Global Climate Change

1. Global Climate Change Andy Bose Shame Dishberg Aaron Rostsberg Jonathon McPeterson Harry Eudora

2. G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N Global climate change has been an issue that has been plaguing our planet. Earth’s average temperature is based on daily measurements taken at several thousand land based meteor logical stations around the world as well as data of balloons orbiting satellites and transoceanic ships and hundreds of sea surface buoys with temperature sensors.

3. G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N Carbon Dioxide and certain other trace gases including methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N20), chlorofluorocarbons, and troposphere ozone (O3), and accumulating in the atmosphere as a result of human activities. All of these are greenhouse gases or gases that absorb radiated heat from the sun, thereby increasing the temperature of the atmosphere. The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide grew from about 288 ppm 200 years ago to 384 ppm.

4. G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N Because CO2, and other gases slow the loss of heat generated by the incoming solar radiation in a manner parallel to how the glass enclosure reduces energy loss in a green-house, the natural trapping of heat in the atmosphere is often referred to as greenhouse gases, and the gases that absorb infrared radiation are called greenhouse gases.

5. G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N One of the complications that make the rate of extent of global climate change difficult to predict is that other air pollutants known as atmospheric aerosols, tend to cool the atmosphere is what is called the aerosol effect. Temperature observations indicate that sulfur-laden haze ahs significantly moderated warming in some of the industrialized parts of the world.

6. G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N Many interacting factors, such as winds, clouds, ocean currents, and albedo (a measure of reflectivity; ice has a higher albedo than does asphalt), affect the complex climate system, each exerting different effects. The IPCC projects a sea-level rise of 18 to 59cm by 2100, while noting that it could be much more. Two factors cause sea-level rise. Water, like other substances, expands as it warms.

7. G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N Mitigation focuses on limiting greenhouse gas emissions to moderate or postpone global climate change, thus buying time to pursue solutions that stop or reverse the change. Adaptation focuses on learning to live with the environmental changes and societal consequences brought about by global climate change.

8. P I C T U R E Queensland, Australia

9. G E N E R A L I N F O R M A T I O N • Human population growth and industrial expansion in tropical rainforests may spell the end of the tropical rain forest in the later parts of the 21st century. • Research done by scientists hasn’t really been properly reacted to by the general public.

10. P I E C H A R T

11. P I C T U R E S Amazon, Brazil

12. C L I M A T E C H A N G E S • Climate change threatens alpine areas. As the climate warms, many plant and animal species are migrating vertically. • The most fundamental division in aquatic ecology is between freshwater and saltwater environments. Salinity, the concentration of dissolved salts such as sodium chloride in a body of water, affects the kinds of organisms present in aquatic ecosystems.

13. W H A T C A N W E D O Drive a Prius