How scientists learn about past global temperatures and climates
The core climatic trends as well as its change are learnt by the scholars from the retrospective. Scientists conduct the assessment and evaluation of the changes, which have taken their places and the temperature of our planet over time. In such manner, better understanding is achieved by the scholars regarding such aspects of climate change as global warming. In addition, they make some estimations about the possible reasons of global warming and the forecasts regarding its further development.The set of the approaches has been discovered by the scholars in relation to the investigation of the earth’s climate, while referring to its trends from the historical perspective - thousands, or even more millions years ago.
Paleoclimatologists are the scholars, whose area of specialization is the ancient climate. This word comes from Greek root word paleo, pertaining to ancient times. The natural environmental elements are used by these scholars for gaining the information about the “proxy climate”, which is related to the ancient times. In the process of investigation of this type of information, the set of various techniques and approaches is applied into the practice by these scholars. First of all, it pertains to investigation and assessment of the rings of particular types of trees (for instance, Californian giant sequoias and redwoods). In the process of its growth, the tree adds the new layer of wood in the annual basis. That is why, the age of the ancient trees may be determined by simple countering of these rings as well as the climate-related factors may be traced from the nature of wood at each particular year.
One more approach, which is widely applied into the practice by the paleoclimatologists, pertains to the analysis of the samples of varves. This material provides the critically essential data regarding the climate changes as it is perceived by the scientists as the climate records, dating for several thousand years ago. There are two layers, analyzed in this case - the thick layer of silt, which has the light color and the sand which is sharped in the timeframe of spring and summer seasons; the second layer is the thinner layer of clay (which has the dark color) – it is shaped in the winter period and is located at the bottom of the water body.
One more essential source of information for the paleoclimatologists is represented by the coral reefs. Finally, these scholars investigate the ancient ice for gaining the knowledge regarding the coldest places of the planet (scienceclarified.com, 2008).
The greenhouse effect
The greenhouse effect may be defined as the exchange of outgoing and incoming radiation which plays the contributing role for warming the Earth. The core reason of entitling this affect as greenhouse is the fact that there is a set of similarities in the work of greenhouse and the radiation layers for the earth (Lallanila, 2015).
Greenhouse gases and their role in current climate change
The molecules of gas, which absorb thermal infrared radiation, are currently represented in the quantity, which may be referred as significant for making its impact on the climate system. Such types of the gas molecules are referred in the scientific literature as the greenhouse gases. For instance, CO2 (Carbon dioxide) as well as the set of other greenhouse gases absorb IR radiation as well as create the barrier for its escaping into outer space. This effect is similar to the one, made by blanket.
As a result, it is possible to trace the gradual heating of atmosphere and surface of our planet. Scientific literature represents this process as ‘global warming’. When this effect is supplemented by the increased levels of the emission of greenhouse gases, it causes the global increase of temperature rates all over the world (global warming). This trend, in turn, is estimated to have the profound implications for the climate and the natural environment of the Earth (Lallanila, 2015).
One piece of data scientists offer to show that the climate is changing globally
It was indicated by the scholars that the significant changes in the climate of our planet have taken their places throughout history. For instance, the set of the cycles of glacial retreat and advance has occurred within the last 650,000 years. The start point of the current era of climate has taken its place 7,000 years ago. It is considered by the scientists that one of the core reasons for such climate changes was the set of insignificant variations of the Earth’s orbit, which in turn, have led to the changes of the total amount of the solar energy, received by the planet. While discussing the current trends of global warming, the scholars attribute it to the activities of humans in the timeframe of last 1,300 years (NASA, 2016).
Expected impacts of climate change in your area (California)
Recently the reduced snowpack, which was mainly caused by the warming temperatures, was traced in the Southwest region of USA. It is claimed by the scholars that the following changes may be expected in this region (and California, in particular):
Increasing temperature rates combined with more severe and more frequent droughts. This trend is estimated to lead to the increased competition for water resources in such areas as energy production, agriculture and in domestic use of population of the big cities.
The threats for the invasive species and wildfire would be posed by the drought in the region (EPA, 2016).
References
EPA (2016) Climate Change Impacts. Retrieved from: www3.epa.gov/climatechange/impacts/
Lallanila, M. (2015) What Is the Greenhouse Effect? Retrieved from: http://www.livescience.com/37743-greenhouse-effect.html
NASA (2016) Climate change: How do we know? Retrieved from: http://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/
Scienceclarified.com (2008) The Study of Climate Change. Retrieved from: http://www.scienceclarified.com/scitech/Global-Warming/The-Study-of-Climate-Change.html
