradual increase of temperature throughout different climates. It is caused by the greenhouse gas effect in which greenhouse gases, like methane and carbon dioxide, reflect sunlight back and forth. This reflected ultraviolet light bounces between the earth and the ozone layer and becomes trapped, resulting in a gradual rise of temperature. Over time, the slow rise of temperature causes new climates throughout the globe. The article “What Megablazes Tell Us About the Fiery Future of Climate Change” by Tim Dickinson
Climate, weather, and meteorology are 3 words that seem to be the same but in reality differ significantly. Two of these concepts pertain to the atmosphere but differ in what time and place they are studied in, and the last one is studying these concepts.
Global warming and global climate change is the study of future increases of temperature across the globe. Studying climate change refers to how the over- all climate will change such as the dry places getting dryer and the wet places getting wetter. Global climate is dependent on “the greenhouse effect a natural process that helps regulate temperature” (Easterling and Karl). In the past few centuries humans have had a monumental effect on increasing of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Climate change is result of the increase amount of the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere such as methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and ozone. “Global temperature has rose approximately 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over
But the debate over whether climate change is real or not is over. The U.S National Academy of Sciences quotes, “Some scientific conclusions or theories have been so thoroughly examined and tested, and supported by many independent observations and results, that their likelihood of subsequently being found to be wrong is vanishingly small. Small conclusions and theories are then regarded as settled facts. This is the case for the conclusions that the Earth System is warming and that much of this warming is very likely due to human activities.” This suggests that there is a strong body of evidence from all around the world including record temperatures, rising sea levels, retreating glaciers and extreme weather events showing that climate change is occurring and it is mostly caused by human activities. According to Metz, “July 2012 marked the hottest month in U.S history, and drought expanded to cover 63% of the contiguous U.S. The average temperature was 25.33 degrees Celsius, 1.8 degrees about the 20th-century average, making the hottest 12-month period the nation had endured in 117 years of record-keeping.” This suggests that these record-breaking temperatures are the result of global warming. It is nothing else but climate
Climate Change is any substantial change in climate that lasts for an extended period of time. One contributor to current climate change is global warming, which is an increase in Earth’s average temperature. Plants and animal species throughout the world are being affected by rising temperatures. Many plants are flowering earlier now than they once did; animals, such as the yellowbellied marmot, are emerging from hibernation earlier; and many bird and butterfly species are migrating north and breeding earlier in the spring than they did a few decades ago, all because of slight changes in temperature cues. (Shuster)
Climate change is evidenced through shifts in the weather patterns such as winds, humidity and temperatures over certain durations. Natural climate changes occur less frequently and they are triggered by factors related geographical aspects as well as solar radiation. The earth’s movement on the orbit triggers changes in climate causing some areas to have higher temperatures than usual while others are significantly cold depending on the position of the earth on the orbit. The heat form the sun causes changes on the stratospheric ozone and it increases the amount of greenhouse gases. Heat from the oceanic crust also contributes to warming as a result of episodic hydrothermal venting (Liao & Sandeberg, 2012). Volcanic activity also causes a release of certain elements that may block the sun and also contribute to increase greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Global Warming is a condition caused by greenhouse gases and human activities. The increased concentration of greenhouse gases due to activities such as deforestation and fossil fuel burning is causing the Earth’s atmosphere and oceans to warm up. As a result of this, global warming has some serious effects in the shape of extreme weather, species extinctions, and rising sea levels. These effects can contribute to the changes that are taking place all over the world, most of which are dangerous enough to pose a threat to the survival of life on Earth in the future.
Climate change is caused due to the release of few carbon compounds into the atmosphere, which drastically brought the weather changes all over the world. Climate change is not confined to a single region. It has become an important issue all over the world for the past few years.
Nowadays, we can see a lot of campaigns to reduce this humans’ contribution of greenhouse gases to atmosphere. These campaign’s missions are usually about reducing the energy that we use, convincing us to use recyclable energy, stopping the deforestation... These missions are all about mitigating to climate change. Climate change mitigation is the actions to limit the significant rate of long term climate change. In other words, climate change mitigation is all of the actions about lowering the humans’ greenhouse gas contribution to atmosphere. It is now too late for humans’ to prevent the effects of climate change, but these effects can be reduced in the future with mitigation. The most popular treaty, disenchant of humanity, is Kyoto Protocol. The main goal of Kyoto Protocol is reducing the human emitted greenhouse gases, in other word, mitigation. Also in ways that underlying national differences in GHG emissions, wealth, and capacity to make th...
The earth is a complex system, which continues to evolve and change. Climate change and global warming are currently popular in the political agenda. But what does “climate” really mean? The difference between weather and climate can be conveyed in a single sentence: “Climate is what you expect; weather is what you get.” Based on research of the geologic record, we know that climate change has happened throughout Earth's history and at present, ever-increasing evidence points to the roles that humans play in altering Earth systems. The Earth and its atmosphere receive heat energy from the sun; the atmospheric heat budget of the Earth depends on the balance between incoming solar radiation and outgoing radiation from the planet; which has been constant over the last few thousand years. However present evidence seems to suggest that the recent increase in temperature has been brought about by pollution of the atmosphere, in particular the release of huge amounts of carbon dioxide, mostly through Anthropogenic Forcing (human activity) and other various internal and external factors. I...
Global warming is the gradual rise in temperature and oceans due to recent human activity. This is created by the production of too much carbon dioxide that is released into the earth’s atmosphere. The carbon dioxide, also known as a greenhouse gas, remains in the air trapping heat and gradually warming the planet. Other greenhouse gases such as: methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor also contribute to this slow warming. According to Live Science, The state of these gases being trapped is called the greenhouse effect, which is one of the leading causes of global warming (Lallanillia). All the gases are created differently and have different effects on the earth. As for some greenhouse gases can be in the atmosphere for a short amount of time, other gases can remain in the atmosphere for thousands of
Climatology is described as the study of the origins and impacts of climate. To understand climatology, one must know the true definition of climate. Climate, simply, is the typical weather of a specific geographical region on earth. Climate can be affected by many factors. Some of these factors consist of: pollution, outgassing of volcanoes, seasonal changes, natural disasters, and carbon dioxide emissions, and greenhouse gasses. Ultimately, these factors lead to a phenomenon called climate change. Pollution, carbon dioxide emissions and the trapping of greenhouse gasses are most known for drastically changing earth's climate over the years. Carbon dioxide alone plays a key role in heating up the atmosphere. It alone combined with other greenhouse
According to the Canada’s Action on Climate Change, Climate change is a long-term shift in weather conditions identified by changes in temperature, precipitation, winds, and other indicators. Climate change can involve both changes in average conditions and changes in variability, including, for example, extreme events. Climate change is one of the biggest crisis in the earth. It will cause a huge damage to the eco-system and human. We are the victims of the climate change. However, we are the one who cause the climate change.
The common definition of global warming is a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth’s atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide and other pollutants (Global warming, Wikipedia). Moreover, the effects of global warming will bring ecological and social changes. Because there is no exact way to predict the effects of global warming, it is almost impossible to say how strong global warming will affect life in the future. Scientists blame the greenhouse gas effect in combination with societies greenhouse gas emissions for the rising temperature. The greenhouse effect is a process by which thermal radiation from a planetary surface is absorbed by atmospheric greenhouse gases, and is re-radiated in all directions. Since part of this re-radiation is emitted back towards the earth’s surface and the lower atmosphere, it results in an elevation of the average surface temperature above what it would be in the absence of the gases (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). Simply, global...