Global Warming
Global Warming is the warming of the Earth resulting from the amount of heat trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
Private and industrial carbon dioxide emissions will cause significant global environmental damage (global warming) unless action is taken to reduce the level of carbon in the atmosphere.
Over the past 100 years, the Earth’s mean surface temperature increased by between 0.4 to 0.8 Celsius. The World Meteorological Organization reports that the warmest 10 years in the past 140 have all occurred since 1983. Some of this change may be natural, but over the past 200 years human activity has altered the world’s atmosphere, and there is ever increasing evidence that these atmospheric changes are having an influence on the climate through the enhanced greenhouse effect.1
Temperature and Carbon Dioxide Concentration 2
The temperature of the surface of the Earth has changed throughout the history of the Earth, increasing during warm periods and decreasing during ice ages. The graph shows the highest concentration of carbon dioxide found between 1950 and 400 000 years prior was 300 parts per million per volume.
Global Atmospheric Concentration of Carbon Dioxide 3
Since the Industrial Revolution, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide increased to 370 parts per million in the year 2000.
This temperature change may not at first seem extreme , however, even changes as small as one degree Celsius can have a dramatic effect on the Earth as we know it.
The effects of global warming are evident. Global warming may cause regional rain patterns to change. Further, melting glaciers and the thermal expansions of seawater may raise global sea levels by between 15 and 95 cm by the year 2100. These are all effects of climate change.
Global Temperatures 4
This image shows the instrumental record of global average temperatures as compiled by the Climatic Research Unit of the University of East Anglia and the Hadley Centre of the UK Meteorological Office4.
This figure were prepared from publicly available data by Robert A. Rohde and are incorporated into the Global Warming Art project.
References
1. From Australian Bureau of Statistics Australia Now, Measuring Australia's Progress. The Headline Indicators: Greenhouse Gases 1370.0-2002) Relative to 1990, average annual temperatures may increase by 0.4° to 2° C by 2030 and by 1 to 6° Celsius by 2070 (CSIRO — Commonwealth (of Australia) Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
2. Temperature and CO2 concentration in the atmosphere over the past 400 000 years. (2000). In UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library. Retrieved 01:05, January 29, 2009 from http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/temperature-and-co2-concentration-in-the-atmosphere-over-the-past-400-000-years.
3. Global atmospheric concentration of CO2. (2000). In UNEP/GRID-Arendal Maps and Graphics Library. Retrieved 01:06, January 29, 2009 from http://maps.grida.no/go/graphic/global-atmospheric-concentration-of-co2.
4. Douglas., C. (1997). "Global Sea Rise: A Redetermination". Surveys in Geophysics 18: 279–292. doi:10.1023/A:1006544227856.