GLOBAL WARMING

A PRESENTATION BYROBIN

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GLTSBM

Global Warming• an average increase in

the temperature of the atmosphere near the Earth’s surface and in the troposphere1, which can contribute to changes in global climate patterns

Causes • Burning of fossil fuels (Coal/Crude oil)

– Power plants generate electricity

– Transportation-----fuels for transports (E.g. LPG,

kerosene, fuel oil)

– Industrial processes (E.g. manufacture of cement, steel, aluminium)

Causes• Other greenhouse

gases emission

– Agriculture– Forestry– Other land uses– Waste management

Besides carbon dioxide, other

gases such as methane,

chlorofluorocarbons, nitrogen

oxides and ozone also

contribute to the greenhouse

effect.

Example : Using natural gas to cook CH4 + 2O2 CO2 + 2H2O

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere↓

Some infrared radiation is trapped ↓

Greenhouse effect

Serious greenhouse effect

Global Warming

How serious the problem is?...

Increase in greenhouse gases• Concentration of greenhouse gases

in the atmosphere is highly increasing by human activities

→ Leads to the increasing seriousness of global warming

Global surface temperatures

– increased about 0.6°C/century since the late19th century

– increased to 2°C/century over the past 25 years

Increase in Global temperatures

Temperature difference between different parts of atmosphere• troposphere temperatures (the

lowest 8 kilometers of the Earth's atmosphere) collected since 1979 also indicate warming

• Cooling effect in higher parts of the atmosphere: stratospheric temperatures have been decreasing

Increasing temperature extremes• Regions that have temperatures (1-

3°C) warmer than the average: – United States – Most of the Europe

• Regions that have temperatures (1-3°C) cooler than the average: – Australia

Sea level rising• rising at an average rate of 1 - 2

mm/year over the past 100 years

Environmental and Human

Effects

Air QualityAn increase in the

concentration of ground-level ozone

Damage lung tissue

Harmful for those with asthma and other chronic lung

diseases

Food supply

Rising temperatures and variable precipitation

Decrease the production of staple foods in many of the poorest

regions

Increasing risks of malnutrition

Population displacement

Rising sea levels

Increase the risk of coastal flooding

(Necessitate population displacement)

• More than half of the world's population now lives within 60km of the sea.

• Most vulnerable regions: Nile delta in Egypt, the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta in Bangladesh, many small islands, such as the Maldives, the Marshall Islands and Tuvalu.

Measures on controlling the problem

• Government

* set some laws to limit the amount of pollutants produced by factories

* develop the skills of using renewable fuels, e.g. solar energy, wind energy

* encourage the factories to replace fossil fuels by renewable fuels, which would not cause environmental pollution

* carry out energy saving scheme → reduce the pollution produced by burning fossil fuels

* build more plants → reduce the pollutants e.g. CO2

Measures on controlling the problem

THE END