Global Warming, An Introduction

From the term itself, global warming refers to the observed and projected increases in the average temperature of Earth’s atmosphere and oceans. Between 1906 and 2006, the Earth’s average surface temperature rose between ranges 0.6 to 0.9 degree Celsius. The worse this is, for the last 50 years the temperature increase rate is almost doubling. Another term for global warming is climate change.  Global warming can have many different causes, but the primary issue is the release of excessive amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and water vapor are naturally occurring greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere is actually good in naturally occurring amounts or if it come naturally and not because of human intervention and human activities. Greenhouse gases trap the heat coming from the sun. Heat coming from the sun is absorbed by the Earth’s ocean, land and air. The more greenhouse gases there are present on Earth’s atmosphere, the larger the percentage of heat that is trapped inside the Earth’s atmosphere. Without the greenhouse gases, the Earth’s average surface temperature would be very cold. Greenhouse gases make life possible on Earth.

So, if greenhouse gases are good in the atmosphere, why is that it is believed as the main cause of global warming? The problem begins when people start contributing excessive amounts of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Excessive greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increases the natural temperature. Because as stated earlier, the more greenhouse gases there are, the larger the percentage of heat is trapped inside the Earth’s atmosphere. Over the last 100 years, the Earth has experienced the largest increase in the surface temperature. As the world continues to depend on using fuel energy, greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will continue to rise, comes with them is the Earth’s temperature. Another worse thing is, according to research, the average surface temperature on Earth could increase between 2° C and 6°C by the end of the 21^st century.

If human activities that are causing these scenarios continue, we would expect a warmer temperature as years pass by.

REFERENCE:            http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2010/finalwebsite/background/globalwarming/definition.html

IMAGES:

http://softsupplier.com/global-warming-not-too-serious-study-says-115018/
http://www.greenscroll.org/problem-global-warming.html
http://www.nps.gov/goga/naturescience/climate-change-causes.htm
http://www.factsofworld.com/global-warming-facts