GLOBAL WARMING, GREEN HOUSE EFFECT AND CLIMATE CHANGE || HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW


The science of climate change is much stronger and more widely agreed upon than you can imagine. But the scope of the article, as well as the proliferation of irreverent information, can make it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction. Here, we have done our best to provide you with not only the most accurate scientific information, but also the definition of how we know it.


For more than a century, scientists have understood the basic physics of why greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide cause heat. These gases make up just a small part of the atmosphere but regulate the Earth's excessive atmosphere by trapping some of the planet's heat before evaporating into space. This therapeutic effect is significant: That is why a planet so far away from the sun has its own liquid water!



During the Industrial Revolution, however, people began burning coal and other fossil fuels to power factories, solvents, and steam engines, which added additional greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. Since then, human activities have been heating up the planet.


We know this to be true because of the vast amount of evidence that begins with measurements of temperature taken from weather stations and ships dating back to the mid-1800s. Later, scientists began tracking higher temperatures with satellites and looking for clues about climate change in geologic records. Together, all this data tells the same story: The earth is getting hotter and hotter.


The average global temperature has risen by 2.2 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1.2 degrees Celsius, since 1880, with major changes taking place in the late 20th century. The landscape is warmer than the oceans and the Arctic is much warmer - above 4 degrees Fahrenheit since the 1960s. Extreme temperatures have also changed. In the United States, the daily record is now twice as high as the record.


This warming has never occurred before in the recent history of the earth's crust. The famous illustration, first published in 1998 and commonly referred to as the hockey-stick graph, shows how temperatures remain low for hundreds of years (the shaft of a stick) before sharply turning (blade). It is based on data from tree rings, ice cores and other natural indicators. And the basic picture, which has stood the test of decades for climate scientists and their opponents, shows that the Earth is much warmer today than it was at least 1,000 years ago, and perhaps even longer.



In fact, higher temperatures obscure the actual rate of climate change, for the oceans absorb 90 percent of the heat absorbed by the greenhouse gases. Estimates collected over the last six decades on ocean voyages and floating equipment networks show that each layer of the ocean is warming. According to one study, the oceans absorbed as much heat between 1997 and 2015 as they did 130 years ago.


We also know that climate change is possible because we are seeing results everywhere. Glaciers and glaciers shrink as sea levels rise. The Arctic ice sheet is disappearing. In the spring, the ice melts quickly and the plants bloom prematurely. Animals go to higher ground and places to experience cool conditions. And droughts, floods, and wildfires have all been extremely severe. Models predict many of these changes, but observations indicate that they are now about to take place.


Glaciers melt, sea levels rise, forests swell and die, and wildlife moves on. It has become clear that people have caused much of the warmth of the last century by releasing greenhouse gases as we use our modern lives. Called thermal gases, their levels are now higher than at any other time in the past 800,000 years.


We often call the result global warming, but it results in a set of planetary changes, or long-term climate patterns, that vary from place to place. Although many people think of global warming and climate change as being similar, scientists use “climate change” to describe complex changes now affecting our planet's climate and systems — in part because some places are experiencing short-term cooling.



Climate change includes not only moderate temperatures but also extreme weather conditions, variations in wildlife and habitats, rising sea levels, and many other impacts. All these changes are coming to a head as humans continue to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, changing the rhythm of climate that is dependent on all living things.


What can we do — and do — to reduce this human-induced warmth? How will we deal with the changes we have already begun? Although we try to explain everything, the end of the world as we know it — the coast, forests, farms, and snowcapped mountains — is in control.


Understanding the effect of the greenhouse

The "greenhouse effect" is the heat that occurs when certain gases in the Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases allow light but prevent heat from escaping, such as greenhouse glass walls, hence the name.


Sunlight shines on the earth, where energy is absorbed and returned to the atmosphere as heat. In space, green gas molecules capture some of the heat, and some escape into space. The more heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, the more heat is locked in the cells.


Scientists have been aware of the effects of the greenhouse since 1824, when Joseph Fourier calculated that the Earth would be extremely cold without space. This natural greenhouse effect is what keeps the Earth's climate alive. Without it, the Earth's surface would be about 60 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius) cooler.



Greenhouse gases have fluctuated throughout the Earth's history, but they have remained constant for the past few thousand years. Global temperatures also did not change at that time — until about 150 years ago. Through the burning of fossil fuels and other activities that have emitted large amounts of greenhouse gases,..