Human Induced Global Climate Change. Introduction/Background.

Climate change has been a subject of discussion in the media for many years, supported with the use of arguments against oil polluting the environment and extreme scare tactics of Polar ice caps flooding civilians backyards. The issue has been ignored by the majority of lay people as seeming too complicated, and with all the conflicting information in the media in the past, who can blame them? However, scientifically, climate change and what perpetrates it is fairly simple to understand and society as a whole is beginning to come to a clear consensus on climate change. Thanks in part to more readily available forms of media and information, people have become cognizant of the fact that climate change is a legitimate problem which requires immediate amelioration. While this may seem melodramatic, society is realizing that climate change is an issue which can no longer be denied if the human race wishes to continue.

The sea-level rise is due to climate change which is caused by rising ocean surface temperatures leads to more evaporation and increase in air moisture. Ocean warming also leads into coral bleaching which results into loss of structure and habitat.

All over the world, sea levels will rise, perhaps by as much as 20 to 40 cm, by the beginning of the next century. Higher sea levels will threaten the low-lying coastal areas of the world, such as the Netherlands and Bangladesh. Consequently, millions of people will have to leave their homes and large areas of farmland will be ruined because of floods.

Increased rainfall may cause more frequent flooding and as a consequence the sea level may rise. Scientists announce that an estimated 50 cm rise by the year 2100 could submerge more than 5,000 square miles of dry land and an additional 4,000 square miles of wetlands in the U.S.

The severity of damaging human-induced climate change depends not only on the magnitude of the change but also on the potential for irreversibility. This paper shows that the climate change that takes place due to increases in carbon dioxide concentration is largely irreversible for 1,000 years after emissions stop. Following cessation of emissions, removal of atmospheric carbon dioxide decreases radiative forcing, but is largely compensated by slower loss of heat to the ocean, so that atmospheric temperatures do not drop significantly for at least 1,000 years. Among illustrative irreversible impacts that should be expected if atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations increase from current levels near 385 parts per million by volume (ppmv)

Sea level has and is also expected to change. Globally sea level has risen 0.19 meters from 1901 to 2010. There are two things acting to increase sea level. You may have heard that the melting glaciers could increases sea level but one not talked much about is the expansion of water as it warms. If ocean water continues to warm it will also continue to expand and cause a rise in its level (Rhein et al. 2013).

Climate change is a key debate not only in geography but in society as a whole; as the population increases, the depletion of natural resources is increasing at a exponential rate. All the energy that is consumed by our population of more than 7 billion endangers our planet to the point where we are causing irreversible damage. All sources have there on way of providing information which has its own disadvantages and advantages (table I.) and with this variety some may deem to be more successful in addressing the issue.

Anthropogenic climate chance can simply be translated to climate change caused by humans. The difference between natural and human inflicted climate change is obvious to common man. 800,000 years ago we were not experiencing the modern problems we are facing. There is plenty of evidence to prove that this is not some made up theory. Observations continue to show the average rising of the global air and ocean temperatures. Not only the temperatures contribute, but the melting of snow and ice is climbing globally. 2005 and 2010 were two of the warmest years in this century, however the most noticeable warmings have taken place in Alaska and the West. Along with those places, the warming is having a dramatic impact of the polar regions as well. Both Greenland and Antarctica ice sheets have lost huge amounts of ice.

When examining climate change, it’s important to understand human’s roles. This includes not only our greenhouse gas emissions and the practices that currently and historically produces them, but also our public understanding of the science of climate change and our effects on it. By this I mean that it is essentially important for all people to

The climate change debate has been ongoing for nearly thirty years now, the debate is over the causation(s) of global warming. Temperatures on earth have increased approximately 2.0°F since the early 20th century. Levels of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and methane have drastically increased within the atmosphere. Both sides within the debate surrounding global climate change can agree on these points. However; disagree on a number of other possible causations of global warming. Even though there is an overwhelming amount of evidence to support each side’s argument; the side suggesting human activity to be the cause of climate change presents substantially more evidence to support their claim than their opposed party. A published

Sea level rise is a phenomena observed recently due to the effects of global warming on the state of water on our planet, the increase in temperature causes glaciers to melt and less water being trapped on land in the form of snow or ice, and the rising temperature causes the oceans themselves to expand, due to the decrease in density from the increased vibrations of the molecule causing each H2O molecule to take up more space.

So far, the large majority of sea level rise has been caused by thermal expansion of the ocean. The Earth is warming up due to the warming effect of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere and more than 90% of the increased atmospheric heat is being absorbed by the ocean surface1. The ocean is getting warmer and as it warms, its density decreases but its mass stays relatively constant, therefore the volume increases and the sea level rises. The ocean’s density decreases when it gets warmer because the particles gain more energy so they move faster, pushing other particles away, there is more space between particles so density is decreased and volume is increased3. Global sea level is currently rising at a rate of 3.2mm per year1, mostly due to thermal expansion.

A way to explain rising sea levels is El Niño and La Niña. These two words are considered to be natural to the global climate system. El Niño is known as events which contribute to the warming of central and eastern tropical Pacific areas, and La Niña is the opposite which means the cooling of the areas which were listed above. El Niño was originated during the late 19th century by the Spanish. This term was translated to “Christ Child” because it was created on December 2, close to Christmas. El Niño was discovered when there was an odd occurrence with the wind patterns. In the past, before El Niño was invented, people who have been studying the wind patterns know that the

As weather becomes increasingly severe we can see that the way we live is affecting the severity and duration of the current weather patterns. One of the major causes of the increasingly severe weather conditions the world is facing is the growing amount of carbon dioxide that is being released into the atmosphere causing it to change. “The growing amount of carbon dioxide (Co2) in the atmosphere is the primary cause for global warming…” (Mathez 57). No matter what there will be a percent of the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that is supposed to be there so that is a given but the actual cause of climate changes is the extra carbon dioxide that is released through human activity and these are emissions are called anthropogenic emissions. Using research and studies we know that the amount of carbon dioxide within the atmosphere has been increasing at a rate that cannot be created through a natural process. Some natural processes are ocean-atmosphere exchange, decomposition, plant and

Two major mechanisms are causing sea levels to rise. First, shrinking land ice, such as mountain glaciers and polar ice sheets, is releasing water into the oceans. Second, as ocean temperatures rise, the warmer water expands. Trapped by continents, the water has nowhere to go but up. According to NASA, their latest measurement which was taken in January 2016, sea levels rose by 74. 48 mm.