Global warming and climate change pdf

This website provides a high-level overview of some of the known causes, effects and indications of global climate change:. Brief descriptions of some of the key scientific observations that our planet is undergoing abrupt climate change. A concise discussion of the primary climate change causes on our planet. A look at some of the likely future effects of climate change, including U.

Vital Signs. Graphs and animated time series showing real-time climate change data, including atmospheric carbon dioxide, global temperature, sea ice extent and ice sheet volume. Earth Minute. This fun video series explains various Earth science topics, including some climate change topics.

While experiencing some of the hottest summers on record, much of the United States has also been experiencing colder-than-normal winters. Changes in climate can cause the polar jet stream — the boundary between the cold North Pole air and the warm equatorial air — to migrate south, bringing with it cold, Arctic air.

This is why some states can have a sudden cold snap or colder-than-normal winter, even during the long-term trend of global warming, Werne explained.

One cold or warm year or season has little to do with overall climate. It is when those cold or warm years become more and more regular that we start to recognize it as a change in climate rather than simply an anomalous year of weather," he said.

Global warming may also lead to extreme weather other than cold or heat extremes. For example, hurricane formations will change. Though this is still a subject of active scientific research, current computer models of the atmosphere indicate that hurricanes are more likely to become less frequent on a global basis, though the hurricanes that do form may be more intense.

Global warming increases that temperature difference. Hurricanes are called typhoons in the western North Pacific, and they're called cyclones in the South Pacific and Indian oceans. Lightening is another weather feature that is being affected by global warming.

According to a study, a 50 percent increase in the number of lightning strikes within the United States is expected by if global temperatures continue to rise. The researchers of the study found a 12 percent increase in lightning activity for every 1.

NOAA established the U. The number of extreme weather events that are among the most unusual in the historical record, according to the CEI, has been rising over the last four decades. Scientists project that extreme weather events, such as heat waves, droughts, blizzards and rainstorms will continue to occur more often and with greater intensity due to global warming, according to Climate Central. These changes will likely include major shifts in wind patterns, annual precipitation and seasonal temperatures variations.

In addition, because high levels of greenhouse gases are likely to remain in the atmosphere for many years, these changes are expected to last for several decades or longer, according to the U.

In the northeastern United States, for example, climate change is likely to bring increased annual rainfall, while in the Pacific Northwest, summer rainfall is expected to decrease, the EPA said. Ice melt One of the primary manifestations of climate change so far is melt. North America, Europe and Asia have all seen a trend toward less snow cover between and , according to research published in the journal Current Climate Change Reports. According to the National Snow and Ice Data Center, there is now 10 percent less permafrost, or permanently frozen ground, in the Northern Hemisphere than there was in the early s.

The thawing of permafrost can cause landslides and other sudden land collapses. It can also release long-buried microbes, as in a case when a cache of buried reindeer carcasses thawed and caused an outbreak of anthrax.

One of the most dramatic effects of global warming is the reduction in Arctic sea ice. Sea ice hit record-low extents in both the fall and winter of and , meaning that at the time when the ice is supposed to be at its peak, it was lagging. The melt means there is less thick sea ice that persists for multiple years. That means less heat is reflected back into the atmosphere by the shiny surface of the ice and more is absorbed by the comparatively darker ocean, creating a feedback loop that causes even more melt, according to NASA's Operation IceBridge.

Glacial retreat, too, is an obvious effect of global warming. Only 25 glaciers bigger than 25 acres are now found in Montana's Glacier National Park, where about glaciers were once found, according to the U. Geological Survey. A similar trend is seen in glacial areas worldwide.

According to a study in the journal Nature Geoscience, there is a 99 percent likelihood that this rapid retreat is due to human-caused climate change.

Some glaciers retreated up to 15 times as much as they would have without global warming, those researchers found. IceBridge project sciencist Michael Studinger calls this photo a textbook example of a receding glacier, one that's shrinking in size. The dark, arc-shaped piles are terminal and lateral moraines, jumbled rock piles left behind as the glacier recedes. A small, frozen lake sits at the left-hand terminus of the glacier.

Taken in Thomsen Land, northeast Greenland. Sea levels and ocean acidification In general, as ice melts, sea levels rise. In , the World Meteorological Organization reported that sea-level rise accelerated 0. This is around double the average annual rise of 0. The author examines the major influences, with lessons for the present, on how the story was reframed. Global Warming and Climate Change ». She looks at everything from the bias of different scientific disciplines to the dominance of economic rationalism, to Judeo-Chrisitian attitudes to the natural world, as well as providing a detailed record of who was advising which politician when, traversing the cliffs and ravines of a global challenge from a uniquely Australian perspective.

There is no better book for a comprehensive, easily digested overview of Australia's response so far to what will no doubt prove to be our greatest challenge in the decades ahead. Graham Readfearn, writing for The Guardian reviews What Australia knew and buried … then framed a new reality for the public, by Maria Taylor. Readfearn writes:. We will not charge you for the book until it ships. Pricing for a pre-ordered book is estimated and subject to change. All backorders will be released at the final established price.

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