Understanding Climate Change: Bite 1.3 – It’s Real.
Bite 2 of this series explained some of the basic science that governs our Climate, including the Green House Effect (GHE). Because Green House Gas concentrations have been increasing due to the burning of fossil fuels, we may expect to see increasing temperatures and other changes. So what do we observe?
Temperature:- Since the start of the industrial revolution in the 1800s global surface temperatures has risen an unprecedently fast rate - by about 1.2oC. See links of three independent datasets:
- http://www.columbia.edu/~mhs119/Temperature/
- https://www.uea.ac.uk/groups-and.../climatic-research-unit
- https://ds.data.jma.go.jp/.../products/gwp/temp/ann_wld.html
Also, satellite measurements of the Troposphere temperatures since 1979 observe a rising temperature. https://www.drroyspencer.com/latest-global-temperatures/
Note: Surface temperature change data from the first 3 institutions may differ slightly in magnitude from the satellite data of the Troposphere (first 5-9 miles of the atmosphere).
We also observe that the Land is warming faster than the Oceans; the Northern Hemisphere faster than the Southern Hemisphere and the Artic has been warming 4 times faster than the global average since 1979: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-022-00498-3
Further observations:-
· glaciers are melting:
https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth103/node/767,
· oceans are absorbing more heat;
https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/global-ocean-heat-content/
· sea level is rising:
https://www.epa.gov/.../climate-change-indicators-sea-level
· artic sea ice is reducing:
http://nsidc.org/arct.../charctic-interactive-sea-ice-graph/
· hurricanes may not be more frequent, but they are getting stronger:
https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/.../changes-hurricanes
Oceans are absorbing over 90% of the additional heat that the Earth’s surface is experiencing – more during a La Nina period and less during an El Nino period. Much of that additional heat in the ocean is getting absorbed beneath the surface. That means that larger surface temperature rises are seen and records broken during El Nino’s.
This is not an exhaustive list of observable changes in our climate, but they all are consistent with a warming world. The next Bite in this series will examine the evidence that confirms it is us that is causing these changes
