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1. Regulators of the planet clime
The most important reason that determinates the clime of nowadays is the
amount of heat that leaves and receives the earth. The heat gets out of the
earth when the surface of the planet reaches heat after of being heated by thesolar energy.
The greenhouse gases of our atmosphere allow the lower atmosphere to
absorb the heat that is reached by the earths surface, the biosphere keeps this
heat. Without the greenhouse gases, the earth would be an iced world.
In spite of this, there are more elements that determine the clime of the earth.
They are latitude, altitude, place location, water masses, ocean currents and
big forests.
1.1. Altitude
The altitude respect the sea level affects in the highest or lowest heating of wind
masses. The wind that is nearer of the earth surface is hottest, decreasing its
temperature as we get higher. Each 100 meters, the temperature increases 6,4
C.
1.2. The location
The situation of a place, on the coasts or inside the continents, will be a factor
to remember at the moment of establishing the climate of this zone, knowing
that the water get warm and get cool slower than the land, seas and oceans
smooth the extreme temperatures both in winter and in summer, the sea is a
thermal regulator.
The relief is the different form that the terrestrial surface presents. The shape of
the land has been formed principally by the displacement of the plates of the
surface that form alterations of the earth surface.
Another factor that helps the formation of different reliefs are the winds that
produce erosion in them, which is tended to get in the same level. It spoils the
highest parts of the mountain chains and tends to fill with the alluviums.
Moreover, in the highest sectors there are major differences of temperatures
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that in the lowest sectors. Despite of this, lower sectors in general present major
relative dampness.
In conclusion, the distance respect the sea is an important factor. Places
situated near the sea have a lower thermal oscillation and a higher relativedampness than places situated far away from the sea.
How ocean currents work
The marine currents are formed by the wind thrust on the sea. When the earth
turns on itself, the marine currents twist and flow in the oceans in enormous
circles called drafts.
The hot currents move away from the equator, and the cold ones flow to it.
The winds that blow on these currents provide the near coasts of hot or cold
temperatures, thats why they affect the climate. The Gulf Stream, in the Atlantic
Ocean, keeps the northwestern part of Europe hot in winter.
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1.3. Latitude
The latitude of a given location is the distance (expressed in degrees, minutes
or seconds) between any point on earth and the equator. Latitude can be north
or south, its determinated by the location of it and the distance of north and
south, respectively, of Ecuador. The latitude determines the inclination with
which the solar rays are projected onto a place of the earth, and the length of
day and night.
According to the latitude are determined the large climatic bands, the shape of
the Earth determine them. The larger size of their extension in the equator
allows a high heat in these zones permanently. They decrease progressively
from the Tropics to the Poles that are subject to seasonal variations depending
on the position of the Earth in its movement around the sun.
Map of the climatic bands
In other words, if the place is situated in a lower latitude, its nearest of equator
and therefore, higher average temperatures are taken. As we move away from
equator the temperatures are lower and the precipitations are present as
showers.
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Image of the different latitudes in the earth
1.4. The vegetation
Vegetation is also a climate factor. The abundance of it makes the zone hotter
and makes this zone to have more precipitations.
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2. Evidences of the climate change
2.1. Global warming
Almost the 70% of the solar energy that reaches the earth is returned to the
space, but a part of the infrared energy is retained by the greenhouse gases
and returns to the earth.
As a result of the greenhouse effect the earth has kept the heat necessary to
make possible the existence of life in our planet. If this effect didnt exist, the
climatic fluctuations would be intolerable. However, a little variation of the
balance of the global temperature can cause big problems. In this last century
the earth has had an increase of 0,4 and 0,8 C in its temperatures.
The global warming consists in the increase of the temperatures of the earth
because of the fossil combustibles and other industrial process that cause an
accumulation of gases that cause the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. Its
a problem that is affecting more to the humanity every day, intervening
gradually in our life conditions. It threats us and there is no solution in a short
time.
The presences of changes in the clime and the climatic conditions that areknown nowadays and that have presented big variations causing environment
disasters that affect to the life in our planet. Some of these disasters are:
tsunamis, hurricanes, summer excessively hot, floods registered in a lot of
countries.
Some punctual evidences of the global warming are:
The temperature of the Antarctica has increased five times more than
the global average in the last 50 years.
According to the NASA, the cap of polar ice is melting about a 9 % per
decade. The thickness of the Arctic ice has diminished 40 % from the
decade of 1960.
In the big hydrographic African elements of the Niger, the lake Chad
and the Senegal, the total of the available water has decreased between
the 40% and the 60%, and the desertification has get worse especially inthe southern, north and western Africa.
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The temperatures of the Arctic air increased approximately 5C during
the 20th century, 10 times more than the temperature of the world
surface. In the Arctic Russian zone, the buildings are ruined because of
the fact that the permafrost1 situated under their foundations has melted.
Almost all the glaciers of mountain of the not polar regions moved back
during the 20th century. The total volume of the glaciers of Switzerland
diminished approximately two thirds.
In Europe the butterflies, dragonflies, moths, beetles and other insects
live now in higher altitudes, where previously it was doing too much
cold to survive.
The scientists have observed changes induced at least in 420 physical
processes and communities or biological species
Intense floods in estates of Texas, Montana and North Dakota during the
summer of 2002 caused hurts for hundreds of million dollars.
Moreover, information of the year 2007 conclude that the six hottest years,
information from the middle of the 19th century, are 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004,
2005 and 2006. To be considered a climate it would has to hold this situation in
a long term, in the year 2013 it has to continue. The IPCC2 affirms that more of
the 50% of the variation temperatures are caused by the human being.
1Permafrost: Cap of permanent ice in the superficial levels of the soil in very cold regions as the tundra.
It can appear in areas as Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Tibet, Norway and in several islands of the south
Atlantic Ocean as the Islands Georgias of the South and the Islands Sandwich of the South2IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
http://www.ipcc.ch/http://www.ipcc.ch/http://www.ipcc.ch/http://www.ipcc.ch/ -
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Graphic of the CO2 concentration and the temperature change in the earth
The global emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activities have
increased, since the preindustrial age, in a 70% between 1970 and 2004.
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Variations in earth with the human intervention and without it
The perforation of the Antarctic ice has recovered pieces of glacial ice which
have hundreds of thousands of years. This ice contains air bubbles that
preserve gases of the atmosphere of the time when the ice was formed. The
measures of the levels of CO2 in the bubbles indicate that during most of last
160.000 years the atmospheric concentration has changed of approximately
200 ppm3 to approximately 300 ppm. The levels more elevated of CO2 are
registered in the last interglacial important period, approximately 125.000 years
ago (less than 300 ppm) and in the current air (387 ppm).
3Ppm: parts per milion
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These levels of CO2 that indicate 387 ppm are the most elevated since 800.00
years ago, when the human specie hadnt evolved yet. Homo sapiens is present
in the earth since 200.000 years ago.
Changes in the atmosphere
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3. Climate changes in the past
The climate has not stopped changing along the history of the Earth. In
occasions they have appeared as small thermal oscillations. However, our
planet has had different periods, sometimes more than 300 millions of years of
duration, from which temperatures had caused a cover of ice in very extensive
continental zones. They are the periods known as glaciations. The last one of
them finished only 10000 years ago. There have been periods with an average
of 22 too.In thousand years ago, Europe enjoyed high temperatures. In that period,
named "Medieval Hot Period", the agriculture was growing in places as
Greenland, a toponym that in English ("Greenland", green land) evokes the past
climate. However, the evidences indicate of clear form that the cap of ice of
Greenland persists for million years and that during the "Mximo Medieval"
some small zone of the coast could have been liberated.
Ater of this period there was another one with lower temperatures, especially in
the north European zones. Although it cannot be considered an age of ice as
known one, it is known as the "small age of ice". Some experts indicate that
this period continued from the 16th century until middle of the 19th century. The
chronicles explain how the people were skating during the winter on the frozen
waters of the river Thames of London and the channels and rivers of Holland.
The frequencies of these climate changes can qualify in:
From the formation of the Earth to the current importance (global
cooling).
Hundreds of millions years (tectonic activity).
Thousands of years (changes in the orbit of the Earth: the Glaciations of
the Quaternary).
From hundreds to thousands of years (variations in the solar activity from
the last glaciation to the industrial revolution).
Decades to a few centuries (the current one due to the human activity).
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Specifically, we can find external and internal causes in all these climate
changes:
External causes:
They are foreign reasons to the climatic system of the Earth. They are because
of the solar radiation that comes to the terrestrial surface and, in consequence,
concerns the global climate of the planet. The most important are:
Changes in the solar activity: De solar activity modifications, for example
the changes in the solar spots. They concern the own source of energy and
its consequences reach to the Earth and to other bodies of the solar system.
Changes in the terrestrial orbit: Milankovitch discovered that the terrestrialorbit was experiencing changes that could concern the climate as the
eccentricity, obliquity and pressure.
Representations of the different changes in the terrestrial orbits.
Impacts of meteorites: As big are the meteorites as big is their effect on
earth, when they strike to the earth they cause a dust cloud that doesnt
allow the solar radiation to pass the atmosphere.
Internal causes:
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The internal reasons refer to the measure of the solar radiation that is absorbed
by the earth.
Changes in the albedo4: It is the fraction of the solar radiation reflected
by a surface or an object, the average value of the albedo of our planet is
30 %.
Representation of variations of albedo.
Changes in the atmospheric composition: The increase of CO2 for
diverse reasons for example, the intervention of organisms, volcanic
activity, etc.
4Albedo: the percentage of reflected radiation on any surface and the radiation incident
thereon. Clear surfaces have higher albedo values than the dark ones.
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Composition of the atmosphere nowadays
Presence of aerosols: The aerosols are small particles suspended in
the air that can have a natural origin or are caused because of the
human action (increased in the last years).
Changes in the marine currents: If there werent marine currents
between the "warm" waters of the equator and the "cold" waters of the
poles, the temperature in both places would change.
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4. Causes of the climate change
A natural cape of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keeps sufficiently
warmed the planet to make possible the life in the Earth, it keeps us in a
comfortable temperature of 15C nowadays.
The emission of greenhouse gases caused by the human beings has made this
cape denser, which has caught the heat and caused the global heating. The
fossil fuels are the major reason of this emission of greenhouse gases.
The medium temperature of the Earth seems to have been kept incredibly
stable during the last 10.000 years, with a variation of less of 1C, which
allowed the human civilization to prosper. But the prosperity of our civilization
has caused all these changes in our clime.
The "mantle" of greenhouse gases that is in a natural way in the troposfera, and
it represents less 1 % of the atmosphere, recovers the vital function to regulate
the climate of the planet. When the solar power, in the form of visible light hits
with the Earth, it warms the surface. As Earth is colder than the Sun, it sends
this energy to the space as infrared or thermal radiation. The greenhouse gases
block the direct exit of this infrared radiation to the space. The "natural effectof greenhouse" is essential for the life as we know her.
The problem that we have now is that, since the industrial revolution began 250
years ago approximately, our emission of greenhouse gases has made this
mantle denser to a pace without precedents. It has caused the most spectacular
change in the composition of the atmosphere for at least 650.000 years. Until
we do big efforts to reduce our emission of gases.
The reason why this "artificial" emission is a problem with so much importance
is that, eventually, de Earth has to liberate energy with the same rate that
receives it from the Sun. Because of a denser mantle of greenhouse gases
helps to reduce the loss of energy to the space, the climatic regime must adjust
somehow to restore the balance between the coming energy and its projection.
The result is known as "intensified greenhouse effect".
In conclusion, the most important factor of the climatic change is the human
being. We have a culture based in the consumerism, which consists in waste
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as much natural resources as we can. We only think buying more and more
products that we dont need, without th inking that we are warming our planet.
We have a model of life based on contaminate the environment, we use our
cars everyday and we waste electric energy with more frequency.
We simply dont stop and think in all that surrounds us and how we are
intervening with it. We should have more present the future of our descendants
and change our mode of life, maybe it is so difficult and its easier continue our
lives like now.
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5. Consequences and solutions
We are changing our planet everyday, we have to choose if we want to
continue like now or we want to stop this behavior. If we dont stop the climate
change we will suffer the consequences of it and we will regret of all our
attitudes. The principal consequences in the clime of the global warming are:
Emigrations
The consequences of the climate change can be fatal for the population.
According to well-known experts in the topic, the desertification and the floods
provoked by the hurts to the environment will provoke that millions of people will
have to leave their houses in the next years. In the year 2050, it is calculated
that 200 million persons will be in this alarming situation.
Janos Bogardi5 affirms that between 25 and 27 million migrations that take
place nowadays might be a reason of these adverse effects provoked by the
floods and the desertification.
The cyclical increase of temperatures
The reason of the increase of the temperature is directly linked with the
greenhouse effect. According to the scientific studies it is expected, that the
cyclical increases of the temperatures, will go in increase, with all the
consequences that imply the high temperatures. For example, the problems of
health in children and elders, who are in the habit of being the most vulnerable
in the warm days.
The most unfavorable forecasts aim that between the year 2070 and 2100 the
temperatures will rise up to 7 degrees in summer and 4 in winter.
The increase of the sea level
The process is much simpler than it seems. When the surface warms up, the
ice glaciers fuse, which generates an increase in the water quantity that comes
to the oceans generating an increase in the seas. It supposes an important risk
5
Janos Bogardi, director of the Enviroment Institute and Human Security of the ONU
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for all those areas that place below level of the sea. The scientists wait that in
90 years, the height of the levels of the sea increases approximately 20 meters.
In Spain it will be one of the principal problems derived from the climate change
in the coastal zones. It will cause losses of an important number of beaches,especially in Cantabrian and part of the low coastal zones will be flooded -
deltas of the Ebro, Llobregat, Sleeve of the Mar Menor, and Doana's coast.
Big storms
The process in which the seas are becoming tropical, does the storms be more
intense, as they used to be in theCarib. Nowadays, the big storms are given
in any point of the planet. This happens because the water of the oceans is
hotter. We only have to observe the quantity of cyclones, storms and hurricanes
that day after day are present in the planet. It is estimated that in the last thirty
years, the force of these natural phenomena has doubled.
Drought
The problem of the drought, also can find its reason in the climate change. The
decrease of the sweet water generates a terrible panorama for those that
cultivate the lands and not only it. The food lack is the terrible one, but this
possible reality its estimated that we will feel it in the next 100 years. Moreover,
water will become more acid because of the CO2 contamination.
Spain is the most arid country of Europe. According to the ONU, a third of its
surface suffers a percentage very high of desertification and a 6% has already
degenerated by a irreversible form.
Changes in the ecosystems
The increase of the temperatures of the oceans as well as the deforestation is
contributing in an important way to the disastrous and irreversible changes that
are taking place in the habitat, and simultaneously, threatens to put in danger to
a lot of species, which in a space of a few decades might become extinct.
It seems that between 15 and 37 % of the species of the planet are going tobecome extinct, this fact will favor the increase of the expansion of invading
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species and pests. The natural ecosystems in risk by his special vulnerability
will be the glaciers, the coral reefs and atolls, the swamps, the tropical and
boreal forests, the polar and Alpine ecosystems and, the humid zones and
meadows.
The polar bear is an example of these changes in the ecosystems, the number
of exemplars of this specie has gone down quickly in the last years. A crucial
characteristic for the human success is the biodiversity, but the increasing loss
of flora and fauna as consequence of the extinction in mass that threatens to
our planet, puts in a serious danger to medium term the continuity of the human
race in the Earth.
Diseases
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the PNUMA and the
Meteorological World Organization (OMM), every year 150.000 persons die due
to the climate change, overcoat due to the spread of epidemics. The IPCC is
alerting of an increase and extension of the infectious diseases. In Spain it is
necessary to wait for an increase in the mortality caused by the waves of hot in
summer, which will be higher in intensity and duration in the next years.
Loss of resources
The global warming will provoke a big reduction of the food production in our
planet. Droughts and floods will destroy crops, animals and entire ecosystems.
In the other hand, we are wasting the resources of our planet and the majority
of them are limited.
Economic losses
The climatic change will increase the socioeconomic costs of the hurts caused
by floods, droughts, forest fires... Something already observed after the Katrina
hurricane in New Orleans (USA). The report of the IPCC affirms that the least
developed countries are the most vulnerable to the impact of the climate
change. It is calculated that the economic losses associated with natural
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disasters have gone on from 131.000 million dollars in the decade 1970-1980 to
629.000 million dollars in the year 1990.
Although some environment problems dont have solutions, we can stop allthese subjects that affect to it. We have to think in our future and in our planet,
we are responsible of it and we cant do whatever we want with it. Some
solutions to avoid the climate change are:
Eliminate fossil fuels
The first step is to stop using coal, oil and even natural gas. There is no doubt
that oil is the lubricant of the global economy, especially for transportation,
plastics production and power generation, but we can implant some alternative
measures, such as plastics derived from plant products, biodiesel and wind
power.
Improving infrastructures
Of course, new building construction involves the use of large quantities of
cement, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but buildings with a more
efficient energy use (with better thermal insulation in cold countries or betterventilated in the tropics) can help to cut emissions.
Movingcloser to the workplace
Transportation is a major source of greenhouse gases. Measures as living
closer to the workplace, work at home, go to places by walking, biking or using
the public transport, would be very useful for reduction of all that gases.
Consume less
Buying less means less pressure on natural resources and less use of fossil
fuels used in some way in their production process. Another alternative is to
practice the three RE: recycle, reuse, and reduce
Be efficient
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Do more with less, either accelerating less your vehicle (unless it is strictly
necessary to do so) or turning off lights when you do not really need them. We
can also use appliances that use less energy. Something as simple as opening
the windows can save energy used by fans or air conditioners.
Eat better
Cows are a major source of methane (a greenhouse gas more powerful than
CO2), they consume more food than they produce, and they take billions of
hectares that could be better used growing healthier food.
Donot cut more trees
Every year millions of hectares are lost in forests. And it is estimated that the
timber industry contributes annually to the atmosphere with 1,500 million tones
of CO2 (something as 20% of all greenhouse gases emissions produced by
humans).
Disconnect
Believe it or not, much of the bill we pay for energy is related with the energy
that our appliances consume when they are turned off (but not disconnected).
Another measure is to use valuable energy saving bulbs.
Having only one child
It is estimated that we are already 6,600 million people that live in this troubled
world, and this situation is expected to rise to 9 billion people by mid-century.
The Environment Programme of the United Nations calculate that every person
needs 20 hectares to satisfy his needs. Obviously, the fewer people there are,
the less pressure will be exerted on natural resources (and fewer greenhouse
gases issue).
Replace fossil fuels
Hybrid vehicles (that use biodiesel and electricity instead of gasoline) appear to
be the best alternative in the short term to meet this purpose.
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There are other alternatives that technology allows us to have present,
geoengineering is the branch of the science that study these solutions.
However, they are radical solutions and maybe can make worse the situation.
Among them we could try releasing sulphates (as do volcanic eruptions) to
block sunlight, cover portions of our planet with reflective films sunlight (or
failing to orbit million mirrors fulfilling the same function) and fertilize the oceans
with iron and other nutrients to encourage plankton to absorb more carbon
dioxide.