Cutting Greenhouse Gases Global warming
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- 2005 tied 1998 as the warmest year on record
- Your task, Part 1: Answer questions 1-6 first.
- Your task, Part 2: Read about El Nino and La Nina and answer the questions following them. El Nino
- NOAA SAYS LA NIÑA HERE AS PREDICTED Expect Northwest Storminess and More Drought in South/Southwest
- Answers to La Nina and El Nino questions
| Cutting Greenhouse Gases
Global warming correctly describes what was once called the Greenhouse Effect. It's a theory that says the Earth is getting warmer. The Earth is warmer in the last century but no one can say for certain whether it's due to human activity or just the normal Earth cycles. Broadly, this is all referred to as climate change. Understand that the temperature of the Earth changes over centuries due to changes in the sun's distance and energy, as well as volcanic eruptions and meteor impacts that can cloud the atmosphere and block sunlight. Just as weather changes, so does climate. Over the course of centuries the Earth can get colder, warmer, wetter or drier. In the last century we've warmed about 1 degree, sea level has risen, and Arctic glaciers have melted. All of this has occurred while carbon dioxide levels have increased due to human activities. At first thought you might try to connect CO2 and the warming effects but it's not as simple as that. It is interesting to know that 2005 tied 1998 as the warmest year on record. NASA scientists have that found cirrus clouds, formed by contrails from aircraft engine exhaust, are capable of increasing average surface temperatures enough to account for a warming trend in the United States that occurred between 1975 and 1994. Contrails form high in the atmosphere when the mixture of water vapor in the aircraft exhaust and the air condenses and freezes. Persisting contrails can spread into extensive cirrus clouds that tend to warm the Earth, because they reflect less sunlight than the amount of heat they trap. The balance between Earth's incoming sunlight and outgoing heat drives climate change. I  n other recent research, NASA and Columbia University climate scientists shows that more than 25 percent of the increase in average global temperature between 1880 and 2002 may be due to soot contamination of snow and ice worldwide. Pure snow and ice can be blindingly bright, reflecting large amounts of incoming radiation back into space, whereas snow and ice that is contaminated with black carbon absorbs incoming solar radiation. More recently NASA has confirmed that the Antarctic is losing more ice than it gains from snowfall resulting in rising sea level.
Global warming, or the Greenhouse Effect, says that the atmosphere warms because we put gases and pollution into the air that trap heat. We do know that the average temperature of the Earth has warmed slightly in the last century but what's not known is how much of this is due human activities. Most scientists agree that what we put into the atmosphere can trap more heat and that countries would be wise to reduce emissions of these pollutants and gases. What scientists disagree on is what happens after the Earth starts warming. It's possible that all o So how do we measure global temperature? We use averages of temperature readings throughout the many nations. This is not a complete picture because two-thirds of the world is covered by water. Satellites now carry sensors that give us temperatures in remote locations. If a global warm-up occurs, not all regions will get warmer. Some will get cloudier and wetter, while others cool down. Some regions may warm only at night while others get colder in one season and warmer in another. There are many possibilities and combinations and the only certainty is that the Earth's temperature will change with time. You can learn more at the EPA Global Warming Site or the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or The Pew Center on Global Climate Change or the US Science Climate Change Program. To combat global warming, many countries (155 and counting) have come together to sign the Kyoto Protocol. Under this international agreement, each country involved has agreed to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases it produces. But not all countries emit similar amounts, and what we do as everyday citizens affects climate, too. Although the United States signed the Kyoto Protocol, the treaty has not been ratified by the U.S. Senate. In July 1999, the United States Senate voted 95-0 to pass a resolution co-sponsored by Sen. Byrd (D-W.Va.) and Sen. Hagel (R-Neb.), which stated the Senate would not ratify the Protocol unless rapidly developing countries such as China were included in its requirements to reduce greenhouse gases. The Clinton Administration announced it would not send the treaty to the Senate for ratification and President Bush has not sent it either. Your task, Part 1: Answer questions 1-6 first. What is global warming?
Now, look at the following chart of greenhouse gases and make a bar graph that compares the greenhouse gases emissions for 1998 for all countries. Then, locate each of those countries on a world map. Highlight the countries using a highlighter. Finally, answer these questions:
Your task, Part 2: Read about El Nino and La Nina and answer the questions following them. El Nino is Spanish for "The Child." It's the name given to a major warming of the water in the eastern Pacific Ocean along the equator, off the coast of South America. The warming reaches a peak around Christmas and causes more wet weather in that region along with a shift in global weather patterns. El Nino is a normal part of the Earth's weather. El Nino does not happen every year but when it does happen, Pacific Ocean temperatures can be anywhere from two to ten degrees above average. While this may not seem like much, a major warming of Pacific Ocean water can cause changes worldwide. In some places the weather turns cooler, or wetter, while other places can become warmer, or drier. Many locations do not see any changes but for every region that experiences stormier weather, there's another region that sees calmer weather. 
Meteorologists and Climatologists are still learning what types of weather shifts we can expect with an El Nino. What causes it is not totally known. We can't yet predict an El Nino but we have a sense of what it does. La Nina is the opposite of El Nino. La Nina is when the Pacific Ocean water is much cooler than average. This also has an influence on worldwide weather. A strong La Nina means that the Atlantic hurricane season may be more active. Here's the latest status on La Nina and how it may influence our hurricane season. You can find the current El Nino/La Nina advisory at the Climate Prediction Center, and more information on El Nino at Center for Ocean-Atmospheric Prediction Studies Library at Florida State University. Both El Nino and La Nina mean weather patterns will shift. Neither one is all bad or all good. It depends on where on Earth you live and what season you are concerned about.
Questions:
Answers to La Nina and El Nino questions: 1. Why has the Earth’s temperature changed? No simple answer, but includes natural change due to distance from sun and sun’s energy; volcanic eruptions and meteor impacts clouding the atmosphere and blocking sun; Earth’s natural change in temperature; increased CO2. 2. What are contrails? Cirrus clouds formed by the exhaust of jet engines. 3. Why has there been a 25% increase in global temperature between 1880 and 2002? Soot contamination of snow and ice worldwide, which makes ice absorb radiation rather than reflect it. 4. What is global warming and how does it happen? Gradual warming of Earth; see #1 5. How do we measure global temperatures? We use averages of temperature readings taken throughout many nations. 6. Who produces the most greenhouse gas—using information given? US Questions:
9. When and where does it occur? The warming reaches a peak around Christmas and causes more wet weather in that region along with a a shift in global weather patterns. 10. How often does El Nino occur? What happens when it does occur? It is a normal part of Earth’s weather and does not happen every year. When it does happen Pacific Ocean temperatures can be from 2 to 10 degrees above average, causing cooler, wetter, warmer, or drier weather in places around the world.
12. Where does it occur? Atlantic Ocean 13. What influence does it have on our weather? More hurricanes; more rain in Indonesia and northern Australia, Amazon Basin and southeastern Africa; below average rainfall for eastern half of equatorial Pacific and eastern equatorial Africa 14. How often does La Nina occur? Every 3 to 5 years Directory: SiSFiles -> Schools Schools -> Ap u. S. History presidents list the Young Republic, 1788-1815 Schools -> Introduction Schools -> Birth of a Monster on the left hand side of the page. Read all the interesting information as you make your way down to the chart which outlines the steps in hurricane formation. Hurricane Formation Schools -> History of the American Automobile Schools -> Exploring Hurricanes Schools -> Famous Alabamians: Athletes Schools -> Hubble Space Telescope Schools -> Atlanta Falcons Internet Scavenger Hunt Download 25.95 Kb. Share with your friends:
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f the natural processes will be able to counterbalance any warm-up or even reverse it. On the other hand, some computer models predict that a warm-up could go out of control. The problem is that we've never experienced exactly what we are trying to figure out. Only time will give the true answer.
nd possibly into summer.