Climate Change in Time

All three-major global surface temperature reconstructions show that Earth has warmed since 1880. Most of the warming occurred in the past 35 years, with 15 of the 16 warmest years on record occurring since 2001.

Climate change is defined as the change in global or regional climate patterns, which is apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards. When looking at climate change there is an abundance of evidence that supports that humans are the leading causes of the drastic shift in the weather pattern but there is also a lot of evidence against humans actually causing climate changes. For example, the increasing levels of man made gases that are let into the atmosphere may have created a greenhouse effect, which traps heat and ultimately causes global warming. But there are also many scientists who believe that the earth has always naturally cooled down or warmed up at its own pace.

So, what is climate change? Well, climate is defined as the average weather for a region, such as, temperature, precipitation, humidity, wind and seasons. Climates shape ecosystems, and the life in these ecosystems that depends on them. So climate change is when the climate we have come to expect is no longer that climate. The climates around the world are quickly changing and it is creating harmful effects for many things around the world (What Is Climate Change?). See, often times people get global warming and climate change confused, but they are not the same and cannot be used interchangeably. When we talk about global warming, it only means the Earth’s increasing surface temperature. On the other hand, climate change refers to the warming and things like melting glaciers, hurricanes, drought, forest fires, coral bleaching, etc.. In other words, global warming is only one part of the more dire issue of human induced climate change (What's the difference).

Help Save the Climate website declares that there are now strong evidences of a rapidly warming world. The Third Assessment Report (TAR) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) contains most of the following. Firstly, the surface thermometer record presents that historical temperature records increased 0.4-0.8°C in the last 100 years (IPCC, 2001). Figure 1 shows the abnormal temperature from 1856 to 2005 comparing with global average surface (horizontal line). It could be observed that global average surface temperature has slightly increased since 1862. And the increase has been enlarged to 0.6 ± 0.2oC when entered 20th century. Help Save the Climate claims 1990s were the warmest decade since records began. This data set clearly reflects the temperature trend based on directly measured temperature, which might has less room for error and no doubt of methodology comparing with more complex means. Natural Resource Defence Council (NRDC) also indicates average global temperature has increased at the fastest rate over past 50 years. Figure 3 obviously shows that we are experiencing an extremely warm period on earth comparing with past 1000 years.

a long-term change in the earth's climate, especially a change due to an increase in the average atmospheric temperature. “http://www.dictionary.com/browse/climate-change”

Climate change is the altering of ordinary weather patterns around the globe because of excessive greenhouse gas emissions, particularly carbon dioxide

It has been observed through various researches that in the last century, average temperatures across the globe increased by over 1.3°F with an increase of more than two times in the Arctic. (Bates, Kundzewicz, Wu, & Palutikof, June 2008). The results of climate change can also be seen in changing precipitation patterns, increases in ocean temperatures, changes in the sea level, and acidity and melting of glaciers and sea ice (USEPA, 2014).

The Earth's climate has changed throughout history. According to the findings of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the change of the earth’s climate has evolved through time. The global sea level rose about eight inches in the last century; the planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit since the last 19th century; the oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat of 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969; the increasing number of record high temperature and intense rainfall events since 1950; and the overall increase of ocean acidification by about 30 percent. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our planet receives. The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases cause the Earth to warm in response.

According to a study in October 2015, “Earth had warmed by about 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit since 1880 when records begin at a global scale. Which includes the surface of the ocean. The warming is greater over land and greater still in the Arctic and parts of Antarctica” (Gillis, 2015). Although an increase of warmth of 1.7 degrees doesn’t seem like it’s a big deal,

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) defines climate change as “A change in the state of the climate that can be identified (e.g by using statistical tests) by changes in mean and/or the variability of its properties and that persists for an extended period, typically, decades or longer. Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or external forcings, or anthropogenic changes in the composition of the atmosphere or in the landuse”

Climate change is of a climate over an amount of time. A climate is the weather conditions in an area, like how warm it is or how much precipitation is received. We have became increasingly aware of climate change as of late. The effects of climate change have begun to affect us more and more, and we have finally started to notice it. Climate has always changed, just not as much as recently. When a volcano would erupt, or when the sun would become more active.

Climate Change is the significant change in the climate and distribution of weather patterns on Earth ranging from the last decade to millennia earlier.

We are slowly destroying our climate and environment. The land and ocean surfaces have warmed roughly 1.53 degrees Fahrenheit from 1880-2012 (How much has the global temperature risen since 1880? 1). Land warms faster than the oceans. In the northern hemisphere, 1983 to 2012 were the warmest 30 year period in the last 1,300 years (How much has the global temperature risen since 1880? 1). This is a cause for concern among scientist.

The climate changing was first suspected in the 19th century when scientists in britain debated whether Europe was covered by ice in the past. “Guy S Callender suggested that the warming trend revealed in the 19th century had been caused by a 10% increase in atmospheric carbon dioxide from the burning of fossil fuels.” (Harding) The debate intensified by 2005 when a study was published stating that a large scale disruption could occur by 2050 if we do not slow the process of climate change. The debate has now spiraled back to whether climate change is occurring or not. However the climate warming pattern has been increasing exponentially since the 1950’s.

Climate change could be described as any process that causes adjustment to climate system be it a volcanic eruption to a change in the solar activity. Today, however, the phrase is most often used as climate change caused by humans. Climate change is also used commonly with another phrase – "global warming" – reflecting scientific observations of strong warming trends over the past century or so. Indicators like rising sea levels, retreating snow cover and glaciers, longer growing seasons and shifting wildlife has alarmed scientific community unanimously agreeing that the earth has warmed in the last century. Experts however are of the opinion that climate change is a more accurate phrase than global warming as the latter is just one component affecting the larger climate systems of the earth.