The Science Behind Global Warming

     Just to help you understand a bit more about global warming, here is some more detailed discussion about the science behind it.
      Often times scientists identify global warming as "climate change" because as the temperature increases, winds and ocean currents move heat around so that some places in the world can be cooled and it can change the amount of precipitation that falls.


The Greenhouse Effect

      This is the effect when certain gases in the Earth's atmosphere trap heat by letting in light but preventing heat from escaping. Sunlight is absorbed inside the atmosphere and then radiated back, and the greenhouse gases trap some of the sunlight that is radiated back. The more greenhouse gases that are present in the atmosphere, the more radiated sunlight is kept inside the atmosphere, which therefore heats up the Earth. Although this may seem completely bad, it in fact isn't because without some heat being trapped in, the Earth would be unlivable.

Is Climate Change Natural?

     In a sense, it is because the Earth fluctuates a lot over hundreds and thousands of years. Now, for thousands of years, the GHG level has been stable, so the climate has been fairly stable, allowing for many species, including humans, to thrive. The kind of change we are experiencing, though, is a result of humans. Humans have put too much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere in decades, when usually this happens over centuries. We have increased the amount of carbon dioxide by more than a third since the industrial revolution. 

So What's the Big Deal?

     The problem is that the change in the climate is changing too fast for many species to adapt. Also, a unique climate may present us with unique challenges. The warmer temperatures are causing much of the Earth's ice to melt. And where does this ice go? The melted ice adds to the amount of water already in large bodies of water and is causing the sea level to gradually rise. With the rising level of mercury, weather may become more extreme (intense storms, more rain, longer droughts, loss of water supplies, etc.).

      The worst part of all this is that it's all happening so much faster than it should! This is scary for those animals and plants that are unable to adapt quick enough to survive the climate changes. This is potentially disastrous for us humans too!