Global Warming

• The Greenhouse Effect:

  • short wavelength radiation from the sun
  • passes through atmosphere to earth's surface
  • earth's surface absorbs the radiations and re-emits longer wavelengths
  • which are absorbed by greenhouse gases to produce temperature increase
• Biological Effects of Global Warming:

  1. Rising sea levels- leads to habitat loss
  2. Polar ice caps melt
  3. Changes to migration patterns
  4. Climate change- e.g. change in rainfall patterns/more droughts/more storms
  5. Changes in species distribution (e.g. mosquitos carrying malaria are found in more temperate areas)

  All together this can reduce biodiversity
• What is the greenhouse effect?

  The mechanism where the atmosphere allows the Sun's radiation in but does not allow it out. This is caused by a layer of carbon dioxide and methane which blocks certain wavelengths of light
• What is global warming?

  This is the increase in global surface temperatures
• what is climate change?

  The long-term alteration of temperature and typical weather patterns in a place.