Temperatures are rising this winter and 2015 is about to be the warmest year on record. NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center released figures indicated that this past November was the warmest on record, and December is keeping right up with the trend. NASA and The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) both have data showing that the past seven months in a row have been well above the average temperatures of the last hundred years. World wide winter weather is at an all-time high temperature, and some areas are experiencing conditions up to twenty degrees above average.
This looks like the result of global warming, which has become this big scary monster of a concept that some people are still skeptical of. Really, all global warming is, is "a gradual increase in the overall temperature of the earth's atmosphere generally attributed to the greenhouse effect caused by increased levels of carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, and other pollutants," as defined by Merriam-Webster.
The greenhouse effect likens the Earth to, well, a greenhouse. When the sun's rays enter Earth's atmosphere, they heat up the surface of the earth, which then radiates the heat back outward. Greenhouse gasses, or GHG's such as Carbon dioxide (CO2) and chlorofluorocarbons, act like the glass in a greenhouse, they trap some of this heat, keeping Earth's average temperature pretty constant. The problem is, the the level of greenhouse gasses is rising, which means that more and more heat from the sun is being trapped in Earth's atmosphere. Global warming is more than just a climate change issue. The increased levels of GHG's are causing issues from rising ocean acidity, to increased temperatures, to higher numbers of droughts and floods, and more violent storms.
Since the rise of industrialization, CO2 levels have risen exponentially. For the past 800,000 years, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide have consistently fluctuated from 180 - 280 ppm (parts per million) From 1950 until now, however, levels of carbon dioxide have increased yearly, and now have exceeded 400 ppm. That might not sound like such a huge jump, but considering that these CO2 levels are completely unprecedented, it's definitely a cause for worry. The Earth’s natural cycle oscillated between 180 ppm and 280 ppm, that's a 100 ppm amplitude. Now, if it increased to 400, that's a 100 ppm increase, meaning that in just the past century the amount of carbon in the air has doubled. Since carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and has a heat trapping nature, the extreme increases of CO2 in the atmosphere is going to have an impact on the overall temperature of the Earth.
Not only does an increase in atmospheric CO2 effect temperature, but it also effects the acidity of the ocean. Carbon Dioxide in the air is absorbed by the ocean at a rate of 300 tons per second. That's translates to roughly one third of man made carbon emissions. Although this could potentially slow down climate change, it's putting tremendous strain on ocean life. The absorption of CO2 is causing the pH of the ocean to decline, meaning that it is becoming more acidic. The ocean is slightly basic, with an average pH of around 8.2. However, recent studies show that there was a 0.1 decrease in pH, lowering the average to 8.1. This decrease might not seem like much, but since pH is logarithmic, a 0.1 decrease in pH is equivalent to a 30% increase in acidity. Ocean acidification puts significant stress on marine organisms, resulting in a higher mortality rate in ocean life.
Increases in temperature due to high levels of greenhouse gasses have various effects, including rising sea sea levels, and shrinking glacial ice. This past decade has held several years of well above average temperatures, but sea levels have been steadily rising over the course of the last hundred years. The total rise in sea levels over the last century is around 17 cm. However, the rate of the rise in sea temperature in the past decade is almost double to the rate over the last century. Sea levels are rising due to melting glacial ice. Since 1979, the total area of glacial ice has declined by over 30%. Over the past 3 decades, more than a million square miles of perennial sea ice (ice that has survived at least one year) has melted away. Recent studies by the Snow and Ice Data Center show that in addition to the extreme loss in ice, the new ice is much thinner and younger, meaning that there is less ice being frozen than in previous years. This newer, thinner ice has an increased chance of melting and will be less likely to re-freeze once it melts.
Although global warming is natural to some extent, the large, rapid increase in CO2 has “forced” climate change. It traps more heat and moisture in the air, which has an effect on the most abundant greenhouse gas, water vapor. Higher temperatures increase the atmosphere's capacity to hold water vapor, allowing it to accumulate in the atmosphere, This can cause extreme droughts and flooding. The atmosphere now holds 4% more water vapor than it did forty years ago. Because the air can hold more water, this increases the possibility of longer periods of time between rainfalls, creating dry-spells and droughts. there is a larger chance that there will be heavier rainfall for longer periods of time. On the other hand, if the atmosphere can hold more water, when it does rain there is more potential for heavy rainfall for longer periods of time and flooding.
Rising temperatures are doing extreme damage to Earth's ecosystems, and it's only going to get worse unless awareness is brought to this important issue, and appropriate action is taken. Who knows, maybe this not-so-white Christmas will get some more people interested in climate change, and what can be done to reverse the negative impact it's having on the Earth.
