1a. Name and describe one observation of climate change on planet Earth. 1b. How
ID: 292179 • Letter: 1
Question
1a. Name and describe one observation of climate change on planet Earth.
1b. How is this change detected? (Think: what evidence is recorded).
2. Detection is one part of the climate change conversation; the other part is attribution. Attributing cause(s) for a change can be difficult for a variety of reasons. Discuss your thoughts about attributing cause to climate change. Be sure to specifically comment on the role of humans.
How do we reconstruct climate? What evidence/data sources do we use? Consider natural causes of climate change. Consider human-induced causes of climate change. How does the climate system work?
Explanation / Answer
1a. Name and describe one observation of climate change on planet Earth.
Global warming- The heating up of the earth’s surface due to increase of the greenhouse gases which trap heat from the atmosphere.This has resulted in the melting of ice caps and increase in sea levels and has impacted ecosystems on ice. E.g. the polar bears have decreased ice surfaces for hunting and foraging for prey for food as a result of which it has impacted their health. This could in turn be responsible for dwindling their already endangered populations
1b. How is this change detected? (Think: what evidence is recorded).
The melting of polar ice caps and rising sea levels has been the biggest change detected as a result of global warming. The average global sea levels have risen up to 8inches across the world and this has further doubled in the last 20 years.
2. Detection is one part of the climate change conversation; the other part is attribution. Attributing cause(s) for a change can be difficult for a variety of reasons. Discuss your thoughts about attributing cause to climate change. Be sure to specifically comment on the role of humans.
Humans have contributed to global warming by burning of fossil fuels which release carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which traps heat and as a result of which the earth’s temperature has increased. The average earth's surface temperature has increased by nearly 0.7o Celcius. Also using Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) is one of the main reasons behind the holes in the ozone layer. The ozone layer is an envelope layer around the earth that protects the earth from the ultraviolet radiations from the sun.
How do we reconstruct climate? What evidence/data sources do we use? Consider natural causes of climate change. Consider human-induced causes of climate change. How does the climate system work?
We can construct climate using climographs which shows the average temperature and precipitation of a particular location during a year. The months can be labelled on the horizontal axis between divisions, the temperature on the left vertical axis and rainfall on the right vertical axis. Thus you can accordingly make bars on the graph. Natural causes of climate change include volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, changes in solar energy and natural changes in the greenhouse gases. Human induces include deforestation, burning of fossil fuels such as coal, oils and natural gas, using CFC's and aerosols etc. Climate system is majorly influenced by the sun and is an interactive system comprising of the biosphere, atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere and lithosphere.
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