Global warming is mainly a process that uses the atmosphere of the earth as a blanket to hold energy from the sun to heat the air. As of now the global warming process has made the earth’s atmosphere hotter up to around 60 degrees Fahrenheit compared to the latter years. The effects of global warming are being experienced throughout the earth with increased temperatures and irregular weather patterns. The world has undergone several climatic changes over the past centuries. These past changes occurred slowly ranging over a period of hundreds of thousand years, but the process has been moving much faster in recent years compared to the past. This has been blamed on the increase in man’s activities that continue to trigger the process to move faster.
The Process of Global Warming
The process of global warming is a natural process that occurs naturally in the atmosphere. However it is understood that the greenhouse effect refers to the warming that would occur beyond normal temperatures. For example inside a greenhouse, sunlight moves through the walls of the surrounding glass and the ceilings. The objects in the greenhouse then absorb the sunlight before reflecting it as heat energy. The heat energy is trapped by the glass thus making it not to escape and brings a warming effect within the greenhouse. This is the same way global warming leads to the greenhouse effect across the world. This process involves:
- Greenhouse gasses. Within the atmosphere there are several gasses that accumulates together allowing sunlight to move past them while trapping the heat. These gasses (referred to as greenhouse gasses) include carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane among other gasses. There are several sources of these gasses mainly natural and man-made sources.
Greenhouse gas emissions from natural sources consist of volcanic out-gassing, oceanic evaporation and animal biological processes. They tend to keep on constant, but geological records suggest that major volcanic events are evident.
Greenhouse gasses from man-made sources involve the industrial and agricultural processes that lead to a higher percentage of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In terms of industries, fossil burning for fuels is the highest contributor of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. Agriculturally, the clearing of forests leads to an increase in the output of carbon by soil leading to high population of livestock producers and high volume of methane in the atmosphere.
- Here comes the sun. When the Earth moves around the sun, it is continuously exposed to light from the sun. Most of this light moves through the Earth's atmosphere to strike the land and oceans. During the day, land and sea absorb sunlight. The sunlight is then converted to heat energy or infrared in the process. This process happens naturally during the day.
- An extra blanket. During nighttime, the land and water radiates their stored heat energy into the atmosphere. This process naturally is supposed to lead to this heat escaping through to space. However with the increase in greenhouse gasses within the atmosphere, however, a higher amount of heat is reflected back into the atmosphere. This heat that is reflected leads to an increase in average temperatures of the atmosphere. Scientists have estimated the average temperature of the earth’s atmosphere has moved higher by 1.33 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century. So they are projecting the temperatures to move further higher as more greenhouse gasses are being released to the atmosphere due to man’s actions.
Works Cited
Bily, Cynthia A. Global Warming. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2006. Print.
Gavin, Neil, Liam Leonard-Milsom, and Jessica Montgomery. "Climate Change, Flooding and the Media in Britain." Public Understanding of Science. 20.3 (2011): 422-438. Print.
Shaw, Chris. "The Dangerous Limits of Dangerous Limits: Climate Change and the Precautionary Principle." The Sociological Review. 57 (2009): 103-123. Print.
