what is global climate change?
By zteve t evans
We hear a lot about climate change but what exactly is it? When we think of climate we think of the weather but the two not quite the same. As we all know the weather changes season by season, day by day and sometimes more than once in an hour. It can be unstable and difficult to predict.
The condensation of moisture in the atmosphere collects as clouds forming rain, snow and hail and is known as precipitation. Rain snow or hail can fall in different places at different times according to a number of variable conditions such as wind and temperature. Clouds also block the sun cooling and darkening whatever is below them, while the absence of clouds can give warm, light conditions
So where the weather may be changeable causing different temperatures and conditions across all the regions of the world, climate is the average weather that can be anticipated over a more lengthy distance of time. Therefore although temperatures are changeable over 12 months the average worldwide climate temperature can be anticipated to be around 14 C.
Climate is studied over long span of time often over 30 years. Core samples from Polar ice provide evidence over thousands of years. It can be considered as the average weather over a long interval of time.
Different regions of the world have different climates. For example desert regions such as the Sahara have a very different climate to that of the UK, Europe, or Northern parts of the American continent.
The condensation of moisture in the atmosphere collects as clouds forming rain, snow and hail and is known as precipitation. Rain snow or hail can fall in different places at different times according to a number of variable conditions such as wind and temperature. Clouds also block the sun cooling and darkening whatever is below them, while the absence of clouds can give warm, light conditions
So where the weather may be changeable causing different temperatures and conditions across all the regions of the world, climate is the average weather that can be anticipated over a more lengthy distance of time. Therefore although temperatures are changeable over 12 months the average worldwide climate temperature can be anticipated to be around 14 C.
Climate is studied over long span of time often over 30 years. Core samples from Polar ice provide evidence over thousands of years. It can be considered as the average weather over a long interval of time.
Different regions of the world have different climates. For example desert regions such as the Sahara have a very different climate to that of the UK, Europe, or Northern parts of the American continent.
What influences the climate?
The Earth’s climate has two dominant influences; the sun and the atmosphere.
Our sun gives the earth warmth but that warmth can only remain on Earth because of the atmosphere which consists of numerous different gases. It is the atmosphere that keeps the sun’s energy from being lost in space as infrared radiation. Without the atmosphere Earth would be a very cold planet.
Some of those gases in the atmosphere allow the sun’s energy to enter in then prevent it from returning back to space in very much the same way that the glass in a greenhouse works. This is called the greenhouse effect and the gases such as CO2, water vapour and methane amongst others are termed greenhouse gases.
Scientists study how the Earth’s different regions such as oceans, ice sheets and the land surface areas affect the atmosphere and the weather. For example, interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean can result in weather conditions such as El Niño which can have a profound effect on humans. All these different factors interact to create a complex climate system.
About 150 years ago scientists first realised the insulating qualities of the Earth’s atmosphere. Many scientists believe that the research shows that the planet without the greenhouse gases would be cooler by around 30 degrees Centigrade, which would make it uninhabitable to most known forms of life and crucial to life on Earth as we know it. The big concern is that any change in the greenhouse gases will trigger a change in temperature altering the climate of the planet to something more hostile to life.
The Earth’s climate has two dominant influences; the sun and the atmosphere.
Our sun gives the earth warmth but that warmth can only remain on Earth because of the atmosphere which consists of numerous different gases. It is the atmosphere that keeps the sun’s energy from being lost in space as infrared radiation. Without the atmosphere Earth would be a very cold planet.
Some of those gases in the atmosphere allow the sun’s energy to enter in then prevent it from returning back to space in very much the same way that the glass in a greenhouse works. This is called the greenhouse effect and the gases such as CO2, water vapour and methane amongst others are termed greenhouse gases.
Scientists study how the Earth’s different regions such as oceans, ice sheets and the land surface areas affect the atmosphere and the weather. For example, interactions between the atmosphere and the ocean can result in weather conditions such as El Niño which can have a profound effect on humans. All these different factors interact to create a complex climate system.
About 150 years ago scientists first realised the insulating qualities of the Earth’s atmosphere. Many scientists believe that the research shows that the planet without the greenhouse gases would be cooler by around 30 degrees Centigrade, which would make it uninhabitable to most known forms of life and crucial to life on Earth as we know it. The big concern is that any change in the greenhouse gases will trigger a change in temperature altering the climate of the planet to something more hostile to life.
Defining climate change
The UK government consider climate change to be the rise in the average temperature of the planet since the 20th century and the implications this has for the present and also for the future. They claim the average near surface temperature of the Earth has increased by 0.75 C resulting in rising sea levels and extremes of weather such as drought and flooding with more expected as temperatures rise. So although the climate temperatures can fluctuate from time to time, from region to region, there has been a steady and sustained rise over time in the average global temperature.
© 06/10/2013 zteve t evans
The UK government consider climate change to be the rise in the average temperature of the planet since the 20th century and the implications this has for the present and also for the future. They claim the average near surface temperature of the Earth has increased by 0.75 C resulting in rising sea levels and extremes of weather such as drought and flooding with more expected as temperatures rise. So although the climate temperatures can fluctuate from time to time, from region to region, there has been a steady and sustained rise over time in the average global temperature.
© 06/10/2013 zteve t evans
Reference and Attribution
Copyright zteve t evans October 6, 2013
Copyright zteve t evans October 6, 2013