Climate Change The Debate Is Done

Climate Change In the scientific world there are very few doubts about the far reaching effects of climate change The new field of research is now how to slow the change in climate This field has some very simple and some very complex answers

Climate Change Global warming describes over 100 year increase in average global temperature This term has been losing favor to the term climate change over the past few years because there are far reaching consequences of an increase in temperature

How Does It Work? Climate change works like a large blanket Greenhouse gasses are gasses that trap energy against the earth instead of allowing energy to leave the atmosphere into space When more energy comes in to the planet than leaves the planet we have an increase of energy (heat) on our planet

How Does It Work? CO 2 is one of the most major greenhouse gasses It is so abundant in our atmosphere It does not block a large amount of radiation from leaving the planet Because of its abundance it still has large impacts

How Does It Work? CO 2 is cycled through photosynthesis and cellular respiration Also humans are adding a large amount of CO 2 by using fossil fuels The amount of CO 2 that is entering our atmosphere is much larger than the amount being pulled out by cellular respiration

How Does It Work? The ocean can absorb large amount of CO 2 This reduces the amount of CO 2 in the atmosphere However when CO 2 is absorbed by the ocean it becomes carbonic acid H 2 CO 3 The amount of carbonic acid in our oceans is so large that it is starting to dissolve the basic shells on marine organisms

Air Temperature In the past 100 years the average global air temperature has increased around.8 0 C (1.5 0 F) Northern polar regions have increased in excess of C in the past 50 years

Air Temperature Global warming affects polar regions more than other areas This is because heat is redistributed to the polar regions to cool This cooling action carries large amounts of warm air to the poles

Air Temperature These wind patterns regulate the temperature of the surrounding regions Hot moist air is cooled and precipitation falls on the poles Recently the global weather patterns have started to shift because the poles have heated up

Early Indicators There are things that are happening in the world that show us that global warming is real These are considered indicators of global warming They show that global warming is happening

Early Indicators Probably the most major indicator is the amount of frozen ice at our poles A substantial amount of ice has melted in the past 30 years The problem is that once polar ice starts to melt, it melts faster qGY2LIs

Early Indicators Another major indicator is the global redistribution of water Because we are changing weather patterns we are causing some areas to gain or lose water This is seen in a change of local and national weather patterns -video/extreme-rainfall-the-new-norm-says- climate-change-expert/article /

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