Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual increase in the average temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere and its oceans, resulting in a permanent change in the Earth’s climate.
The Earth has been experiencing a continued increase in its mean atmospheric temperature by about 1.4 degrees F and about two thirds of it occurring since 1980.
Scientific evidence indicates that since 1950, the world’s climate has been warming, primarily as a result of emissions from non -stop burning of fossil fuels and the razing of tropical forests. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas emitted through human activities. Human activities are altering the carbon cycle—both by adding more CO2 to the atmosphere and by altering nature’s ability to remove CO2 from the atmosphere by reducing our forest reserves. While CO2 emissions come from a variety of natural sources, human-related emissions are responsible for the increase that has occurred in the atmosphere since the industrial revolution. The global emissions jumped 3 percent in 2011 and are expected to jump another 2.6 percent in 2012, researchers reported.
Global warming Causes
There are many causes leading to global warming, primary among them being the increase in greenhouse gases that is produced by burning fossil fuel and deforestation, thus intensifying the greenhouse effect leading to global warming. The four major gases contributing to the greenhouse effect are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane and ozone. The major non-gas contributor to the Earth’s greenhouse effect, clouds, also absorb and emit infrared radiation and thus has an effect on radiative properties of the atmosphere.
Global warming Effects
The consequences of global warming are expected to be far-reaching, long-lasting and, in some cases, devastating for planet Earth. One of the most immediate and obvious effect of global warming is the rise in temperature around the world. Scientists have found that the number and severity of extreme...