global warming & climate change

• what does the atmosphere contain?

  a protective layer of gases
• what does the atmosphere do?

  keeps in the perfect amount of the sun heat energy so that the earth stays at a nice temperature all the time
• how does the suns heat energy come down towards the earth?

  in the form of short wavelength radiation
• how does the atmosphere keep the earth at a perfect temperature?

  1. the suns heat energy comes down towards the earth, it passes through the atmosphere at hits the surface of the earth
  2. some of this energy is absorbed and heats up the ground
  3. most of it is either reemitted/reflected back into the atmosphere towards space in the form of longer wavelength radiation
  4. however most of this actually just ends up hitting particles of gas in the atmosphere absorbing the energy
  5. after a short delay they reemit that energy in random directions, some towards earth and some towards space. this gets repeated
• what are the greenhouse gases?

  • carbon dioxide
  • methane
  • water
• what is the greenhouse effect?

  the warming of the earth that the greenhouse gases cause
• what is the problem with the greenhouse gases?

  because humans produce so much of these gases their concentrations in our atmosphere is increasing, therefore the greenhouse effect is getting stronger. this has led to global warming.
• what are the reasons that carbon dioxide levels are rising?

  • we are burning loads of fossil fuels, which release the carbon that was locked up inside the fuel as carbon dioxide.
  • we are chopping down loads of trees (deforestation). this means that there's less photosynthesis meaning less carbon dioxide is being removed from the atmosphere.
• what are the reasons that methane levels are increasing?

  • farm animals produce methane during digestion. this then gets released into the atmosphere.
  • we produce huge amounts of waste which sometimes releases methane as its decomposed by microorganisms
• how do we know that the earth is getting warmer?

  we have records going back hundreds of years and we can see the steady increase
• why is it hard to know the effect global warming will have on our plants?

  • since there's so many variables to take into account. this makes it hard for scientists to make models for what will happen.
  • however we do know it will have a massive impact on our planet in the form of climate change
• what is climate change?

  all the effects of global warming on the climate.
• what are consequences climate change will have?

  • rare weather events like droughts, hurricanes and floods will become more common and more severe
  • sea levels will rise
• why will sea levels rise due to global warming?

  • the higher temperatures will cause the ice caps to melt, this will then flow into the oceans
  • as the water in the oceans warms up, it expands therefore its volume will increase, making the sea levels rise even more
  • in some places this could lead to seasonal flooding or even the entire submersion of entire islands and coastal towns
• what's the more general impact climate change will have on the wild organisms across the world?

  • as temperatures and rainfall patterns change, species that were perfectly adapted to their environment might not be able to survive anymore. in some cases species may be able to adapt to the new conditions or migrate to other regions where the conditions are better.
  • unfortunately though lots of species will be unable to do so and biodiversity is likely to fall in the coming decades