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GLOBAL WARMING AND CLIMATE CHANGE

Article by Rincy Varghese

When it comes to connecting the dots between climate change, extreme weather and

health, the lines are clear. The earth is saying something with record heat, drought, storms

and fire. Scientists are telling us this is what global warming looks like.It's time to listen

and take action. There's plenty we can do. Carbon pollution is the main reason our planet is

getting hotter, increasing the chances of weather disasters, drought and flood and hurting

our health.

Global surface temperatures have increased about 0.74C (plus or minus 0.18C) since the

late-19th century, and the linear trend for the past 50 years of 0.13C (plus or minus 0.03C)

per decade is nearly twice that for the past 100 years. The warming has not been globally

uniform. Some areas have, in fact, cooled slightly over the last century. The recent warmth

has been greatest over North America and Eurasia between 40 and 70N. Lastly, seven of

the eight warmest years on record have occurred since 2001 and the 10 warmest years have

all occurred since 1995.

Thousands of land and ocean temperature measurements are recorded each day around

the globe. This includes measurements from climate reference stations, weather stations,

ships, buoys and autonomous gliders in the oceans. These surface measurements are also

supplemented with satellite measurements. These measurements are processed, examined

for random and systematic errors, and then finally combined to produce a time series of

global average temperature change. A number of agencies around the world have produced

datasets of global-scale changes in surface temperature using different techniques to

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process the data and remove measurement errors that could lead to false interpretations of

temperature trends (see Instrumental temperature record). The warming trend that is

apparent in all of the independent methods of calculating global temperature change is also

confirmed by other independent observations, such as the melting of mountain glaciers on

every continent, reductions in the extent of snow cover, earlier blooming of plants in spring,

a shorter ice season on lakes and rivers, ocean heat content, reduced Arctic sea ice, and

rising sea levels. Some of these indicators.

Global average temperature is one of the most-cited indicators of global climate change,

and shows an increase of approximately 1.4F since the early 20th Century. The global

surface temperature is based on air temperature data over land and sea-surface

temperatures observed from ships, buoys and satellites. There is a clear long-term global

warming trend, while each individual year does not always show a temperature increase

relative to the previous year, and some years show greater changes than others. These year-

to-year fluctuations in temperature are due to natural processes, such as the effects of El

Nios, La Nias, and the eruption of large volcanoes. Notably, the 20 warmest years have all

occurred since 1981, and the 10 warmest have all occurred in the past 12 years.

Indirect indicators of warming such as borehole temperatures, snow cover, and glacier

recession data, are in substantial agreement with the more direct indicators of recent

warmth. Evidence such as changes in glacial mass balance (the amount of snow and ice

contained in a glacier) is useful since it not only provides qualitative support for existing

meteorological data, but glaciers often exist in places too remote to support meteorological

stations. The records of glacial advance and retreat often extend back further than weather

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station records, and glaciers are usually at much higher altitudes than weather stations,

allowing scientists more insight into temperature changes higher in the atmosphere.

There are solutions. For starters, we can cut carbon pollution by reducing our dependence

on fossil fuels and increasing our use of clean, renewable energy. And we can implement

policies that help us prepare for flooding, drought, storms and other consequences of

climate change. But first, we need national leadership that will stop ignoring what the earth

and scientists are telling us about climate change -- and instead start ignoring those who

continue to deny it is happening.