Is Climate Change Really Happening Now?
Throughout Earth’s history, the planet’s climate has gone through several temperature fluctuations, thereby causing several cycles of glacial advance and retreat. Most of these climate changes are due to subtle variations in the planet’s orbit which varies the amount of solar energy the planet receives. Other factors include biotic processes, fluctuations in the Sun’s energy and plate tectonics.
The eventuality of a climate change is ultimately inevitable, it being a natural process as a result of Earth’s reactions to the goings on within and around it. But is climate change really happening now?
Yes, scientists have been recording compelling evidence that climate change is real and that global warming has already begun. The indicators are:
Rising Global Temperatures. Scientific reports have shown that the current global warming trend began around 1880 with some of the warmest years occurring since 1981. But what’s even more alarming is that 15 out of the top 16 warmest years in NASA’s 134-year record have taken place since the year 2000, which could only mean that the warming has greatly accelerated.
Warming Oceans and Ocean Acidification. Oceans makes up a huge portion of the planet and for good measures. These actually do a darn good job at soaking up excess heat from the atmosphere and distribute it more evenly throughout the planet. With its heat insulating capabilities, it serves as a good indicator for the changing climate and it has been noted that since 1969, up to 2,300 feet of the ocean’s surface have significant elevated temperatures. Also, as the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere increased, more I being absorbed into the oceans, increasing the acidity of surface ocean waters.
Shrinking Ice Sheets. Among many other things, there is a growing concern in the decreasing Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets. NASA’s records reveal that between 2002 and 2005, Antarctica has lost about 152 cubic kilometers of ice, while Greenland has lost between 150 to 250 cubic kilometers of ice every year between 2002 and 2006.
Declining Artic Sea Ice. Another indicator is the rapid decrease of the extent and thickness of the Arctic sea ice during recent decades.
Glacial Retreat and Decreased Snow Cover. Glaciers in various locations including the Alps, the Andes, the Himalayas, the Rockies, Alaska, and Africa are retreating, while the coverage of Spring snow in the Northern Hemisphere decreased during the last five decades.
Rising Sea Levels. With the melting of ice sheets and sea ice, sea levels have noticeably risen. In the last century, global sea level rose to about 17 centimeters. However, in the last decade, it further increased to nearly double that of the last century.
Extreme Events. Burning temperatures, pouring rains, flooding, drought, devastating earthquakes and a myriad of other natural disasters have been recorded the world over and the frequency of these occurrences have been surprisingly and alarmingly high.
These scientific evidence are very hard to ignore. So what can we do to rectify the problem. Will we still have an opportunity to do so?