Evidence of Climate Change & How to Slow It Down
Dear Friends, Visitors/Viewers/Readers,
(Please click on red links below)
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Updates on our Solar-FIT For Sunshine State petition: 167 signatures strong. We need more! Please help us to spread more sunshine by signing this petition and sharing it with others. It is our shared responsibility to move toward the renewable energy age and Sunshine is the cleanest, healthiest, and least war-prone way to go!
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As a result of our post on June 20, 2013 featuring the award-winning film Chasing Ice and the fact that the recent American Southwest has been boiling at triple-digit temperature for multiple consecutive days, smothering the region. In Death Valley, California, temperature reached a record high of 134 degrees Fahrenheit (57 degrees Celsius) on July 10, 2013. Fifty-six countries have set new temperature record, according to BBC report on July 3, 2013. I’ve been getting many questions such as: “what’s behind the heat wave” and “Is global warming a factor?” “Will we be seeing more droughts and floods?” To answer your questions satisfactorily, allow me to present to you:
- NASA Earth Observatory’s data. The world is getting warmer, be it due to human activity or natural variability . Thermometer reading around the world have risen steadily since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. According to an ongoing temperature analysis conducted by scientists at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), the average global temperature on Earth has increased by about 0.8°Celsius (1.4°Fahrenheit) since 1880. Two-thirds of the warming has occurred since 1975, at a rate of roughly 0.15-0.20°C per decade. Please click on this link http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/decadaltemp.php to step through the decades.
- Series of 8 videos/movies by NASA Earthobservatory on Global Warming, below:
a. Global Warning: An Introduction ( The Earth’s average temperature rose by more than half a degree Celsius over the last century. What caused this change?). Read more about Global Warming at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/?src=youtube
b. Radiation from the Sun and Earth ( the Sun and Earth both emit electromagnetic radiation. This movie will help you describe the differences between the types of radiation emitted by the sun and the earth.)
c. The Earth’s Energy Balance (Earth’s energy balance will enable you to understand radiative equilibrium. You will also be able to recognize that the temperature of earth depends on the amount of solar energy that it absorbs.). Read more about Earth’s Energy Budget at: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/EnergyBalance/?src=youtube
d. The Greenhouse Effect (The temperature of earth has been relatively constant over time. This is possible because as the planet absorbs solar radiation, it also emits longwave radiation into space. Despite this radiative equilibrium, some longwave radiation remains trapped beneath the atmosphere of the earth and warms the surface of the earth. This phenomenon is called the “greenhouse effect.”)
e. Human Activities and Carbon Dioxide (Shortwave radiation emitted by the sun and longwave radiation emitted by carbon dioxide and water vapor contribute to the heating of the Earth’s surface. Over the past 120 years, scientists have observed that the Earth’s average global surface temperature has increased. At the same time, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has also increased. Take a closer look at how these changes may have occurred.)
f. Modern Atmospheric Concentrations of Carbon Dioxide (The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is increasing. This movie will help you describe how the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has changed over the last 100 years.)
g. Modern Global Temperature (Earth’s average global temperature changes over long periods of time. Past data records indicate that the global annual temperature of earth has increased throughout this century.)
This global annual temperature rise of approximately 1 degree Celsius since 1880’s will have severe impact on local and regional weather conditions.
h. Computer Climate Models (Scientists use computer climate models, with mathematical equations, to help them understand how temperature in different regions of the world may change as carbon dioxide increases.) Such climate models enable scientists to make predictions/estimations about how the climate may change in the future.
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If we want to slow down the impact of climate change described above, to slow down the CO2 emissions into earth’s atmosphere and reduce the extreme weather conditions (such as increased droughts, hurricanes, and floods),we need to GO SOLAR Quickly! At Sun Is The Future, we take action by having launched the petition for Solar-FIT For Sunshine State and sharing information on how to Start A Community Solar Garden/Farm. Please participate and share these links/sites with others. This is not a partisan issue. It is a Necessary Earthly Movement!
~have a bright and sunny day~
gathered, written, and posted by sunisthefuture-Susan Sun Nunamaker
any of your comments or suggestions will be welcomed at comments area below or via sunisthefuture@gmail.com (be sure to note if you do not want your email to be shared).
Homepage: http://www.sunisthefuture.net
Tags: CA, carbon dioxide, climate change, community solar garden, computer climate models, Death Valley, droughts, Earth Observatory, earth's energy balance, extreme weather conditions, floods, global warming, Goodard, greenhouse effect, human activities, Industrial Revolution, Institute for Space Studies, modern global temperature, NASA, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Solar-FIT For Sunshine State, Sun Is The Future, sunisthefuture, sunisthefuture.net, susan sun nunamaker