Added: 03/14/2006 |
Climate Science - The Art of Global Warming.No one denies that our life depends greatly on the climatic conditions of the region in which we live in. Climate is thoroughly studied and investigated. There is a climate science that studies climates and investigates their phenomena and causes are called climatology. In its turn, climatology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences.
Unlike meteorology that studies short term weather systems and foresees the weather conditions for a few weeks, climate science studies the frequency with which these weather systems occur. It does not study certain atmospheric phenomena (for example cloud formation, rainfall and thunder), but their average happening over years to millennia.
In addition, object of this science interest is changes in long-term average weather patterns, in relation to atmospheric conditions. Climatology considers both past and potential future climate change. Climatology is rather multiform science. The study of climate science interest is huge and diverse. It includes the atmospheric boundary layer, circulation patterns, heat transfer (radioactive, convective and latent), interactions between the atmosphere and the oceans and land surface (particularly vegetation, land use and topography), and the chemical and physical composition of the atmosphere.
This science is closely connected with such disciplines as chemistry, ecology, geology, geophysics, glaciology, hydrology, oceanography, and volcanology. Such diversity of related disciplines can be explained by a variety of factors influencing weather and climate:
- Astronomical factors such as the tilt of the Earth's axis
- The climate character of a region
- The time of year/season
- The time of day
- Volcanic activity
- Chemical composition of the atmosphere, including the influence of human impacts such as heat from cities, agriculture practices, and the burning of fossil fuels.
Climate research is made difficult by the large scale, long time periods, and complex processes which govern climate.
These days the global climate science focuses on the urgent problem of climate changes and the scientific community has reached a strong consensus concerning this problem - the world is undoubtedly warming. Temperatures at the Earth's surface increased by an estimated 1.4°F (0.8°C) between 1900 and 2005. The past decade was the hottest of the past 150 years and perhaps the past millennium. The hottest 22 years on record have occurred since 1980, and 2005 was the hottest on record. This warming is largely the result of emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases from human activities including industrial processes, fossil fuel combustion, and changes in land use, such as deforestation.
Projections of future warming suggest a global increase of 2.5F (1.4C) to 10.4F (5.8C) by 2100, with warming in the United States expected to be even higher. Unaddressed, climate change will have significant impacts across the United States and around the world. It will cause the additional sea-level rise that will gradually inundate coastal areas, changes in precipitation patterns, increased risk of droughts and floods, threats to biodiversity, and a number of potential challenges for public health. These changes, over time, are referred to broadly as "climate change".
Addressing climate change is no simple task. It requires fundamental transformation of the already existent way we power our global economy, shifting away from fossil fuel and searching more efficient and renewable sources of energy. The climate science community continues to investigate the possible consequences of the global warming. Most projections of future impacts do not address what could happen if warming continues beyond 2100, which is inevitable if steps to reduce emissions are not taken, or if the rate-of-change accelerates. There are several centers on global climate change. Their objective is to educate policy makers and people about the causes and potential consequences of climate change and to develop practical and effective solutions to this important environmental challenge.
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