Climate Change

Climate change today is a relationship between the growing amount of carbon in the atmosphere and how that affects the earth's climate. The oceans store a large amount of heat, and as the currents move north and south, the warm water from the equator region flows towards the poles and warms that water. After that water is warmed, the air above it is warmed and the wind carries that warm air onto the land(How the oceans influence climate, 1993). Another factor in climate change is the affects of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases work as a shield for radiation entering and leaving the earth. The sun's short-wave radiation is still able to penetrate through the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, but long-wave radiation that is trying to leave the earth's atmosphere is blocked. These gases trap radiation from the sun and in turn act to warm the earth's surface. This process would naturally happen, but as the concentration of greenhouse gases increase, more warming is occurring then would naturally otherwise.



Major Greenhouse Gases and Their Characteristics 

Greenhouse gas	How it’s produced	Average lifetime in the atmosphere	100-year global warming potential
Carbon dioxide	Emitted primarily through the burning of fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal), solid waste, and trees and wood products. Changes in land use also play a role. Deforestation and soil degradation add carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, while forest regrowth takes it out of the atmosphere.	see below*	1
Methane	Emitted during the production and transport of coal, natural gas, and oil. Methane emissions also result from livestock and agricultural practices and from the anaerobic decay of organic waste in municipal solid waste landfills.	12 years	28
Nitrous oxide	Emitted during agricultural and industrial activities, as well as during combustion of fossil fuels and solid waste.	121 years	265
Fluorinated gases	A group of gases that contain fluorine, including hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride, among other chemicals. These gases are emitted from a variety of industrial processes and commercial and household uses, and do not occur naturally. Sometimes used as substitutes for ozone-depleting substances such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).	A few weeks to thousands of years	Varies (the highest is sulfur hexafluoride at 23,500)

(Greenhouse Gases, 2014)

"* Carbon dioxide’s lifetime is poorly defined because the gas is not destroyed over time, but instead moves among different parts of the ocean–atmosphere–land system. Some of the excess carbon dioxide will be absorbed quickly (for example, by the ocean surface), but some will remain in the atmosphere for thousands of years, due in part to the very slow process by which carbon is transferred to ocean sediments. "
(Greenhouse Gases, 2014)

Result of Climate Change on the Earth

For those of you who are wondering how the climate is getting warmer if it seems like our winters are getting worse, here is the answer: Weather is what is happening right now if you look outside, but climate and the change in climate is a pattern of weather that is measured over decades. Harsh winters are related to two factors, one dealing with climate change, and one inevitable factor. The inevitable factor is that the earth is structured on a tilted axis as it's revolving around the sun. During a North American winter, the hemisphere is tilted away from the sun which results in the sun's light hitting North America at a different angle and thus making temperatures lower. The increase in snow storms and rain storms do in fact relate back to climate change. The amount of snow falling has increased nationally over the last 50 years in the U.S. : "The 2014 U.S. National Climate Assessment shows some regions of the country have seen as much as 71 percent increase in the amount of rain or snow falling in the heaviest storms between 1958 and 2012" (Is Global Warming Really Happening?).

Largest glacier calving recorded (2012)

Time-lapse glacial melting in Alaska (2012)