Global Temperature
The Earth-atmosphere energy cycle is a structure of coordinating atmospheric components. The Köppen classification system is a simple format for generalizing climate patterns, partitioning the planet into malleable regions by average environmental conditions. Terms to describe the atypical fluctuations in the Earth’s climate include both global warming and climate change. While global warming denotes an average escalation of temperature, climate change suggests a shift in the overall pattern. Climatic zone instabilities, temperature variation, and other deviations that may interrelate with climate are described as global change. The state of global climatic equilibrium can be discerned through focusing on observable imbalances such as positive radiative forcing by atmospheric gasses, temperature fluctuations, weather phenomena and anthropologic influences.
The rate of energy change per unit area of the globe is gauged by radiative forcing. The net gain of energy is positive radiative forcing, with the opposite being negative forcing (SEI & GGMI, 2011). According to the National Weather Service (2012), solar energy absorbed by the atmosphere is typically offset by energy released. Positive radiative forcing by atmospheric gasses may amplify imbalances in the global climatic equilibrium.
Unbalanced absorption ratios signify functional discrepancies in the Earth-atmosphere energy cycle. Proportions fluctuate, but carbon dioxide (CO2) methane, ozone, nitrous
During the past several hundred years, civilization has made rapid progress in industries like air travel, automobiles, and energy production. These developments were made without consideration of the long-term effects that their emissions may have on the planet. Changing weather patterns are now wreaking havoc around the world, and scientists attribute this to human-caused climate change. During President Obama’s State of the Union address in 2015, he stated that, “No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change,” (“Remarks by the President”). Warming temperatures caused by anthropogenic climate change have disastrous consequences that pose a threat to humanity and the environment.
Global warming is defined as the recent increase in the world 's temperature that is believed to be caused by the increase of certain gases (such as carbon dioxide) in the atmosphere. There are many different theories on whether global warming is similar or not to climate change. Simplistically, climate change is different because climate change is defined as a change in global or regional climate patterns or, in particular, a change apparent from the mid to late 20th century onwards and attributed largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels, having been measured over long periods of time, due to the changes in Earth’s orbit and organic carbon which reflect sunlight. Global warming and climate change are not to be confused because global warming is caused mainly by anthropogenic factors like the emission of carbon dioxide gas and use of fossil fuels whereas climate change is completely natural, however, according to Milan Radovanovic, “it is clear that the anthropogenic factors dominate the increasing temperature and the natural ones have the maximum influence…” (Radovanovic). Therefore, “the contribution to global warming from natural forcings and from natural internal variability is in the range between -0.2 to 0.2 [degrees] celsius over the period 1951-2010…” (Radovanovic). Natural factors have had the most effect on global temperature in the past 59 years totaling a 0.4 degrees celsius increase in
Climate change has been an important issue for the past century brought about by human activities. As humans aim at growing economically, environment issues are always been overlooked, especially in some developing countries, like China and India. In other words, it is the trade-off between the speed of economic growth and environmental sustainability. (López & Toman, 2006) Meanwhile, with increasing use of dirty energy source, for example, petroleum and coal, a mass of greenhouse gases is discharged into atmosphere, which would lead to greenhouse effect. And greenhouse effect is the main reason of climate change. Scientists have raised the issue of climate change by providing scientific evidence to show
Climate change is influenced by the greenhouse effect which is the increase of Carbon dioxide, Methane, Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide. On one hand, the presence of these gases in the atmosphere make the earth habitable with respect to regulating the earth’s temperature. However, an increase in the concentration of these gases results in trapping energy in the atmosphere and this in turn increases earth’s temperature. “Global greenhouse gas emissions have grown since pre-industrial times, with an increase of 70% between
Climate change and Global Warming are out of control. This means that, no matter what policies, processes or actions are implemented, the Earth as we know it will never be the same again. There is significant evidence to support this hypothesis. The dilemma becomes whether we can limit the damage and adapt to a new status quo or not. Rising sea levels and the damage caused by this phenomenon has irreversible impacts on coastlines worldwide. Damage to sensitive reef systems cannot be fixed. This also has permanent impacts of the ecology not just of those immediate areas but also the ocean as a whole.
The rise of air temperatures near Earth’s surface over the past century is known as global warming. Earth has experienced periods of gradual warming and cooling throughout its existence due to natural causes, such as volcanic eruptions and variations in the Sun’s output. However, scientists have created the idea of an increase in global temperatures to human cause, mostly the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere as a result of industrial industry. These greenhouse gases which absorb and trap heat emitted from Earth’s surface through a phenomenon known as the greenhouse effect.
“Atmospheric concentrations of many gases—primarily carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and halocarbons (gases once used widely as refrigerants and spray propellants)—have increased because of human activities.”(Scientific American)
The sun is our source of life; it produces the largest output of energy that fuels the biological and physical procedures around the world. The sun is capable of producing heat; as a result the sun heats up the air as well as the surrounding atmosphere, allowing for change in the weather. Climate being the long-term pattern of atmospheric conditions, we must analyze weather statistics over a large span of time, in order to determine climate change. As we know, the earth constantly orbits around the sun changing its position frequently from time to time. It is said that this orbital relationship between the earth and the sun, may change the geographical distribution of energy throughout the earth. As a
The Earth has been known to go through various natural warming and cooling periods throughout history. During warmer interglacial periods, CO2 levels are higher and during cooler glacial periods, CO2 levels are lower (Monnin, 2004). This is because the heating and cooling of Earth’s surface can cause significant changes in greenhouse gas concentrations (Monnin, 2004). These changes often act as a positive feedback, intensifying the existing temperature changes (Monnin, 2004). For example, it was slightly warmer during the Holocene Climatic Optimum about 5,000-6,000 years ago and was slightly cooler during the Little Ice Age from about 1600 AD
Our world’s climate is rapidly changing, and those changes will have an enormous impact on our planet’s people, ecosystems, cities, and energy use. Average global air temperatures are already roughly 1.5 degrees higher than they were at the start of the 20th century, and “have risen about 1 degree over just the last 30 years,” According to the New England aquarium. Climate change can best be described as the long-term change in average weather conditions, including temperature, precipitation and wind. According to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPPC), which is comprised of the world’s largest leading scientific experts in the field of climate change, “our climate is undergoing dramatic changes as the direct result of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that act like a glass roof around the earth, trapping in the heat that would otherwise escape to space – this commonly referred to as the ‘greenhouse effect’.” Ascending worldwide temperatures have been accompanied by adjustments in weather and climate. Countless places have seen changes in rainfall, leading to more droughts, floods, and extreme rain; in addition to more critical and recurrent heat waves. Earth’s glaciers and oceans have mastered numerous changes- our seas are becoming acidic and warming, ice caps are dissolving, and sea levels are increasing. As these alterations become more prominent in the succeeding future, they will likely present challenges to our society as well as our
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
Alteration of this natural barrier of atmospheric gases can raise or lower the mean global temperature of the Earth”(Greenhouse Gas).
As decelerating the negative impacts of rising global temperature becomes increasingly important, a myriad of techniques to slow or reverse the effects of global warming are being researched and implemented. Among these are economic incentive programs designed to encourage large corporations to produce fewer green house gases (GHGs), investment in sustainable technology and behavioral education, and so on. Some of the up and coming approaches to achieving more sustainable global temperatures are known as geoengineering, which involves projects that attempt to prevent global temperature increase by "reflecting to space sunlight that would otherwise warm Earth or by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere" (Caldeira et al.). Both solar radiation management (SRM) and carbon dioxide removal (CDR) strategies offer attractive options for reducing global temperature rise. CDR proposals include the sequestration of atmospheric CO2 in trees via reforestation, the creation of wetland ecosystems, and modification of ocean upwelling, among others (Caldeira et al.). SRM strategies are a bit more creative, with options like whitening clouds and making plants more reflective to reflect solar radiation off earth 's surface and from the stratosphere. One of the more controversial emerging SRM strategies is the injection of aerosols, namely sulfate, into the stratosphere in order to "scatter the solar radiation back to space" and as a result "reduce global-mean temperatures" (Caldeira et
The greenhouse effect/global warming are a characteristic procedure that has a noteworthy influence in forming the world's surrounding. It creates the reasonably warm and neighborly condition near to the universe's surface where community and additional existing things have infatuated the capability to generate. It is a substantial number of physical, artificial and natural measures that combine to join and forces to decide the universe's surrounding. The atmosphere, regardless of whether of the earth all in all or of a solitary nation or area, is frequently portrayed as the combination of climate recorded over a drawn-out stretch of time. It is characterized as far as long haul midpoints and different insights of climate conditions, including the frequencies of extraordinary occasions. The atmosphere is a long way from static. Similarly, as climate designs change from the everyday, the atmosphere changes as well, finished a scope of time periods from years, decades and hundreds of years to centuries, and on the more extended time-scales relating to the land history of the earth. These normally happening changes, driven by factors both interior and outside to the atmosphere framework, are natural for atmosphere itself. The greenhouse effect and its causes need take steps to controlled
Many further uncertainties exist in greenhouse-effect studies because the temperature records being used tend to represent the warmer urban areas rather than the global environment. Beyond that, the effects of CH4, natural trace gases, and industrial pollutants--indeed, the complex interactions of all of these climate controls working together--are only beginning to be understood by workers in the environmental sciences.2 Despite such