Paleoclimate Data

The earth is constantly undergoing changes. This ranges from tectonic activity to atmospheric and climate changes. The most recent change that we have noticed, is the increase in temperature. Some believe that this increase is the result of human activity. However, this is not the case. The increased temperatures are within the normal tolerances from the past few thousand years (Robinson, Robinson, & Soon, 2008). This and other changes to the atmosphere have been going on for millions of years. Global warming is not our fault because it is a natural occurring phenomenon.

“Discuss how both direct and indirect scientific measurements of atmospheric composition over the last 10,000 years have informed the climate change debate”.

Once the idea that climate change was happening was more mainstream and not dismissed, another scientist picked up Fourier’s theory. He proposed the idea that carbon dioxide could be what was trapping the heat, and also that water vapor is good at trapping heat. Although, this did not explain why the Earth was so warm. The idea was again visited later on, but this time Svante Arrhenius discovered that a certain amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere equals a certain amount of warmth. This trend continued for years, scientists discovering new things about the atmosphere. How did the ice ages happen? How much carbon dioxide can the atmosphere handle? These were questions scientists have asked.

     Scientific data collected over the over the last 140 years suggesting that there is global warming has been replaced with satellites. Satellites, which measure temperatures all over the world, show no real trend in any direction, in fact in recent decades, they show a global cooling. Jerry Taylor, director of Cato Institute’s Natural Resource Studies, observed that NASA satellites and weather balloons show a slight cooling trend over the past 19 years. Taylor points out that previous land based data “only unevenly covers the three quarters of the earth’s surface covered by oceans and virtually ignores polar regions” (Taylor 2). University of Alabama climatologist John Christy, the originator of the satellite

Balog was once a skeptic of climate change as he believed that the theory surrounding global warming was based off of computer models. Furthermore, he did not believe that humans could alter the world’s climate on such a global scale. However, through studies of ice records, long tubes of ice drilled from the ground, Balog found key evidence suggesting ideas contrary to his prior beliefs. These glacial tubes preserved historical records of the past similar to the rings of a tree, recording past temperatures and CO2 levels. Using these records, one can see the direct variation between temperature and CO2. Additionally, the recent spike in both

Earth’s climate system has been experiences changes during the last century. Dating back in 1859 a Swedish scientist named Svante Arrhenius was the first to claim that fossil fuel combustion eventually resulted to the contribution of global warming. According to S.M. Enzler MSc, in his article “History of the Greenhouse Effect and Global Warming”, published by Lenntech, Dr. Arrhenius’ findings were long forgotten, “At that time it was thought than human influences were insignificant compared to natural forces, such as solar activity and ocean circulation. It was also believed that the oceans were such great carbon sinks that they would automatically cancel out our pollution.” (Enzler 1.). Global Warming was just an illusion up until the mid-1900s a scientist named Gilbert Plass began experimenting with carbon dioxide which he soon concluded that adding more carbon dioxide to the atmosphere would intercept infrared radiation, that is otherwise lost to space, thus warming the earth. Dr. Plass’ conclusion is very similar to that of Dr. Arrhenius, and the reason why it was not overlooked was due to the advances in technology during Dr.Plass time, proven to have a more accurate data compared to the past. Further research was conducted to help explain the rise in the global annual mean temperature. As of 1988 it was finally acknowledged that climate was warmer than any period since 1880. I agree that

Several different scientific measurements have illustrated the fact that the climate of the Earth is indeed changing. Firstly, measuring the temperature of both the air and the sea through thermometers indicates the changes from the average (IFM-SEI 2011). In addition, soil has been analyzed to examine the forms of isotopes and levels of oxygen and carbon. Radiocarbon dating has also been utilized as have recordings of number, intensity, and the location of extreme weather events and natural disasters within the last century.

Human produced carbon dioxide mainly caused by the burning of natural resources and deforestation has caused the earth’s temperature to rise (Spahni). The carbon dioxide adds to a problem known as the greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect is the building up of different gases in the earth’s atmosphere causing the earth’s temperature to rise. Consequently, the key players in the greenhouse effect are as follows: water vapor 36-70%, carbon dioxide 9-26%, methane 4-9%, and ozone 3-7% (Russel). Thus, to determine the amount of CO2 and other gases that have been in the atmosphere in the past, ice core samples are taken and examined. There are ice core samples taken from as far back as 650,000 years ago (Siegenthaler). There has

According to the EPA, in 2012, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions totaled 6,526 million metric tons of carbon dioxide.The greenhouse gasses absorb and radiate the energy of sun trapping heat in the atmosphere. Furthermore, CO2 stays in atmosphere for many years. From the figure above, there were increase in the concentration of CO2 present in the Earth's atmosphere from year1750 to 2000. (NASA graphs by Robert Simmon, based on data from the NOAA Paleoclimatology and Earth System Research Laboratory.)Although there were fluctuatian over the years, the average temperature is still rising. (NASA figure adapted from Goddard Institute for Space Studies Surface Temperature Analysis.) Hence the temperature of the Earth can seem to increase with the rise of the CO2

Values higher than today have occurred only millions of years ago due to massive forcing acting at a global scale, such as the immense and ‘sudden’ (from a geological perspective) release of methane-clathrates of 55 million years ago which drove CO2 concentrations up to 2000 ppm (marking the onset of an era, the Eocene period). According to most observations and climate models available today, current concentrations cannot be justified by natural causes alone without considering human influence. The annual average concentration growth rate of CO2 was larger during the last decade (1, 9 ppm) than it has been since 1960, when continuous direct atmospheric measurements begun (1, 4 ppm per year, although with year-to-year variability). Specifically,

Scientists have come up with some observations to support this theory, as follows scientists believe that most of the carbon dioxide which is trapped in the atmosphere is caused by human activities such as using cars, planes and electricity which allows it to lead to emission of very harmful gasses into the atmosphere. Before humans existed, the temperature of the Earth increased as it began to age only which took a very long time, however since humans existed the process of temperature rising on the Earth has sped up. Factors such as deforestation has also affected the temperature of the Earth as loss of trees release excessive amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which also affects plants and trees which use that emitted carbon

It is understandable why some may be skeptical of the above claims. After all, greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere and the air we breathe naturally. Also, before scientists had advanced technology, they measured the climate change by studying solar output through sunspots. They did report that in 1950 there was an increase in solar output, which could be a natural explanation for the rising of earth’s surface temperature. However, the burning of coal and oil releases more CO2 into the atmosphere than what would occur naturally.

Current research has shown that the presence of carbon dioxide, a driving force behind temperature increases and other climatic changes, is increasing in the atmosphere at an accelerating rate (Baum et al 396). Justin Masih, assistant professor of chemistry at Ewing Christian College, admits that thermometer readings sufficient in providing reliable global temperatures are only available back to the year 1850 (Masih 100). This climate record, although narrow, allows for a detailed

Earth’s climate, or the particular weather patterns over an extended period of time, has many contributing factors and has varied over the course of the planet. The planets’ global climate can also be broken down into regional climates based on the weather patterns of a specific area of land. These differing regional climates are averaged together and all contribute to the overall global climate of the planet. The Earth’s global climate effects factors such as temperature, amount of rainfall, glacial melting, and rising and downfall of sea level, along with many more aspects of planet Earth. Affected by both natural and man-made elements, Earth’s climate is constantly changing. These climatic changes have been taking place for 4.6 billion years and are now studied by using satellite-derived and thermometer-based temperature records and trends. However, these methods only allow scientists to study the global climate as far back as the 17th and 18th century, just a small fraction of Earth’s lifespan. In order to extend our understanding of Earth’s climate beyond this instrumental record of just a few centuries, scientists use proxy data, or natural clues that are buried in sediments, coral reefs, tree rings, fossil pollen, and glaciers. Methods such as paleomagnetism, tephrochronolgy, and radiocarbon dating assist in the extended understanding of Earth’s changing climate over the course of time.

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.