1. Assume that you have 100 years of continuous temperature records from your local weather service office. Discuss some of the difficulties you might have trying to determine whether average temperatures have increased during this period. There are multiple reasons why trying to determine whether average temperatures have increased during a 100 years period for a certain area. Weather stations move constantly and are never in the same positions all the time. Techniques and methods for measuring temperatures have changed and are continually changing. Also, depending on the location and population of the area, temperatures will rise when population rises.
2. What are meant by the terms positive and negative feedback mechanisms? Give
…show more content…
Common examples are the ice-albedo mechanism, lower tropospheric water vapor content, and ocean warming. A negative feedback mechanism is if the change in the environment leads to a process that mitigates the change. An example of a positive feedback mechanism during a time of ocean warming is the fact that oceans are able to absorb CO2 into the water surface. When the CO2 increases, it allows the atmosphere to warm which in turn most often warms the oceans. As the temperatures rise, the ocean loses its capability to draw out the CO2. A negative feedback mechanism could be that the cloud cover is increased as the temperature increases. 3. Discuss the significance of a predicted increase in global temperatures of 3 C, as opposed to a predicted increase of 1 C. A predicted increase in global temperatures of 3 C is believed to cause a drastic affect in the quality of life for all things living. Areas that experience more precipitation would be more likely to experience droughts. Due to certain species only being able to evolve and reproduce, their extinction rates could increase because of the changing global temperatures. Probably more of the more interesting aspects are the fact that the sea level would become higher and result in an increase in strong and dangerous hurricanes.
4. The hottest places on earth are not found near the equator in
In the past 50 years, the temperature has changed the most in the northern part of the world.
1 c) Three pieces of evidence that support global warming is that sea levels will rise, warmer seasons and a lot more hurricanes will come.
The first argument examined on the man-made global warning side is that increasing greenhouse gases caused by human activities is causing directly observed climate changes. The first resulting climate change discussed is warming global surface temperature. There has been an increase in global surface temperature of 0.74 degrees C since the late 19th century. In the last 50 years alone the temperature has increased by 0.13 degrees C per decade. North America and Eurasia have seen the largest increase in warmth. However, some areas of the earth have actually cooled some this past century (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para6). After the mid 20th century 70% of the global land mass saw reduced diurnal temperatures. From 1979 to 2005 the maximum and minimum temperatures have shown no change; both indicate warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para10). Furthermore, borehole temperatures, snow cover, and glacier recession data all seem to agree with recent warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para11).
The graph visually represents the various temperature anomaly changes between 1880 and 2005. Temperature anomaly, quite simply, is the deviation from the average temperature for the region over a period of time. It can be either positive or negative, and this data undeniably supports the fact that climate change is very real. In the late nineteenth century, the majority of the temperature anomalies were negative. Unfortunately, Earth has not seen a negative temperature anomaly since 1982. At the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty first, the anomalies were overwhelmingly positive. Visually, the data points create a shape that curves upwards as it progresses. This visual is strengthened by the addition of a regression
According to Penn State University researcher Michael Mann “ the average global temperature was relatively unchanging in pre-industrial times but sky-rocketed since 1900, and will increase by several degrees more over the next 100 years. There is no convincing empirical evidence that past climate was unchanging, nor that 20th century changes in average global temperature were unusual or unnatural”.
Monsoon season has led to changes in temperature worldwide. As an example, the seasonal temperature anomalies from June–July–August (Northern Hemisphere summer, Southern Hemisphere winter). The surface temperature anomalies relative to the base period from 1951 to 1980 are shown in Figure 1 for mid-decade years of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s, and for the past six years. Most regions in recent years are warmer than during 1951 to 1980. However, some areas are cooler than the 1051 to 1980 mean occur every year. For example, the United States was unusually cool in the summer of 2009. Research shows that global warming since 1951 to 1980 is about 0.5-0.6⁰C (about 1⁰F). Even though this seems small compared to weather fluctuations. This level of
Compare and contrast natural versus anthropogenic climate changes. Include at least two (2) specific examples of each.
During the course, we examined multiple charts and graphs on how the temperatures and carbon dioxide levels have increased over the years. For instance, the carbon dioxide levels, which are measured in parts per million (ppm), are currently at a record high at approximately 400 ppm. Carbon dioxide
Over the past hundred thousand years the temperature has changed dramatically but it was not until the 1900’s that it started to rapidly increase and constantly change, but over the past 1,000 the temperature has increased at a rapid rate due to human effects on the rate at which carbon
3. Ice can hold records of the annual rise and fall of greenhouse gases and temperatures going back before the onset of the last ice ages
“Every one of the past 37 years has been warmer than the 20th century average. The 12 warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998. The hottest year ever recorded for the contiguous United States occurred in 2012. Globally the average surface temperature has increased one degree Fahrenheit since the late 1800’s” (Sea Level).
Next, is data showing that increasing greenhouse gases caused by human activities is causing directly observed climate changes. The first resulting climate change discussed is warming global surface temperature. There has been an increase in global surface temperature of 0.74 degrees C since the late 19th century. In the last 50 years alone the temperature has increased by 0.13 degrees C per decade. North America and Eurasia have seen the largest increase in warmth (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para6). Further, the hottest years recorded since instrument recording of temperatures became possible were from 1995 to 2006. Plus, new measurement analysis of the lower and mid-troposphere show comparable temperature rising rates as surface temperatures (Alley et al., 2007, p.5). Also, in this past century the arctic temperature average has doubled in comparison to the global temperature average (Alley et al., 2007, p.7). In addition, borehole temperatures, snow cover, and glacier recession data all seem to agree with recent warming (Easterling & Karl, 2011, para11). Scientists are saying that the difference between the warming period at the end of the Ice Age and the warming happening now is that the warming at the end of the Ice Age was very gradual over a span of 5,000 years, but the warming now is
As the idea of global warming becomes a more avidly discussed topic, we wanted to determine the truth on whether it is actually occurring. Therefore, we decided to complete a study where researchers analyzed the average minimum, average maximum, and average mean temperatures from the years 1948 to 2017, a period of 69 years. In each of the graphs constructed, there is a positive correlation between average temperature and years, meaning that as the years increased so did the temperatures.
Most scientists agree that planet’s temperature has risen 0.5 degree Celsius since 1900 and will continue to increase at an increasing rate. As a result, the world is getting warmer. The year 1990 was the hottest year in the last century.