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Climate Change Explained

The document summarizes climate change and the greenhouse effect. It explains that the sun's energy warms the Earth's surface and some of this heat is absorbed by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, trapping heat and preventing temperatures from declining too much. While these gases naturally maintain a livable temperature, human activities have disrupted the natural carbon dioxide cycle and caused its concentration to increase, intensifying the greenhouse effect and leading to climate change.

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Dexter Rabo
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244 views2 pages

Climate Change Explained

The document summarizes climate change and the greenhouse effect. It explains that the sun's energy warms the Earth's surface and some of this heat is absorbed by greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, trapping heat and preventing temperatures from declining too much. While these gases naturally maintain a livable temperature, human activities have disrupted the natural carbon dioxide cycle and caused its concentration to increase, intensifying the greenhouse effect and leading to climate change.

Uploaded by

Dexter Rabo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Climate change explained

The Earths climate is driven by a continuous flow of energy from the sun.
Energy in the form of heat, from the sun, passes through the Earths atmosphere and
warms the Earths surface.
As the temperature increases, the Earth sends heat energy (infrared radiation) back
into the atmosphere.
Some of this heat is absorbed by gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide
(CO2) , water vapour, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and halocarbons.

CO2?
Carbon dioxide, or CO2, is the most significant of the gases in our atmosphere which
keep the Earth warm.
4 billion years ago its concentration in the atmosphere was much higher than today 80% compared to today's 0.03%. But most of it was removed through photosynthesis
over time. All this carbon dioxide became locked in organisms and then minerals such
as oil, coal and petroleum inside the Earth's crust.
A natural carbon dioxide cycle keeps the amount of CO2 in our atmosphere in balance.
Decaying plants, volcanic eruptions and the respiration of animals release natural CO2
into the atmosphere, where it stays for about 100 years. It is removed again from the
atmosphere by photosynthesis in plants and by dissolution in water (for instance in the
oceans).
The amount of naturally produced CO2 is almost perfectly balanced by the amount
naturally removed. But even small changes caused by human activities can have a
significant impact on this balance.

THE GREENHOUSE EFFECT


These gases, which are all naturally occurring, act as a blanket, trapping in the heat
and preventing it from being reflected too far from the Earth. They keep the Earth's
average temperature at about 15C: warm enough to sustain life for humans, plants and
animals. Without these gases, the average temperature would be about -18C... too cold
for most life forms. This natural warming effect is also sometimes called the
greenhouse effect.

Global warming refers to surface temperature increases, while

"

climate change includes global warming and everything else that increasing
greenhouse gas amounts will affect."

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