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Global Warming The Greenhouse Effect The greenhouse effect is a term that is used to refer to an atmospheric process. The greenhouse effect is the inability of long wave radiation to escape the atmosphere causing increased air temperature and increasing impurities in the atmosphere. During the last 20 years the media and public have given the topic priority consideration. There is some evidence that the atmosphere is warming and strong indications that the greenhouse effect is responsible. It is apparent that there has been an increase in global temperature of about 0. 5.
C during the past century. The 1980 s went on record as being the warmest decade on record. The only problem with this comparison is that climate records only date back 100 years. With this in mind there is no theory for long-term comparison but there is a short-term alarm.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report calculated that the so-called greenhouse effect would cause the Earths atmosphere to warm by up to 5. 8. C (10. 4. F) by 2100 (CNN). Humans did not create the greenhouse effect; it has been a part of the Earth since it was first formed.
Without the effect the Earth would be a frozen planet. Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and water vapor are the major gasses that help regulate the temperature of the earth by trapping solar energy in the form of heat. The climate goes through a natural regulation of global warming and cooling regardless of human activities. There is an increasing amount of evidence that human induced factors are responsible for recent temperature increases.
The agents are commonly referred to as greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and chlorofluorocarbons. These gasses have a low capacity for transmitting long-wave radiation and as their concentrations increase, more radiation is retained in the lower atmosphere. These gasses cause more terrestrial radiation to become trapped in the lower atmosphere, thus causing temperature increases. Carbon dioxide is responsible for 75 % of the enhanced greenhouse effect. Human activities are responsible for the increasing release of the harmful gasses into the air. I believe our results represent the strongest evidence to date that the Earths climate system is responding to human-induced forcing, said Sydney Levitus of the National Oceanographic Data Center (CNN).
Chlorofluorocarbons (CFC) are synthetic chemicals that until recently became very unpopular. Chlorofluorocarbons are odorless, nonflammable, noncorrosive and nontoxic agents widely used in refrigeration, air conditioning, foam, plastic and in aerosol sprays. Scientists originally believed that CFCs could not possibly have an effect on the environment. Chlorofluorocarbons are stable gasses in the lower atmosphere but are broken down by ultraviolet radiation once they reach the ozonosphere. Under certain conditions CFCs can breakdown ozone layer into oxygen molecules.
As many as 100, 000 ozone molecules can be removed for every chlorine, molecule released. Stratospheric ozone depletion has been correlated with increased levels of radiation reaching ground level in Antarctica, Australia, mountain regions of Europe, Central Canada and New Zealand. The ozone has not only become thinner in places but it has developed a hole over Antarctica and has grown every year since 1988. Nitrous oxide originates from chemical fertilizers and automobile emissions. Methane is a by-product of burning wood, natural gas, coal and oil. All of these gases have been release in an accelerated rate in recent years.
Carbon dioxide appears to be the principle culprit. Carbon dioxide emissions have increased 25 % over the past 25 years. Carbon dioxide is a by-product of any carbon containing substance that has been burned, particularly coal and petroleum. The consumption of fossil fuels has been increasing at a rate of 2. 0 % 2. 5 % per year. Scientists estimate that it would take a 50 % reduction in the burning of fossil fuels to eliminate the current warming trend. The United States emits about 30 percent of the worlds greenhouse gases Moreover; the forests of the world are rapidly being depleted.
Trees are the major absorber of carbon dioxide, with fewer trees, more carbon dioxide floats into the atmosphere. The long-term results of built up, of greenhouse gases are unknown. It is a likely prediction that temperature and weather patterns will continue to change. The release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has heated up the oceans over the last five decades. One scenario is that heat and drought would be prevalent in the mid latitudes and milder temperature would occupy the higher latitudes. Some arid lands might receive more rainfall.
The ice caps would begin melting causing a rise in sea levels. The release of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere has heated up the oceans over the last five decades, according to two new reports. Scientists have been basing studies on climate modeling in correspondence with actual ocean temperatures. They feel that these measurements and will help better predict the effects of greenhouse warming in the future. Oceans can absorb vast amount of heat. The warming of the oceans adds strength to global warming theory and also the predictions of the future.
The severity of the warming impact many not be as severe as predicted because the ocean may diminish the immediate impact (Burroughs 9). The oceans cover 72 % of the planet and can store large amounts of heat at great depths before circulating back into the atmosphere 1000 years later. The oceans of the world are said to have the history of the climate. With the warming of the oceans, warmer water is being carried to the glacier regions, causing melting. More coastal areas can be prone to flooding. Also the ocean currents determine weather patterns, which over the past few years have become erratic and often deadly.
Flash flooding, severe hurricane and destructive oceanic storms caused by the ocean, have destroyed many coastal areas. These massive storm also cause drought on inland countries There was a world treaty put into effect in 1997, the Kyoto environmental treaty. The treaty was against global warming. Recently resident George W.
Bush abandoned the treaty and other nations have become concerned. Britain, Japan and Australia have called on the U. S. to reconsider its position after White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said on March 28, 2001 that the United States had effectively abandoned the treaty it earlier signed.
It is not in the United States economic best interest, Fleischer said, adding that U. S. President George W. Bush has been unequivocal on the matter. U.
S. President George W. Bush opposes the Kyoto pact because it does not bind developing nations to curb emissions. This cap on the U. S.
would but U. S. behind an industrial disadvantage. The reduction of carbon dioxide would cost manufactures money to implement less pollution while developing countries would not have the same restrictions. Former president Bill Clinton signed the treaty in 1998, but the U.
S. Senate has not yet ratified it. The bottom line is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by all countries. Russia and the United States emit 45 % of the world s total carbon dioxide emission.
Most countries are now burning less oil and coal than they had 10 years ago. Developing countries on the other hand have increased emissions as they attempt to build and industrial nation. Our current understanding of the atmosphere and its processes is not enough to understand what damage has been done and what exactly can be done to rectify the damage. Scientists can study the oceans, the atmosphere, the air pollution and weather records of the past; but no one can accurately predict the consequences from the damage that has been done nor can we undo the past. So, now we need to pull together as one-world not separate nations to eliminate further damage. We need to develop alternative forms of energy that do not harm the earth, engineer new filtration systems that eliminate toxins being release into the air.
If we don t pull together on this issue everyone will lose. References Ocean warming induced by humans. web 12 Apr 2001 Alarm after U. S. abandons environment treaty. web 29 Mar 2001 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The Regional Impacts of Climate Change An assessment of Vulnerability. New York City: Cambridge University Press, 1998. Burroughs, William J. The Climate Revealed. New York City: Cambridge University Press, 1999 web web
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Research essay sample on Methane Nitrous Oxide Carbon Dioxide Emissions
