What is global warming in detail?

Question

please, dont say its myth. its my geography assignment and i cant find any infomation, so anything would be great

Answer 1

Lies!

Answer 2

Very small group thinks it's a myth, and they are all uneducated, illiterate neo-cons.

Answer 3

it is not a myth but it is a hoax.  The fact is that sure many places on earth are experiencing dramatic climate changes and most of that is due to the variation in the axial tilt of our planet.  What the scientists don't tell you is that just as areas of the arctic and antarctic are experiencing higher temperatures causing the ice to melt, at the same time other areas in these same regions are experiencing just the opposite:colder temps and ice build up.  Also continental drift plays a part in this as does weather experimentation projects like that in Alaska:HAARP

Answer 4

it is the sum total of all the hot air blown by lemming like gas bags into the upper troposhere.

Answer 5

It is not a myth it is a scam. But here is a website with some good info.

Answer 6

The greenhouse effect is a natural effect that allows life on earth. Greenhouse gases such as methane, water vapor, and co2 act like a greenhouse; they let sunlight and heat in from the sun and then they keep some of it in.

However, since the industrial revolution, humans have been adding a lot more co2 into the atmosphere (mostly through burning fossil fuels). Adding a large amount of co2 increases the greenhouse effect, keeping more heat in the atmosphere, causing global warming.

Answer 7

What you really need is a good comprehensive geology text. The one I used in high school for basic science had all the answers as to why this AGW theory could never be true. This is why virtually all geology students are deniers of AGW as are meteorologists.

Added commentary on some open faced lies recently posted.

I am absolutely amazed at the blatant ignorance shown by the promoters of AGW. They toss out a few Left wing propaganda links that have never been subjected to scientific validation. How do they get away with this when the average geology student knows up front these allegations can not hold water let alone Co2. There has to be some legal way to stop these crooks from wrecking our society as they are planning to do.

Answer 8

Yes the earth is having a climate change. Carbon dioxide is also released by volcanoes moreso than by humans. The Polar ice is also melting,and if it continues there will be massive flooding, over 250 feet higher than sealevel. New York ia a disaster prone area. I dont think theres no stopping it.

Answer 9

Global warming is the increase in the average measured temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century, and its projected continuation.

The average global air temperature near the Earth's surface increased 0.74 ± 0.18 °C (1.33 ± 0.32 °F) during the hundred years ending in 2005.[1] The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concludes "most of the observed increase in globally averaged temperatures since the mid-twentieth century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic (man-made) greenhouse gas concentrations"[1] via an enhanced greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes probably had a small warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950 and a small cooling effect from 1950 onward.[2][3]

These basic conclusions have been endorsed by at least thirty scientific societies and academies of science,[4] including all of the national academies of science of the major industrialized countries.[5][6][7] While individual scientists have voiced disagreement with some findings of the IPCC,[8] the overwhelming majority of scientists working on climate change agree with the IPCC's main conclusions.[9][10]

Climate model projections summarized by the IPCC indicate that average global surface temperature will likely rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 °C (2.0 to 11.5 °F) during the twenty-first century.[1] This range of values results from the use of differing scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions as well as models with differing climate sensitivity. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, warming and sea level rise are expected to continue for more than a thousand years even if greenhouse gas levels are stabilized. The delay in reaching equilibrium is a result of the large heat capacity of the oceans.[1]

Increasing global temperature is expected to cause sea level to rise, an increase in the intensity of extreme weather events, and significant changes to the amount and pattern of precipitation. Other expected effects of global warming include changes in agricultural yields, modifications of trade routes, glacier retreat, species extinctions and increases in the ranges of disease vectors.

Remaining scientific uncertainties include the amount of warming expected in the future, and how warming and related changes will vary from region to region around the globe. Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but there is ongoing political and public debate worldwide regarding what, if any, action should be taken to reduce or reverse future warming or to adapt to its expected consequences.

Contents [hide]

1 Terminology

2 Causes

2.1 Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

2.2 Feedbacks

2.3 Solar variation

3 Temperature changes

3.1 Recent

3.2 Pre-human climate variations

4 Climate models

5 Attributed and expected effects

5.1 Economic

6 Adaptation and mitigation

7 Social and political debate

8 Related climatic issues

9 See also

10 Notes and references

11 Further reading

12 External links



Terminology

The term "global warming" refers to the warming in recent decades and its projected continuation, and implies a human influence.[11][12] The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) uses the term "climate change" for human-caused change, and "climate variability" for other changes..[13] The term "climate change" recognizes that rising temperatures are not the only effect.[14] The term "anthropogenic global warming" (AGW) is sometimes used when focusing on human-induced changes.

Causes



Components of the current radiative forcing as estimated by the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.Main articles: Attribution of recent climate change and Scientific opinion on climate change

The Earth's climate changes in response to external forcing, including variations in its orbit around the Sun (orbital forcing),[15][16],[17] changes in solar luminosity, volcanic eruptions,[18] and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations. The detailed causes of the recent warming remain an active field of research, but the scientific consensus[19][20] is that the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases due to human activity caused most of the warming observed since the start of the industrial era. This attribution is clearest for the most recent 50 years, for which the most detailed data are available. Some other hypotheses departing from the consensus view have been suggested to explain most of the temperature increase. One such hypothesis proposes that warming may be the result of variations in solar activity.[21][22][23]

None of the effects of forcing are instantaneous. The thermal inertia of the Earth's oceans and slow responses of other indirect effects mean that the Earth's current climate is not in equilibrium with the forcing imposed. Climate commitment studies indicate that even if greenhouse gases were stabilized at 2000 levels, a further warming of about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) would still occur.[24]

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere

Main articles: Greenhouse gas and Greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect was discovered by Joseph Fourier in 1824 and was first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896. It is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases warm a planet's lower atmosphere and surface.



Recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The monthly CO2 measurements display small seasonal oscillations in an overall yearly uptrend; each year's maximum is reached during the Northern Hemisphere's late spring, and declines during the Northern Hemisphere growing season as plants remove some CO2 from the atmosphere.Existence of the greenhouse effect as such is not disputed. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases have a mean warming effect of about 33 °C (59 °F), without which Earth would be uninhabitable.[25][26] On Earth, the major greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 36–70% of the greenhouse effect (not including clouds); carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes 9–26%; methane (CH4), which causes 4–9%; and ozone, which causes 3–7%.[27][28] The issue is how the strength of the greenhouse effect changes when human activity increases the atmospheric concentrations of some greenhouse gases.

Human activity since the industrial revolution has increased the concentration of various greenhouse gases, leading to increased radiative forcing from CO2, methane, tropospheric ozone, CFCs and nitrous oxide. Molecule for molecule, methane is a more effective greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but its concentration is much smaller so that its total radiative forcing is only about a fourth of that from carbon dioxide. Some other naturally occurring gases contribute small fractions of the greenhouse effect; one of these, nitrous oxide (N2O), is increasing in concentration owing to human activity such as agriculture. The atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CH4 have increased by 31% and 149% respectively since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid-1700s. These levels are considerably higher than at any time during the last 650,000 years, the period for which reliable data has been extracted from ice cores.[29] From less direct geological evidence it is believed that CO2 values this high were last attained 20 million years ago.[30] Fossil fuel burning has produced approximately three-quarters of the increase in CO2 from human activity over the past 20 years. Most of the rest is due to land-use change, in particular deforestation.[31]



Yearly increase of atmospheric CO2: In the 1960s, the average annual increase was 37% of what it was in 2000 through 2007.[32]The present atmospheric concentration of CO2 is about 385 parts per million (ppm) by volume.[33] Future CO2 levels are expected to rise due to ongoing burning of fossil fuels and land-use change. The rate of rise will depend on uncertain economic, sociological, technological, and natural developments, but may be ultimately limited by the availability of fossil fuels. The IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios gives a wide range of future CO2 scenarios, ranging from 541 to 970 ppm by the year 2100.[34] Fossil fuel reserves are sufficient to reach this level and continue emissions past 2100, if coal, tar sands or methane clathrates are extensively used.[35]

Feedbacks

Main article: Effects of global warming

The effects of forcing agents on the climate are complicated by various feedback processes.

One of the most pronounced feedback effects relates to the evaporation of water. Warming by the addition of long-lived greenhouse gases such as CO2 will cause more water to evaporate into the atmosphere. Since water vapor itself acts as a greenhouse gas, the atmosphere warms further; this warming causes more water vapor to evaporate (a positive feedback), and so on until other processes stop the feedback loop. The result is a much larger greenhouse effect than that due to CO2 alone. Although this feedback process causes an increase in the absolute moisture content of the air, the relative humidity stays nearly constant or even decreases slightly because the air is warmer.[36] This feedback effect can only be reversed slowly as CO2 has a long average atmospheric lifetime.

Feedback effects due to clouds are an area of ongoing research. Seen from below, clouds emit infrared radiation back to the surface, and so exert a warming effect; seen from above, clouds reflect sunlight and emit infrared radiation to space, and so exert a cooling effect. Whether the net effect is warming or cooling depends on details such as the type and altitude of the cloud. These details are difficult to represent in climate models, in part because clou

Answer 10

it's getting warmer.

and CO2, resulting from our burning of coal and oil is causing it.

In simple terms, without any global warming, the temperature of the earth would be far below freezing, and there'd be no life at all. Water (clouds) is the strongest insulator. CO2 and methane (CH4) come next. Water is self limiting -- when there's too much of it in the atmosphere, it rains and restores the balance. CO2 and methane remain in atmosphere far longer. The way CO2 works is that it interacts with some energy level radiation, but not all. Specifically, CO2 does not interact with light or ultraviolet radiation. It does, however, react with lower energy levels, found in infrared radiation. During the day, the earth heats up, absorbing energy from the sun. At night, that energy is radiated away into space as infrared radiation. Maybe you've noticed that on cloudy nights, it does not cool as much as on clear nights. That's because some of the infrared radiation is "reflected" back to the earth. CO2 does the same thing.

The way CO2 works is that molecules absorb energy, and then re-radiate it. When it's re-radiated, that occurs in a random direction. Which means that some comes back to the earth.

To some extent, adding CO2 to the atmosphere is like putting an extra blanket on when it's cold in the winter. unfortunately, when it's already warm, it's not very helpful. During the last 4,000 years, the average temperature has varied by less than one single degree. Predictions are that the current increase might be between 3 and 8 degrees. There's a wide variation because it's not known how seriously the various governments will act to address the problem. In addition, if everyone stopped burning coal, oil, and natural gas completely today, the temperature would continue to increase for several decades, due to the CO2 that's already been added to the atmosphere. *phew* All that said, here's the science to back it up.

NAS, NOAA, NSF, NASA, EPA, MIT, UCLA all agree. AGW (Anthropogenic Global Warming) is a serious problem.

http://www.nasonline.org/site/PageServer

"May 19, 2008: The National Academies have released the 2008 edition of "Understanding and Responding to Climate Change," a free booklet designed to give the public a comprehensive and easy-to-read analysis of findings and recommendations from our reports on climate change."

http://dels.nas.edu/dels/rpt_briefs/clim...  <== here's a good description.

http://www.funnyweather.org/  <== this is a more lighthearted link.

http://lwf.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/glob...

http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/paleo/globalwar...

http://www.exploratorium.edu/climate/  <== not regulated by the government.

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cn...

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cn...

http://www.international.ucla.edu/articl...

http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2007/clima...

http://www.nasa.gov/worldbook/global_war...

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news...

<<"Barring a large volcanic eruption, a record global temperature clearly exceeding that of 2005 can be expected within the next few years, at the time of the next El Nino, because of the background warming trend attributable to continuing increases of greenhouse gases."  The eight warmest years in the GISS record have all occurred since 1998, and the 14 warmest years in the record have all occurred since 1990.>>

http://yosemite.epa.gov/OAR/globalwarmin...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/...

http://royalsociety.org/downloaddoc.asp?... <== thanks Richard.  very good.

i like this chart.

http://www.globalwarminglies.com/pics/te...

posted by global warming lies i might add.

you'll note that over the last 4,500 years the temperature has varied from the norm by a maximum of 0.7 degrees.

and the projected temperature rise in the next few decades is something like 3-8 degrees.

i find all the "I do my own research" folks interesting (deluded).

as if they're smarter than the PhDs that have been studying the climate for many years.

it used to, and still does, bother me that people seem to really think that they know things.

however, i found this interesting:

http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R805291000

the shorter version of this is,  "It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you know that just ain't so."

which has been attributed to many folks, including  Mark Twain,  Yogi Berra, Ronald Reagan, Satchel Paige, Will Rogers,  Appelacian folk saying, and many more.

or, one might say,   "The greatest obstacle to knowledge is not ignorance; it is the illusion of knowledge."  Daniel Boorstein.

Answer 11

"Global warming" and "climate change" are catchall term for any long-term change in earth's climate, regardless of the cause.

We are currently experiencing such a change -- it's getting warmer. The current change we're experiencing is different from any climate change the Earth has gone through before, because this one is being caused by human beings. This is called "Anthropogenic Global Warming" or AGW for short.

The current warmth is caused by humans, primarily from burning fossil fuels which releases carbon dioxide (CO2) into the air. This has caused CO2 to increase by 38% since the invention of the steam engine.

Carbon dioxide warms the earth because it's a greenhouse gas. That means it's transparent to visible light, like sunlight, but it absorbs infrared light, which the Earth emits to keep cool. Some of that infrared is re-absorbed by greenhouse gases and the air gets warmer as a result.

Answer 12

The ultimate end for energy is heat. heat leaves earth through the atmosphere. but through pollution carbon builds up in the atmospere and reflects the heat back. (IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH OZONE!!)