What Is Global Warming?
Global Warming as a new concept
The planet that we stand on is slowly beginning to heat up. The Earths surface has already begun to rise in tempurature. Since 1880, the surface of the Earth has raised by 0.8 degrees centegrade, and scientists of all shapes and sizes have been able to agree on one unmistakable conclusion: we are living in a warming world.
Carbon Sink
Planet Earth has a local phenomenon known as the 'Carbon Sink'. This is the collective group of general 'things' which absorb, use, and store carbon. This can range from trees which contain carbon, to the atmoshphere which contains carbon in the form of Carbon Dioxide [CO2]. This is carbon sink has a limit to the amount of carbon that exists in it, and a limit to the amount of carbon existing in each area of the sink; eg: Atmosphere, or Biosphere.
Carbon Sink Capacity
The carbon sink capacity of the Earths agricultural and degraded soils is around 208 gigatonnes. That is nearing
208 000 000 000 tonnes. This is much greater than it used to be and has increased by 1.3 gigatonnes in the past decade in the United States alone! The carbon sink capacity of the atmosphere is another 54 gigatonnes on top of that. These amounts of carbon are begining to heat the Earths surface slowly but surely. Further more, with the rise in average surface tempurature comes a rise in sea level and a greater ratio of salinated water to fresh water as the polar ice caps melt and form a mixture of cold water being dragged longitudially by the oceanic currents. The warmer oceans also provide for a better climate for hurricanes and tropical cyclones. With more latent heat in the oceans, the longer a cyclone will survive, the bigger it will grow and the more frequent they will occur.
Warming
As the carbon sink capacity is over loaded, our world warms. The atmosphere becomes saturated with what was once lakes, and pours it all down somewhere else which probably never had the rain. With each degree that the surface warms, phenominal changes occur. At one degree above average, the oceans begin to warm, bigger, more frequent storms and tropical cyclones form and cycle for longer before dissapating. With the second degree preceeding, oceans begin to rise at a rate that is visible over a decade period, and with the onset of the third degree, plant life and vegetation begin to die off as the ground, which was once moist and full of water, begins to dry out and new desserts form and stretch out further into modern areas which have mostly avoided the desserts.
What is causing the Earths Global Climate Change
The Earth's surface is raising in tempurature because of the amount of 'green house gasses' being poured into our atmosphere. These green houses gasses are stable, reasonably unreactive gasses that act on the Earth based on the same principal as a green house in your Nana's back yard. These gasses do bot react with each other in the atmosphere and act as a blanket around the Earth trapping in heat. Carbon is a major contributor to the green house effect and its common form, CO2, or Carbon Dioxide, is the natural regulator of the surface tempurature. With to little Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere the Earth would plunge into an ice age because all the infrared energy would simply reflect off our surface and beam back out into space as ultraviolet or even radio waves. However, a higher concerntration of Carbin Dioxide in the atmoshpere would only heat the surface because the infrared energy would become trapped under the thick atmosphere.
Global Warming as a new concept
The planet that we stand on is slowly beginning to heat up. The Earths surface has already begun to rise in tempurature. Since 1880, the surface of the Earth has raised by 0.8 degrees centegrade, and scientists of all shapes and sizes have been able to agree on one unmistakable conclusion: we are living in a warming world.
Carbon Sink
Planet Earth has a local phenomenon known as the 'Carbon Sink'. This is the collective group of general 'things' which absorb, use, and store carbon. This can range from trees which contain carbon, to the atmoshphere which contains carbon in the form of Carbon Dioxide [CO2]. This is carbon sink has a limit to the amount of carbon that exists in it, and a limit to the amount of carbon existing in each area of the sink; eg: Atmosphere, or Biosphere.
Carbon Sink Capacity
The carbon sink capacity of the Earths agricultural and degraded soils is around 208 gigatonnes. That is nearing
208 000 000 000 tonnes. This is much greater than it used to be and has increased by 1.3 gigatonnes in the past decade in the United States alone! The carbon sink capacity of the atmosphere is another 54 gigatonnes on top of that. These amounts of carbon are begining to heat the Earths surface slowly but surely. Further more, with the rise in average surface tempurature comes a rise in sea level and a greater ratio of salinated water to fresh water as the polar ice caps melt and form a mixture of cold water being dragged longitudially by the oceanic currents. The warmer oceans also provide for a better climate for hurricanes and tropical cyclones. With more latent heat in the oceans, the longer a cyclone will survive, the bigger it will grow and the more frequent they will occur.
Warming
As the carbon sink capacity is over loaded, our world warms. The atmosphere becomes saturated with what was once lakes, and pours it all down somewhere else which probably never had the rain. With each degree that the surface warms, phenominal changes occur. At one degree above average, the oceans begin to warm, bigger, more frequent storms and tropical cyclones form and cycle for longer before dissapating. With the second degree preceeding, oceans begin to rise at a rate that is visible over a decade period, and with the onset of the third degree, plant life and vegetation begin to die off as the ground, which was once moist and full of water, begins to dry out and new desserts form and stretch out further into modern areas which have mostly avoided the desserts.
What is causing the Earths Global Climate Change
The Earth's surface is raising in tempurature because of the amount of 'green house gasses' being poured into our atmosphere. These green houses gasses are stable, reasonably unreactive gasses that act on the Earth based on the same principal as a green house in your Nana's back yard. These gasses do bot react with each other in the atmosphere and act as a blanket around the Earth trapping in heat. Carbon is a major contributor to the green house effect and its common form, CO2, or Carbon Dioxide, is the natural regulator of the surface tempurature. With to little Carbon Dioxide in our atmosphere the Earth would plunge into an ice age because all the infrared energy would simply reflect off our surface and beam back out into space as ultraviolet or even radio waves. However, a higher concerntration of Carbin Dioxide in the atmoshpere would only heat the surface because the infrared energy would become trapped under the thick atmosphere.