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Global Warming

YOUR NAME DIT 1 Task 3 COURSE INSTRUCTOR January 24, 2021

Global Warming

Global warming is a phenomenon in which the average air temperature nearing the surface of the earth increases. This phenomena has been going on for the past two centuries and climate scientists have gathered detailed data and observations of the various atmospheric conditions and weather patterns that reveal the traces of global warming. The information collected reveals that earth’s climate has shifted in almost all timescale since the commence of geologic time and that human activities, especially after the Industrial revolution, have resulted in climate change. Global warming occurs when human activities affect the surface temperatures around the earth through changing the radiative balance on the earth between what comes into the earth in the day and what the earth emits during the night. The greenhouse gases emitted from the surface of the earth radiate back to it, causing the atmosphere to retain more heat. This condition increases the temperature on the earth and thus alters the precipitation patterns. Global warming is caused by various factors including the greenhouse effect, ozone layer depletion, and other human activities. The greenhouse effect is one of the causes of global warming. The average temperature on the surface of the earth is maintained through a balance of varying forms of terrestrial and solar radiation. Terrestrial radiation has low frequencies and long wavelengths. These radiations lie among the infrared part of the electromagnetic spectrum. Solar radiation, on the other hand, is a short wave with high frequencies and short wavelengths (Grover, 2010). This type of radiation is among the visible part of the spectrum. Solar radiation comes into the earth’s surface from the sun but only a small fraction of it enters the atmosphere and is reflected back to space. The rest of the radiation may be absorbed into the surface or the atmosphere. In order to maintain a balance in the thermodynamic equilibrium, the atmosphere and earth’s surface must radiate a similar amount of absorbed radiation to space. Traces of greenhouse gases with specific chemical

properties, majorly nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide absorb some of the radiation radiated by the earth’s surface to be reflected to space. This implies that the radiation which enters the earth’s atmosphere is not reflected back with an equal ratio. The earth’s surface is forced to produce more radiation. This results in increased temperatures on the surface of the earth, hence the results of global warming. Human activities are major causes of global warming through changing radiative balance on the surface of the atmosphere at various scales. One of these activities is through greenhouse gases. As explained, greenhouse gases are dangerous to the atmosphere. Because of industrialization, human beings have begun to produce greenhouse gases in their activities. One such gas is water vapor. The warmer the surface of the earth, the greater the evaporation rate. This condition leads to greater concentration of the water vapor in the lower atmosphere which makes it absorb longwave radiations coming from the earth (Anderson, 2012). Humans have also increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by burning coal, fossils, and in the production of electrical power and cement. Another human activity which influences global warming is landuse chance. This is majorly through the alteration of the surface reflectance. An example is the replacement of various forests by pasture and cropland in the past centuries which has resulted in greater reflections from solar radiation in those areas. The exchange of heat between the atmosphere and the surface of the earth has been influenced through this land change. Deforestation is another major example in this phenomenon which results in heating of the surface because of latent heat. In addition, the carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increases in its rate because the trees which absorbed it have been chopped up (Oshitani, 2016). This results in an increase in its quantities in the atmosphere, as a result leading to high temperatures on the surface of the earth. This in turn leads to global warming.

The depletion of the ozone layer is another cause of global warming. This can be categorized as part of human activity but it is wide enough to be considered as an independent cause. Since the early 1970s, there has been a witnessed loss of ozone layer from the stratosphere, a condition which has led to negative radiative forcing in the surface of the earth. The negative forcing in this condition showcases a competition between two effects resulting from the fact that the ozone absorbs the solar radiations from the earth’s surface (Dincer, et al., 2010). As the ozone is depleted, increased solar radiations reach the surface of the earth. This implies that the earth is forced to produce more radiations to reflect back in order to maintain a balance between the radiations. The ozone layer is meant to absorb the radiation from the earth, but because it is depleted, it cannot function as intended and thus more radiation remains in the earth’s atmosphere. This results in the increase of temperature within the earth, and causes the phenomenon of global warming. Global warming is the general increase of heat on the surface of the earth. This phenomenon is linked to extreme weather conditions around the world. The rise in temperatures on earth have fueled longer heat waves, heavier rainfall, powerful hurricanes, and frequent droughts. This in turn results in some other consequences such as melting glaciers, rising sea levels, disruption of habitats, and outbreaks of infections due to air pollution. For these reasons, it is essential to develop ways through which global warming can be reduced or stopped all together. These ways are meant to stop the human activities which cause the phenomenon such as using lead free fuels, reducing air pollution, among others. While global warming is not only caused by humans, it is essential to take steps to ensure that the phenomenon is stopped, or at least reduced to curb its consequences. References

Anderson, M. (2012). Global Warming. New York: Britannica Educational Publishing in association with Rosen Educational Services. Dincer, I., Midilli, A., Hepbasli, A., & Karakoc, T. H. (2010). Global Warming: Engineering Solutions. Boston, MA: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC Grover, V. I. (2010). Global warming and climate change [v. 1]: Ten years after Kyoto and still counting. Enfield, NH: Science Publishers. Oshitani, S. (2016). Global warming policy in Japan and Britain: Interactions between institutions and issue characteristics. Manchester: Manchester University Press....