What causes a change in climate, naturally speaking?

Question

Let's try and see how far back we go to the root cause. I imagine it's a cycle so would should be able to go as far back as possible.

Answer 1

Nothing. The climate has never, ever changed naturally. It's always been man-made. Even before humans existed, the ice ages weren't natural. Bad men traveled back in time with SUV's and hot dogs and barbecues and caused all those climate changes.

Answer 2

global warming. it is natural. the only thing is tha it has progressed unateraly fast. it shouldnt be this much of a problem for thousands of years.

Answer 3

Fundamentally, changes in Earth's temperature, and thus its climate are caused by one thing and one thing only: an imbalance in Earth's energy budget (or the ratio of incoming energy from the sun to outgoing energy from Earth).

The temperature of an object is determined by the rate the object is receiving energy versus the rate it's losing energy (cooling). If the object is losing energy faster than it's getting it, it will cool, if it's getting energy faster than it's losing it, it will warm. If the ratio of incoming to outgoing energy us equal, the object will remain at a constant temperature and is said to be in "thermal equlibrium."

There are two main ways to affect the Earth's energy budget: changing the rate of incoming solar energy, or changing the rate of outgoing energy. Incoming energy can be affect by myriad of things, such as eccentricities in Earth's orbit, changes in solar output, and changes in Earth's albedo (reflectivity). The primary way of changing the rate of outgoing energy is by affecting the greenhouse effect by either adding or removing greenhouse gases from Earth's atmosphere.

In the past, most of Earth's climate changes have been driven primarily by changes in solar forcing, and on a larger scale by the movement of Earth's land masses. Presently, the climate is changing as the result of an enhanced greenhouse effect, brought about by emissions of greenhouse gases from human activities.

This is only a brief overview of some of the major factors controlling Earth's climate of course. For more information I recommend reading the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 4th Assessment Report. Which you can read for free online through the link below:

http://ipcc-wg1.ucar.edu/wg1/wg1-report....

Answer 4

The answer lies in deforestation allowing a CO2 build up, which melts glacial packs, which in turn cause sea levels to rise and that brings catastrophic weather conditions.  In the next 20 years or so, if we remain dependent on fossil fuels, the CO2 build up might become irreversible. Deserts where rain forest used to be, etc.  If the polar caps are gone, the earths weight might shift us dangerously and allow the Pacific Ring of Fire to be very active and give us nature's version of a nuclear winter.

Answer 5

This web site attempts to chronicle 1000 years of climate:

Climate events of the Last 1,000 Years

http://home.earthlink.net/~ponderthemaun...

The single greatest potential cause of Earth's temperature variations is DENIED by Alarmists:

Tremendous heat from within:

http://volcano.und.edu/vwdocs/vwlessons/...

Another factor in climate also DENIED by Alarmists:

IMF = Interplanetary MAGNETIC Fields.  

and Sunspot activity -  you can Monitor here:

http://www.spaceweather.com/

Sunspot Activity at 8,000-Year High :

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/su...

Sunspot Activity at it Highest:

http://www.howtosurvive2012.com/htm/sun_...

I am more concerned that we may be headed towards an solar minimum.  No matter what scientists say - we are still not starting Solar Cycle 24 that they had predicted!!

Answer 6

Honestly, man hasn't figured out the cause yet.  All he can do at this point is observe and record evidence of past climatic changes.  So many variables affect the climate, cyclical triggers can be masked by sporadic events (like asteroids, volcanoes, etc.).  Theories concerning solar output variations can't be proven/disproved, because we have no way of measuring the output of the sun 100+ years ago.  All we know is it was much colder in the past, and it was much warmer in the past as well....all before the Industrial Revolution.

Answer 7

Naturally speaking, it's all natural. The Earth's climate has NEVER been constant. Ice ages and "mini"-Ice ages have come and gone since the rocks cooled off.

Just remember - The wooly mammoth didn't drive a Chevy Blazer.

Answer 8

normally the Milankovitch cycles are the triggers for past climatic shifts. these small changes are also amplified by positive feedback increasing the relatively small change brought about by these cycles.[1]

there have bees some past climatic changes brought about by the release of large amounts of greenhouse gasses but these are fairly rare and normally result in mass extinctions.[2]