Global warming

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Global mean surface temperature change from 1880 to 2019

A simple video explanation of global warming

Places that were warmer (Red) and cooler (Blue) in 2015 than in previous average

In the Northern Hemisphere, unusually hot summers have become more common (relative to 1951–1980
mean), according to Hansen et al.(2012) as a consequence of global warming.

Global warming is a slow and steady rise in Earth's surface temperature.[1][2] Temperatures
today are 0.74 °C (1.33 °F) higher than 150 years ago.[3] Many scientists say that in the next
100–200 years, temperatures might be up to 6 °C (11 °F) higher than they were before the
effects of global warming were discovered. Most noticeable changes by this increase in
temperature is the melting of ice caps all around the world. Sea level is rising steadily as a result
from continental ice melting into the sea. As a prediction, many cities are soon to be partially
submerged in the ocean. Consequently, many part of the world have a major increase in
temperature.
Among the Greenhouse gases, the concentration and increase of carbon dioxide in
the atmosphere appears to be the main cause of global warming, as predicted by Svante
Arrhenius a hundred years ago, confirming the work of Joseph Fourier more than 200 years ago.
When people usefossil fuels like coal and oil, this adds carbon dioxide in the air.[4] When people
cut down many trees (deforestation), this means less carbon dioxide is taken out of the
atmosphere by those plants.
As the Earth's surface temperature becomes hotter the sea level becomes higher. This is partly
because water expands when it gets warmer. It is also partly because warm temperatures
make glaciers melt. The sea level rise causes coastal areas to flood.[5] Weather patterns,
including where and how much rain or snow there is, will change. Deserts will probably increase
in size. Colder areas will warm up faster than warm areas. Strong storms may become more
likely and farmingmay not make as much food. These effects will not be the same everywhere.
The changes from one area to another are not well known.
People in government and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have talked
about global warming. They do not agree on what to do about it. Some things that could reduce
warming are to burn less fossil fuels, adapt to any temperature changes, or try to change the
Earth to reduce warming. The Kyoto Protocol tries to reduce pollution from the burning of fossil
fuels. Most governments have agreed to it. Some people in government think nothing should
change. The gas produced by cows digestion also causes global warming, because it contains a
greenhouse gas called methane.[6]

Contents

 1Temperature changes
o 1.1The greenhouse effect
o 1.2The Sun
o 1.3Dust and dirt
 2Some responses
 3Etymology
 4Effects of global warming on sea levels
o 4.1Cities affected by current sea level rise
o 4.2OECD 2007 report
 5Further reading
 6Related pages
 7References
 8Other websites
o 8.1Public administrations and organizations
o 8.2Other links
o 8.3BBC articles

Temperature changes[change | change source]

See also: Temperature record of the past 1000 years
A graph of temperatures over the past two thousand years from different proxy reconstructions.

Climate change has happened many times over the history of the Earth, including the coming
and going of ice ages. For more recent centuries, we have more details.
Since the 1800s, people have recorded the daily temperature. By about 1850, there were enough
places measuring temperature so that scientists could know the global average temperature.
From 1920 to 1940, the temperature got warmer. From 1940 to 1970, the temperature got slightly
cooler. From 1970 to today, the average temperature for the world has increased by about 0.6 ±
0.2 °C (1.1 ± 0.4 °F).[7] Starting in 1979, satellitesstarted measuring the temperature of the Earth.
Before 1850, there were not enough temperature measurements for us to know how warm or
cold it was. Climatologists use proxy measurements to try to figure out past temperatures before
there were thermometers. This means measuring things that change when it gets colder or
warmer. One way is to cut into a tree and measure how far apart the growth rings are. Trees that
live a long time can give us an idea of how temperature and rain changed while it was alive.
For most of the past 2000 years the temperature didn't change much. There were some times
where the temperatures were a little warmer or cooler. One of the most famous warm times was
the Medieval Warm Period and one of the most famous cool times was the Little Ice Age. Other
proxy measurements like the temperature measured in deep holes mostly agree with the tree
rings. Tree rings and bore holes can only help scientists work out the temperature until about
1000 years ago. Ice cores are also used to find out the temperature back to about half a million
years ago.
The greenhouse effect[change | change source]
Main article: Greenhouse effect

Fossil fuel related CO2 emissions compared to five IPCC scenarios. The dips are related to global
recessions.

Coal-burning power plants, car exhausts, factory smokestacks, and other man-made waste gas
vents give off about 23 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the Earth's
atmosphere each year. The amount of CO2 in the air is about 31% more than it was around
1750. About three-quarters of the CO2 that people have put in the air during the past 20 years
are due to burning fossil fuel like coal or oil. The rest mostly comes from changes in how land is
used, like cutting down trees.[8]
The Sun[change | change source]
Main article: Sun
The sun gets a little bit hotter and colder every 11 years. This is called the 11-year sunspot cycle.
The change is so small that scientists can barely measure how it affects the temperature of the
Earth. If the sun was causing the Earth to warm up, it would warm both the surface and high up
in the air. But the air in the upper stratosphere is actually getting colder, so scientists don't think
changes in the sun have much effect
Dust and dirt[change | change source]
Dust and dirt in the air come from natural sources such
as volcanos,[9][10] erosion and meteoric dust. People also add to it when they burn coal or oil.
Some of this dirt falls out within a few hours. Some is aerosol, so small that it could stay in the air
for years. The aerosol particles that humans put in the atmosphere make the earth colder. The
effect of dust therefore cancels out some of the effects of greenhouse gases.[11]

Some responses[change | change source]

Some people try to stop global warming, usually by burning less fossil fuel. Many people have
tried to get countries to emit less greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Protocol was signed in 1997. It
was meant to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to below their levels in
1990. However, carbon dioxide levels have continued to rise.
Energy conservation is used to burn less fossil fuel. People can also use energy sources that
don't burn fuel, or can prevent the carbon dioxide from getting out.
People can also change how they live because of any changes that global warming will bring.
For example, they can go to places where the weather is better, or build walls around cities to
keep flood water out. Like the preventive measures, these things cost money, and rich people
and rich countries will be able to change more easily than the poor. Geoengineering is also seen
by some as one climate change mitigation response. For example, a process
using nanotechnology has been found to remove carbon dioxide from the air to
create ethanol.[12][13][14]

Etymology[change | change source]

The term global warming was first used in its modern sense on 8 August 1975 in a science paper
by Wally Broecker in the journal Science called "Are we on the brink of a pronounced global
warming?". Broecker's choice of words was new and represented a significant recognition that
the climate was warming; previously the phrasing used by scientists was "inadvertent climate
modification," because while it was recognized humans could change the climate, no one was
sure which direction it was going. The National Academy of Sciences first used global warming in
a 1979 paper called the Charney Report, it said: "if carbon dioxide continues to increase, we find
no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no reason to believe that these changes
will be negligible." The report made a distinction between referring to surface temperature
changes as global warming, while referring to other changes caused by increased CO2 as climate
change.
Global warming became more widely popular after 1988 when NASA climate scientist James
Hansen used the term in a testimony to Congress. He said: "global warming has reached a level
such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a cause and effect relationship
between the greenhouse effect and the observed warming." His testimony was widely reported
and afterward global warming was commonly used by the press and in public discourse.

Effects of global warming on sea levels[change | change source]

Global warming means that Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets are melting and the oceans are
expanding. The term "global warming" was created by Wallace Smith Broecker. Recent climate
change would still cause a 6 meters (20 ft) sea-level rise even if greenhouse gas emissions were
reduced in 2015 per a scientific paper in Science.[15][16]
Low-lying areas such as Bangladesh, Florida, the Netherlands and other areas face massive
flooding.[17][18]
Cities affected by current sea level rise[change | change source]

Places the would be flooded by a 6 meters (20 ft) sea level rise

Many cities are sea ports and under threat of flooding if the present sea level rises.
These and the other cities have either started trying to deal with rising sea level and
related storm surge, or are discussing this, according to reliable sources.

 London [19]
 New York City[20][21][22][23][24]
 Norfolk, Virginia, in Hampton Roads area of United States [25][26]
 Southampton [27]
 Crisfield, Maryland, United States [28]
 Charleston, South Carolina [29]
 Miami, Florida, has been listed as "the number-one most
vulnerable city worldwide" in terms of potential damage to
property from storm-related flooding and sea-level rise.[30][31]
 Saint Petersburg [32]
 Sydney, Australia [33]
 Jakarta [34]
 Thatta and Badin, in Sindh, Pakistan [35]
 Malé, Maldives
 Beijing, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Mexico
City, Moscow, New Delhi, Rio de Janeiro [23]
OECD 2007 report[change | change source]
From a 2007 OECD report;

1. Miami, USA
2. Guangzhou, P.R. of China
3. New York-Newark, USA
4. Kolkata, India
5. Shanghai, P.R. of China
6. Mumbai, India
7. Tianjin, P.R. of China
8. Tokyo, Japan
9. Hong Kong, P.R. of China
10. Bangkok, Thailand
11. Ningbo, P.R. of China
12. New Orleans, USA
13. Osaka-Kobe, Japan
 14. Amsterdam, The Netherlands
15. Rotterdam, The Netherlands
16. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
17. Nagoya, Japan
18. Qingdao, China
19. Virginia Beach, USA
20. Alexandria, Egypt
Another seven cities that are exposed to coastal flooding:

 Rangoon, Myanmar
 Hai Phòng, Vietnam
 Khulna, Bangladesh
 Lagos, Nigeria
 Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire
 Chittagong, Bangladesh
 Jakarta, Indonesia

Further reading[change | change source]

 Why you should sweat climate change March 1, 2013 USA
Today
 Report Blames Climate Change for Extremes in Australia March
4, 2013 The New York Times
 It's Global Warming, Stupid November 1, 2012 BusinessWeek
 Extremely Bad Weather: Studies start linking climate change to
current events November 17, 2012; Vol.182 #10 Science News
 Global Temperatures Highest in 4,000 Years March 7, 2013 The
New York Times
 IPCC. 2007 Climate change 2007. the physical science basis.
(summary for policy makers) IPCC.
 Jones C. Climate change: facts and impacts [online]. Available
from: What effects are we seeing now and what is still to come?
 Miller C. and Edwards P.N. (eds) 2001. Changing the
Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental
Governance, MIT Press.
 Ruddiman W.F. 2003. The anthropogenic greenhouse era
began thousands of years ago, Climate Change 61 (3): 261-293.
 Ruddiman W.F. 2005. Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: how
humans took control of climate. Princeton University Press.

Related pages[change | change source]

 Climate change
 James Hansen
 Stern Review
 Storms of My Grandchildren
 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
 350.org

References[change | change source]

1. ↑ Campbell, Neil A. 2009. Biology concepts & connections; page
119. Retrieved 2010-07-21.
2. ↑ Hansen, James (July 2012) (PDF). The New Climate Dice:
Public Perception of Climate Change. New York, USA: Dr James
E. Hansen, Columbia University.
3. ↑ IPCC (2007). "Summary for policymakers" (PDF). Climate
change 2007: The physical science basis: Contribution of Working
Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved 2009-07-03.
4. ↑ Thompson (Climate Central), Andrea (May 19,
2016). "Atmospheric CO2 May Have Topped 400 PPM
Permanently". InsideClimate News. Retrieved August 12,2016.
5. ↑ Justin Gillis (3 September 2016). "Flooding of Coast, Caused by
Global Warming, Has Already Begun; Scientists' warnings that the
rise of the sea would eventually imperil the United States' coastline
are no longer theoretical". New York Times. Retrieved 18
October 2016.
6. ↑ Boadi, D.; Benchaar, C.; Chiquette, J.; Massé, D. (2004).
"Mitigation strategies to reduce enteric methane emissions from
dairy cows: Update review". Can. J. Anim. Sci. 84 (3): 319–
335. doi:10.4141/a03-109.
7. ↑ "Climate change 2001: the scientific basis". UNEP/GRID-Arendal
(Grida.no). Retrieved 2010-11-03. UNEP/GRID-Arendal
8. ↑ "Climate change 2001: the scientific basis". Grida.no.
Retrieved 2010-11-03.
9. ↑ "Sun-dimming Volcanoes Partly Explain Global Warming
Hiatus". Scientific American. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
10. ↑ Volcanoes that act as air-conditioning for a warming world; Many
small eruptions over the past decade or so have helped restrain
climate change May 2014 issue Scientific American
11. ↑ "Aerosols: Tiny Particles, Big
Impact". earthobservatory.nasa.gov. 2010-11-02. Retrieved 2019-
05-02.
12. ↑ Avery Thompson (October 17, 2016). "Scientists Accidentally
Discover Efficient Process to Turn CO2 Into Ethanol; The process
is cheap, efficient, and scalable, meaning it could soon be used to
remove large amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere". Popular
Mechanics. Retrieved October 18, 2016.
13. ↑ "Nano-spike catalysts convert carbon dioxide directly into
ethanol". Oak Ridge National Laboratory. October 12, 2016.
Retrieved October 18, 2016.
14. ↑ BEC CREW (19 October 2016). "Scientists just accidentally
discovered a process that turns CO2 directly into ethanol".
ScienceAlert. Retrieved 25 October 2016.
15. ↑ John von Radowitz (July 13, 2015). "Rising oceans impact
'enormous'". Times of Malta. TimesOfMalta.com. Retrieved 24
October 2015.
16. ↑ Dutton, A.; A. E. Carlson, A. J. Long, G. A. Milne, P. U. Clark, R.
DeConto, B. P. Horton, S. Rahmstorf, M. E. Raymo (10 July
2015). "Sea-level rise due to polar ice-sheet mass loss during past
warm periods". Science (journal) 349(6244). DOI:
10.1126/science.aaa4019. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
17. ↑ McKie, Robin; editor, science (7 March 2009). "Scientists to
issue stark warning over dramatic new sea level figures".
Retrieved 23 January 2017 – via The Guardian.
18. ↑ President Trump, Military Split on Climate Change at YouTube
19. ↑ Floods in London. [1] Royal Geographical Society
20. ↑ "Sea Level Rise - NYS Dept. of Environmental
Conservation". New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
21. ↑ interactive map from Climate Central
 22. ↑ "Mapping Sea Level Rise to Help Recovery after Hurricane
Sandy". U.S. Global Change Research Program. Retrieved 23
January 2017.
23. ↑ Jump up to:23.0 23.1 World Bank, World Development Report 2010, 91.
24. ↑ Climate change in New York City
25. ↑ Noguchi, Yuki (2014-06-24). "As Sea Levels Rise, Norfolk Is
Sinking And Planning". NPR. Retrieved 2014-11-25.
26. ↑ "National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate
Change". TemplateLab.com. CNA Military Advisory Board. May
2014. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
27. ↑ http://www.iapsc.org.uk/document/R_Crighton.pdfInvestigation of
Air Pollution Standing Conference
28. ↑ Montgomery, David (2013-10-24). "Crisfield, Md., beats back a
rising Chesapeake Bay". Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
29. ↑ Two cities, two very different responses to rising sea levels July
2, 2015 PBS NewsHour
30. ↑ Jeff Goodell (June 20, 2013). "Goodbye, Miami". Rolling Stone.
Retrieved June 21, 2013. The Organization for Economic Co-
operation and Development lists Miami as the number-one most
vulnerable city worldwide in terms of property damage, with more
than $416 billion in assets at risk to storm-related flooding and
sea-level rise.
31. ↑ Climate Change Economics February 2015 National Geographic
32. ↑ "Coastal floods in Russia". Retrieved 23 January 2017.
33. ↑ "Most at risk: Study reveals Sydney's climate change 'hotspots'".
29 April 2008. Retrieved 23 January 2017.
34. ↑ Cities, Connecting Delta. "Cities : Jakarta : Climate change
adaptation :: Connecting Delta Cities". Retrieved 23 January2017.
35. ↑ Khan, Sami (2012-01-25). "Effects of Climate Change on Thatta
and Badin". Envirocivil.com. Retrieved 2013-10-27.

Other websites[change | change source]

Find more about
climate change
at Wikipedia's sister projects

Definitions from Wiktionary

Media from Commons

News stories from Wikinews

Quotations from Wikiquote

Source texts from Wikisource

Textbooks from Wikibooks

 Learning resources from
Wikiversity

 The Climate Change Guide easy-to-understand information on

Climate Change
 [en.citizendium.org/wiki/Global_warming Glass bal warming] -
Citizendium
Public administrations and organizations[change | change source]

 US EPA climate change and global warming website

 The UN Climate Change Secretariat
 United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP): Climate
Change Page
 Introduction to climate change: Lecture notes for meteorologists
 European Union page about Climate Change.
Other links[change | change source]

 Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding

Climate change
 The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
 Climate Change - An Information Statement of the American
Meteorological Society, updated Feb. 2007.
 Summary of the Impacts of Climate Change from The Nature
Conservancy
 Climate change and global warming - World Wide Fund for
Nature.
 Global Change - globalchange.org
 Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact
Assessment (2004) by the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment
 How To Help Prevent Global Warming Articles And Newsletter
 UN scientist backs '350' target for CO2 reduction
 Climate change dates back to dawn of first farmers March 3,
2013 USA Today
BBC articles[change | change source]

 Oct 2018: What is Global Warming?

 Ongoing: BBC Climate Change Experiment
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