GLOBAL WARMING

Global Warming



Global Warming

Introduction

Global warming refers to the increase in average ground temperatures on earth. A rise in the amount of “greenhouse gasses” has caused higher temperatures across the planet. Until recent investigation, the green house effect has simply been described as the process by which the atmosphere traps heat keeping the earth at a livable temperature. Although this trapping of heat is essential to our survival, it has begun to escalate to possibly dangerous levels.

How does Global Warming Happen?

The primary contributors to the greenhouse effect are greenhouse gasses. Greenhouse gasses are vital to our survival. They serve as a sort of blanket to keep the heat in our atmosphere. Without the natural greenhouse effect the temperature of earth would be 15°C lower. But there can be a problem if we get too many greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. When heat enters the earth's atmosphere, it is in the form of short wave radiation. This is the radiation transmitted from the sun through space to us, and it passes easily through our clear atmosphere. As the short wave radiation warms the earth's surface, it is then re-radiated back out from the earth's surface, but now in the form of long wave radiation (www.surfacestations.org).

The long wave radiation is much less penetrating and therefore it cannot all leave the atmosphere. It is the greenhouse gases that keep the long wave radiation in our atmosphere. Because there are more and more greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, more long wave radiation is trapped which makes the Earth warmer. This is known as Global Warming (Ramanathan, V, Bruce R Barkstrom, and Edwin F Harrison May 1999).

Global Warming evidence

There is more than enough evidence to support the concept of global warming. Here are just a few events that have occurred largely because of global warming (Mary E. Williams, 2006):

October 2000 - Storm and floods kill 6 and leave hundreds homeless in the U.K

February 1999 - Avalanches kill 55 people in Alps after heavy snowstorms.

1997- 2000 - Drought threatens lives of 12 million people in Horn of Africa.

October 1998- Hurricane Mitch kills over 11,000 people in Central America.

All of these events have had a major impact on the countries they occurred in. This impact has caused financial trouble for all of the countries but especially for the poorer ones such as the African countries who are struggling as it is and the bad weather makes it even worse (Mary E. Wiliams, Bonnie Szumski, and Helen Cothran, 2006).

Melting Ice caps result in flooding

There has also been an increase in the precipitation over all the world's continents over the last century of about 1 percent. Higher latitude regions are seeing more significant increases in their rainfall while many tropical areas are experiencing a decline in precipitation. Worldwide, sea level has risen roughly 15-20 cm in the last century. This is mainly due to the melting of glaciers and ice caps which is caused by global warming (Mary ...