Climate Change vs. Global Warming The fact is that in the farthest reaches of the north and south, there is a nightmare becoming a reality that must be clearly understood. In order to understand this rising threat at hand, it is important to clarify the common terms of climate change and global warming that the crumbling of ice is most often referred to. Climate change is the overarching term that is used to encompass changes that are occurring to the planet such as global warming, sea level rise, glaciers dissolving, and ice sheets disappearances. While climate change refers a broad range of changes, these changes are mostly consequences that result from global warming. Global warming is the term within the climate change category that was first used by scientists to refer to the phenomenon of the constant warming of the planet as a result of excess amounts of greenhouse gases being released into the atmosphere. More often than not, climate change and global warming are terms that can be used interchangeably but strictly speaking they do not mean the same thing.
Heat Transfer To understand global warming, one must first become aware of how the transfer of heat works on Earth, what is most commonly referred to as the “heat budget” [ ]. In order to maintain the steady average of 59 degrees Fahrenheit on this planet, the radiations coming in from the sun must be at the same level as radiations going out. From this heat exchange, radiations are then responsible for the cooling and heating of planet Earth. The role of the atmosphere is to
Figure 1: Natural Green House Effect reflect, absorb, and direct the incoming radiations from the sun’s rays through space. As depicted in Figure 1, the rays pass through the atmosphere, it is absorbed by greenhouse gas molecules into the Earth’s surface, then re-emitted in all directions. This is also known as the natural greenhouse effect. By maintaining this process, the Earth is able to provide enough warmth as well as sustain heat in the lower atmosphere, exactly like a blanket. Relating back to the topic at hand, seawater and ice on the planet are the ones most responsible for doing the this reflecting. The ocean water and polar ice help reflect the incoming
We've all heard about global warming as well as climate change. Climate Change is the buildup of massive amounts of man made greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere. Causing the Earth's temperature to slowly rise over a long period of time.The amount of carbon dioxide in the air has increased rapidly over the years. Climate Change is a global problem and recently an issue more and more people are paying attention to.
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
Look around. Every day, everyone will witness some sort of carbonic emission in some form dispersing into the atmosphere. You hear enough about it on the news, whether you care or not. However, the question lingers: is it even that big of a deal? Most likely, if you are a Republican, you will say that Democrats are blowing the whole climate change situation out of the water, or that the warming of our earth is completely natural. Notice how they switched it from global warming to climate change; that is because their previous assumptions and models have not been completely accurate, right? On the other hand, if you are a Democrat, you are most likely seething over the statements you just read and want to do anything you can to prevent this possible catastrophic disaster. 97% percent of climate scientists agree that Climate Change is here and now, caused by all of us… right? Democrats are also more likely to target and blame carbon emissions on the rising temperatures. Nevertheless, William McDonough, a famous urban planner, says that targeting carbon is a purely political move. Further, carbon should be a useful resource for humans, and an imbalanced carbon cycle is to blame. In fact, McDonough claims this imbalance is the result of poor and inadequate urban designing. Are any climate change believers right? Or are Donald Trump and friends correct in pointing the finger at the problem and saying, “wrong!” First and foremost, let us explore the partisan views on the issue.
First, climate change and global warming must be defined and explained. According to Melissa Denchek from the Natural Resources Defense Council, climate change is “a significant variation of average weather conditions” (Denchek). The key factor is that the variation is a long-term trend, and not just due to natural weather
The Earth 's atmosphere has changed all through history. Just in the most recent 650,000 years there have been seven cycles of frigid progress and withdraw, with the sudden end of the last ice age around 7,000 years back denoting the start of the present day atmosphere period and of human development. The greater part of these atmosphere changes are credited to little varieties in Earth 's circle that change the measure of sun based vitality our planet gets. Exploratory proof for warming of the atmosphere framework is unequivocal. The present warming pattern is of specific criticalness in light of the fact that the vast majority of it is likely human-impelled and continuing at a rate that is exceptional in the previous 1,300 years. Earth-circling satellites and other mechanical advances have empowered researchers to see the comprehensive view, gathering a wide range of sorts of data about our planet and its atmosphere on a worldwide scale. This group of information, gathered over numerous years, uncovers the signs of an evolving atmosphere. The warmth catching nature of carbon dioxide and different gasses was shown in the mid-nineteenth century. Their capacity to influence the exchange of infrared vitality through the environment is the logical premise of numerous instruments flown by NASA. There is no doubt that expanded levels of nursery gasses must bring about the Earth to warm accordingly. Ice centers drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain icy masses
Many people in today’s society use the terms Global Warming and Climate change interchangeably when actually, global warming is more of a long-term trend of only increasing global temperatures and climate change can be a decrease or increase in climate patterns of a particular area or sector (Lineman).
Global Warming is the term to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to be permanently the Earth’s climate. Global warming is also the heating of the Earth’s surface. Scientific organizations in the world acknowledge that according to a NASA report 97% of the climate change was due to human activity alone. Global warming has change over the years most scientist don’t believe that it can just be human activity , scientist research suggest that the earth is warmer today than when it was in the 1800s. Although their technical meanings differ (i.e., global warming refers to increases in average global surface-level temperatures; in contrast, climate change encompasses myriad altered climatic patterns resulting from anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions; Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2012), these terms are frequently used interchangeably in public discourse, including in news
Energy from the sun drives the earth’’s weather and climate, and heats the earth’’s surface; in turn, the earth radiates energy back into space. Atmospheric greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, and other gases) trap some of the
When you hear the word Climate Change, what do you think of? Some people have discussed this topic for many years. It is described as an average temperature of the Earth’s climate, which many studies have shown the climate system has been warming. Climate change exists, and it has thrown an effect on animals, humans and things. It has been proven by scientific research that it is a threat on civilization. For many of years the scientist and the government has been hiding how dangerous the climate change really is and, how it’s effecting our world as a nation. There is many research have shown that there is a debate of climate and has been a global threat for humanity.
The topic of global climate change has been a much debated topic over the years. There is no real scientific consensus on global warming. However, much destruction has happened to the earth that questions the scientific or empirical link between extreme weather and global climate change. There are a lot of events that happens around the globe such as floods, increased precipitation, sea-level rise, and hurricanes that questions the theory of global climate change. Without any clear cut evidence, it would be hard to determine whether greenhouse gases (GHG) and deforestation are the cause of global climate change. There are many researchers around the who use scientific findings to prove that there is a link between extreme weather and global climate change.
When the term Global Warming is mention, people often think of it as a progression in change of climate. Climate change, according to Kaufmann and Cleveland “is a shift in the long-term average weather”. (pg. 269) Climate change can either refer to a decrease in average temperatures meaning a colder environment, or it can be increase in temperature resulting in a much warmer environment. Several factors are responsible for theses changes in climate a few examples being solar changes and emission and reabsorption of carbon into the atmosphere. It seems as though there are many conflicting theories and opinions on global warming, which is why it can be difficult understanding what exactly it means. We are told that climate change is
The physics reasoning behind global warming is that air is mostly made up of nitrogen and oxygen molecules. Heat conduction occurs when the air molecules close to the Earth’s surface collide and vibrate. They produce kinetic energy in the form of heat. Because heat rises, the molecules that have collided rise and make room for cooler air molecules to collide at the Earth’s surface, thus causing convection currents to form. This process is continued until a state where opposing forces or influences become balanced. This is known as equilibrium and occurs between the air molecules. The sun emits heat and light throughout the day in the form of electromagnetic radiation as the sun continuously radiates energy that is converted into heat when it reaches the Earth’s surface. Electromagnetic radiation is a form of radiation in which electric fields and magnetic fields change. This energy that is released as heat causes the air
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.
The issue of global warming should be on the list of our top priorities. Studies show that the average of global temperatures have risen since the Industrial Revolution began. Since the Industrial Revolution, human emissions has quadrupled the frequency of certain heat extremes and many scientists have warned that a failure to bring greenhouse gases under control could eventually lead to a 62-fold increase in extreme heat blasts (Gillis Justin A17). Most of the increase is due to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. These activities contribute to a build-up in carbon dioxide and other gases in Earth’s atmosphere. The Earth’s atmosphere is made of gases like nitrogen, carbon dioxide and oxygen. These gases act as a blanket that covers and gives us warmth, but once these gases such as carbon dioxide absorbs heat, but does not release it back into space in which causes the increase in global temperature. This is called the greenhouse effect because it only traps heat but does not release it.