Global warming - causes

Causes of climate
change

• Burning fossil fuels, cutting down forests

and farming livestock are increasingly
influencing the climate and the earth’s
temperature.
• This adds enormous amounts of
greenhouse gases to those naturally
occurring in the atmosphere, increasing
the greenhouse effect and global warming.
Global warming
• 011-2020 was the warmest decade recorded, with global
average temperature reaching 1.1°C above pre-industrial levels
in 2019. Human-induced global warming is presently increasing
at a rate of 0.2°C per decade.
• An increase of 2°C compared to the temperature in pre-
industrial times is associated with serious negative impacts on
to the natural environment and human health and wellbeing,
including a much higher risk that dangerous and possibly
catastrophic changes in the global environment will occur.
• For this reason, the international community has recognised the
need to keep warming well below 2°C and pursue efforts to limit
it to 1.5°C.
Greenhouse gases
Causes of emission
CAUSES
CAUSES
AND
EFFECTS
 Strength of sun
• Almost all of the energy that affects the climate on Earth
originates from the Sun. The Sun’s energy passes through
space until it hits the Earth’s atmosphere. Only some of
the solar energy intercepted at the top of the atmosphere
passes through to the Earth’s surface; some is reflected
back into space and some is absorbed by the atmosphere.

• The energy output of the Sun is not constant: it varies over

time and this has an impact on our climate.
Changes in earth
axis,axial tilt and
precession.

• The three changes in the Earth’s orbit around the Sun

— eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession — are
collectively called ‘Milankovitch cycles’.

• According to Milankovitch’s theory, these three cycles

combine to affect the amount of solar heat that
reaches the Earth’s surface and subsequently
influences climatic patterns, including periods of
glaciation (ice ages). The period between these
changes can be tens of thousands of years
(precession and axial tilt) or more than hundreds of
thousands of years (eccentricity).
 The Earth’s orbit

• The Earth’s orbit around the Sun is an ellipse (an oval shape),
but it isn’t always the same shape of ellipse. Sometimes, it is
almost circular and the Earth stays approximately the same
distance from the Sun throughout its orbit. At other times, the
ellipse is more pronounced, so that the Earth moves closer
and further away from the Sun in its orbit.

• When the Earth is closer to the Sun, our climate is warmer and
this cycle also affects the length of the seasons. The measure
of a shape’s deviation from being a circle, in this case the
Earth’s orbit, is called ‘eccentricity’.
The Earth’s
axial tilt
• The tilt in the axis of the Earth is
called its ‘obliquity’. This angle
changes with time, and over
about 41 000 years it moves from
22.1° to 24.5° and back again.
When the angle increases the
summers become warmer and
the winters become colder.

•
 Precession
• The Earth wobbles on its axis, much like a
spinning top that is slowing down. This is
called ‘precession’ and is caused by the
gravitational pull of the Moon and the Sun
upon the Earth. This means that the North
Pole changes where it points to in the sky.
Currently the Earth’s axis points at Polaris,
the North Star, but over thousands of
years the axis moves around in a circle and
points at different parts of the sky. It
impacts on the seasonal contrasts
between hemispheres and the timing of
the seasons.
Quantity of greenhouse gases
• Greenhouse gases include carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4)
and water vapour. Water vapour is the most abundant
greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, but it stays in the
atmosphere for a much shorter period of time: just a few days.
CH4 stays in the atmosphere for about nine years until it is
removed by oxidation into CO2 and water. CO2 stays in the
atmosphere much longer, from years to centuries, contributing to
longer periods of warming. These gases trap solar radiation in
the Earth’s atmosphere, making the climate warmer.
 Changes in ocean
currents

• Ocean currents carry heat around the Earth. As the oceans

absorb more heat from the atmosphere, sea surface
temperature increases and the ocean circulation patterns that
transport warm and cold water around the globe change. The
direction of these currents can shift so that different areas
become warmer or cooler. As oceans store a large amount of
heat, even small changes in ocean currents can have a large
effect on global climate. In particular, increases in sea surface
temperature can increase the amount of atmospheric water
vapour over the oceans, increasing the quantity of greenhouse
gas. If the oceans are warmer they can’t absorb as much carbon
dioxide from the atmosphere.
Co2 content of the
ocean
• The oceans contain more CO2 in total than the
atmosphere and exchanges of CO2 occur
between the oceans and the atmosphere.
CO2 absorbed in ocean water does not trap heat
as it does in the atmosphere.

• The world’s oceans absorb about a quarter of the

CO2 we release into the atmosphere every year.
As atmospheric CO2 levels increase so do the
ocean’s CO2 levels.
Plate tectonics and
volcanic eruptions
• Over very long periods of time, plate tectonic processes cause continents to
move to different positions on the Earth. For example, Britain was near to the
equator during the Carboniferous Period, around 300 million years ago, and
the climate was warmer than it is today. The movement of the plates also
causes volcanoes and mountains to form and these can also contribute to a
change in climate. Large mountain chains can influence the circulation of air
around the globe, and consequently influence the climate. For example, warm
air may be deflected to cooler regions by mountains.
• Volcanoes affect the climate through the gases and particles (tephra/ash)
thrown into the atmosphere during eruptions. The effect of volcanic gases
and dust may warm or cool the Earth’s surface, depending on how sunlight
interacts with the volcanic material.
•
 Plate tectonics and
volcanic eruptions
• During major explosive volcanic eruptions, large amounts of volcanic gas, aerosol
droplets and ash are released.
• Ash falls rapidly, over periods of days and weeks, and has little long-term impact
on climate change. However, volcanic gases that are ejected into the stratosphere
stay there for much longer periods. Volcanic gases such as sulphur dioxide (SO2)
can cause global cooling, but CO2 has the potential to cause global warming.
• In the present day, the contribution of volcanic emissions of CO2 into the
atmosphere is very small; equivalent to about one per cent of anthropogenic
(caused by humans) emissions.
CHANGES IN LAND COVER
• On a global scale, patterns of vegetation and climate are closely correlated.
Vegetation absorbs CO2 and this can buffer some of the effects of global warming.
On the other hand, desertification amplifies global warming through the release of
CO2 because of the decrease in vegetation cover.

• A decrease in vegetation cover, via deforestation for example, tends to increase local
albedo, leading to surface cooling. Albedo refers to how much light a surface reflects
rather than absorbs. Generally, dark surfaces have a low albedo and light surfaces
have a high albedo. Ice with snow has a high albedo and reflects around 90 per cent
of incoming solar radiation. Land covered with dark-coloured vegetation is likely to
have a low albedo and will absorb most of the radiation.
 METEORITE
IMPACT
• Nowadays, most of what is on the Earth stays on the Earth; very little
material is added by meteorites and cosmic dust. However,
meteorite impacts have contributed to climate change in the
geological past; a good example is the Chicxulub crater, Yucatán
Peninsula in Mexico.

• Large impacts like Chicxulub can cause a range of effects that

include dust and aerosols being ejected high into the atmosphere
that prevent sunlight from reaching the Earth. These materials
insulate the Earth from solar radiation and cause global
temperatures to fall; the effects can last for a few years. After the
dust and aerosols fall back to Earth, the greenhouse gases (CO2,
water and CH4) caused by the interaction of the impactor and its
‘target rocks’ remain in the atmosphere and can cause global
temperatures to increase; these effects can last decades. .
 Feedbacks

• Each of these factors contributes to changes in the Earth’s climate,

but the way they interact with each other makes it more
complicated. A change in any one of these can lead to additional and
enhanced or reduced changes in the others.
• For example, we understand that the oceans can take CO2 out of
the atmosphere: when the quantity of CO2 in the atmosphere
increases, the temperature of the Earth rises. This in turn would
contribute to a warming of the oceans. Warm oceans are less able to
absorb CO2 than cold ones, so as the temperature rises, the oceans
release more CO2 into the atmosphere, which in turn causes the
temperature to rise again.
• This process is called ‘feedback’. A positive feedback accelerates a
temperature rise, whereas a negative feedback slows it down.