Welcome to Climate Change Guide
Questions And Answers About Climate Change Article
. For a permanent link to this article, or to bookmark it for further reading, click here.
Global Climate Change Simultaneously Affecting the Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Cryosphere, and Biosphere
from:The earth has been changing temperature since the beginning of time. Global climate change is the reflection of the differences of average temperature as the earth heats up or cools down over time. Global climate change is not a localized phenomenon, nor is it the rapid changes we see in seasons or short periods such as days. These quick changes are called temperature changes. Climate is a more stable concept that changes gradually over thousands of years.
Many scientists have studied global climate change that occurs naturally, but more recently a new science of how humans have affected global climate change has surfaced on the forefront. You will find that many scientists from various fields such as meteorology, oceanography, physics, geology, chemistry. biology, and sociology, just to name a few, have teamed up to add their body of knowledge to this new field of study.
If all the heat in the earth’s atmosphere were to escape to outer space the planet would be too cold to sustain life. The atmosphere is a natural blanket of gases, which keeps certain levels of heat within the earth and regulates a certain amount to escape. However, the rise in greenhouse gas emissions manipulated by human activity has disrupted the natural balance of the planet to regulate itself. It now believed that man is causing this artificial global climate change.
The hydrosphere is the water that surrounds our earth, from the air found in the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans below. Oceans cover at least 70 percent of the earth surface; they act as a major conductor of heat absorbed from the sun. Ocean currents carry the heat from the equator up to each of the earth’s poles. Evaporating water, and quantity of rainfall, also affect the oceans water level and affect their ability to move water around the globe. The ocean, seas, and major water bodies will also impact upon the people of the earth in terms of floods and droughts etc.
We have seen from the past how the ocean’s ability to absorb and move heat around the earth contributes to global climate change and whether by natural means or anthropogenic (manmade activity) they will continue to do so.
The cryoshere represents cold water in solid form such as ice and glaciers. The cryosphere has also a major impact upon global climate change. When there are prolonged warmer climatic changes this solid form of water melts and changes in the ice surfaces will in turn affect the air, sea levels, ocean currents, and weather patterns.
Ice capped surfaces also reflect heat back out into space. When these surfaces are diminished the heat remains in the earth’s atmosphere warming the planet.
The Artic is now experiencing global warming with rising temperatures never seen in 400 years. Polar Ice caps are rapidly melting; especially within the last two decades.
The biosphere is the ecosystem that sustains all forms of life on this planet. The global climate change will effect plant and animal life and disrupt the food chain and habitat of flora and fauna around the world. Many animals live in very specialized “niches” and any prolonged temperature change can become a threat to their very survival.
Questions And Answers About Climate Change News
Teachers Endure Balancing Act Over Climate Change Curriculum
Watch Video | Listen to the Audio JEFFREY BROWN: And now to our series called Coping With Climate Change that examines how communities around the country are dealing with unfolding changes. Tonight, Hari Sreenivasan focuses on the challenges of teaching about climate science. CHERYL MANNING, high school science teacher: Talk about what is -- what have you heard? HARI SREENIVASAN: Cheryl Manning ...
Read more...Dept of Climate Change rebuts Plimer’s book for sceptic kids
The Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency have confirmed that they crafted and published a document after public outrage from teachers and scientists about Ian Plimer's climate change sceptic book aimed at children. Read more... Read more on the blog...
Read more...Lockerbie families still seek answers from Libya
For relatives of the people who died in the 1988 Lockerbie bombing, the death Sunday of the only man who was convicted stirred up questions once again about his guilt and whether others went unpunished.
Read more...Are You Smarter Than a 10th Grader on Climate Change?
Think you understand climate science better than the average American teen? On the PBS NewsHour this week we've been focusing on how climate change is taught in the classroom . But you can test your knowledge with this climate quiz: The quiz is a sampling of questions from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication , a group focused on assessing knowledge, understanding and belief in ...
Read more...What is global dimming?
This Q&A is part of the Guardian's ultimate climate change FAQ • See all questions and answers • Read about the project Measurements from the 1960s to the early 1990s, backed up by a wide range of data and a number of independent studies, showed there were substantial declines in the amount of the sun's energy reaching the Earth's surface. This reduction is known as "global dimming". The ...
Read more...