the greenhouse effect is a natural occurring process that keeps the earth warm enough for life
the human enhanced greenhouse effect is when human activity is increasing the greenhouse effect
global warming is a sharp rise in global temperature over the last century
climate change is the long term change in weather
we can view past climate by looking at
tree rings
rise and fall of sea levels
ice cores
forams
without the greenhouse effect the earth would be 33 degrees cooler so life would not exist
the last glacial period was 18000 years ago where temperature were 3 degrees cooler
the suns infrared rays enters the earths atmosphere some of this is reflected out to space and some is used to heat the earths surface. the earth then radiates its won terrestrial radiation and some of this is trapped by the layer of greenhouse gases
the human enhanced greenhouse effect is related to things like burning fossil fuels have increase3d the layer of GHG so more terrestrial radiation is been trapped
what are suspected natural causes of climate change
solar outputs
orbital changes
volcanic activity
what are solar outputs
measured by observing sunspot activity which is caused by magnetic activity inside sun resulting with dark patches
why are solar outputs not responsible for climate change ?
in the last 50 years the solar outputs have slightly decreased
what are orbital changes ?
the earths orbit is an ellipse which changes shape every 100000 years so the distance between the sun and the earth changes - when its closer to the sun the climate becomes warmer
earths axis is tilted due to gravity - when the tilt increases weather can be exaggerated so colder and hotter climate
earth not a perfect shape so it wobbles on its axis
