Amy has taught university-level earth science courses and has a PhD in Geology.
While the recent media attention may make climate change seem like a brand new discovery, the climate has been changing for as long as the Earth has been in existence. The topic is so popular now because the climate has begun to change faster and more dramatically than we have previously observed.
So what is climate change? First, let's define climate. Climate is the prevailing weather conditions averaged over a long period of time. For instance, the climate of the Saharan desert is hot and dry, while Seattle is moderate and wet. Many people confuse climate with weather. Weather is the short-term state of the atmosphere in regards to precipitation, pressure, and temperature. For example, a record hot July one year does not mean the climate is changing. However, when we hit record high temperatures over multiple summers in a row, it begins to point toward a changing climate. Remember, climate is weather averaged over a period of time. So when scientists are looking to determine whether the climate is changing, they look at how long new weather patterns have existed.
We can tell from records, like ice cores, that the earth's climate changed due to natural causes before humans populated the earth. Factors such as the composition of the atmosphere, volcanic eruptions, and solar radiation can all affect not only the temperature of the earth, but also long-term weather patterns. Humans, however, are a unique animal because we have vastly changed the appearance of our environments. We have taken forests and plains and changed them into highways and skyscrapers. As we have been learning over the past few decades, these actions have had consequences for our global climate.
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Scientists see the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 1700s as an important turning point in Earth's climate. During the Industrial Revolution, humans transitioned from agrarian jobs to working in factories and industrial settings. These booming factories were burning record amounts of coal and fossil fuels, thereby releasing huge amounts of gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide into the atmosphere. Those gases are important greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases are gases in the atmosphere that are extremely efficient at absorbing solar radiation and slowly releasing it.
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Before we get into the greenhouse effect, let's quickly review Earth's energy balance. So incoming solar radiation from the sun enters the earth's atmosphere. This radiation is either reflected back to space by clouds and snow, or it is absorbed by the earth's land, water, and air and then radiated back to space. Higher greenhouse gas concentrations mean that more heat is being held in the atmosphere instead of being released into space. Therefore, increasing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere raise the overall temperature on earth. The greenhouse effect is similar to placing plastic wrap over a hot casserole to keep it warm: heat is released into the air until you trap it with an impermeable layer.
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Ever since the Industrial Revolution, we have used fossil fuels in our cars, power plants, and in the transport of goods. These activities continue to release greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrogen oxide into our atmosphere. In fact, carbon dioxide concentrations have increased 40% and methane concentrations have increased 250% compared to the pre-Industrial Revolution era.
Another climate impact of burning fossil fuels is the release of black carbon. Black carbon is fine particles in the air released from the incomplete combustion of fossil fuels. Black carbon is not only unhealthy to breathe in, it also absorbs solar radiation because of its low albedo, which further heats up the atmosphere. Albedo refers to the reflectivity of a surface. White surfaces have high albedo because they reflect most of the incoming light. Dark surfaces have low albedo because they absorb most incoming radiation.
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Albedo is an important factor in climate change for another reason. Snow and glaciers are white and have a high albedo, meaning they reflect most solar radiation back to space. As temperatures warm in some areas, glaciers and long-term snow masses begin to melt and lose part of their albedo effect. This means less energy is getting reflected back to space and more energy is getting trapped in our atmosphere.
Climate change is a recent topic of interest due to findings that human activities have begun to change our planet's climate. Climate is weather patterns that have been averaged over long periods of time. The main way humans have changed the climate is through the burning of fossil fuels. Humans began using fossil fuels heavily during the Industrial Revolution during the 1700s and have not stopped. The increase in fossil fuel use has caused carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen oxide, and other greenhouse gases to increase in concentration in our atmosphere. Greenhouse gases act as a blanket that prevents solar energy from being radiated out to space. Our changing climate is evident in the earth's albedo effect. Burning fossil fuels releases black carbon, which has a low albedo and absorbs energy. Rising temperatures are causing our reflective, high albedo surfaces like glaciers to melt, which further aggravates the warming climate.
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TASC Science: Prep and Practice34 chapters | 256 lessons | 21 flashcard sets
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