How do you exactly explain global warming?

Question

Global warming is directly tied to CO2 in the atmosphere, correct?, And over the years there has been a steady increase in CO2, correct?, Then how do you explain the sudden drop in temperature in the mid 1900's, or the mini ice age in the 1000's? What about the scientific fact that heat creates CO2 and CO2 doesn't create heat? Don't be mean. It's just a question.

Answer 1

Hi Alex,

I'll go through the points you raised one by one and see if I can shed some light on your questions...

"Global warming is directly tied to CO2 in the atmosphere, correct?"
Correct. CO2 isn't the only greenhouse gas and it's not only greenhouse gases that are responsible for global warming. Methane, nitrous oxide and dichlorodiflouromethane are the other primary greenhouse gases.

"And over the years there has been a steady increase in CO2, correct"
Yes there has. We have atmospheric CO2 records stretching back 650,000 years and during that time levels varied between 190 and 310 parts per million by volume. For thousands of years up until about 1800 levels had been at 280 ppmv give or take 3. Since then amounts have risen to their current level of 385 ppms.

"Then how do you explain the sudden drop in temperature in the mid 1900's"
Temperatures fell in the mid 1900's (primarily in the 1940's) by about 0.22°C. Back then the atmosphere was heavily polluted with gases such as sulphur dioxide (SO2). This is a gas which out sunlight and one scheme currently being considered to mitigate global warming involves creating a 'sulphur blanket' around the planet. By the mid 1900's air pollution was a huge issue which came to a head with the London Smog in which hundreds of people a day were dying in London alone. Governments acted and passed Clean Air Acts forcing industry to reduce pollution. As pollution levels declined so too did the barrier against sunlight.

"or the mini ice age in the 1000's"
The mini ice age wasn't a global event, it affected Europe more than other places and the northern hemisphere more than the southern. It is probable that there are three contributory factors: The Black Death in Europe killed approximately half the population and as a result there was a significant decline in agricultutal activities (one of the main causes of greenhouse gases), at the same time there was a period of intense volcanic activity which poured immense quantities of volcanic ash and dust into the atmosphere which blocked out sunlight. We saw this most recently following the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo when global temperatures fell by 0.6°C. A third contributory factor was something called the Maunder Minimum - a period of virtually no sunspot activity at all, at such times the heat energy from the sun decreases slightly.

"What about the scientific fact that heat creates CO2 and CO2 doesn't create heat"
Heat is a form of energy and energy can neither be created nor destroyed (the law of Conservation of Energy). Heat energy can be applied to a material causing it to release / produce CO2 and the burning of fossil fuels is a good example of this (it's not heat that's creating CO2 but a chemical reaction between carbon and oxygen).

Perhaps you're referring to the fact that in the past temperatures have risen prior to rises in CO2 levels. This is to be expected, as part of a Feedback Effect. Rising temperatures result in rising levels of carbon dioxide but it also works the other way round. In nature it's rising temperatures that trigger the cycle, a cycle which occurs over long periods of time. If there was some natural event that quickly produced large quantities of CO2 we'd have seen subsequent rises in temperatures but such events don't occur in nature.

Answer 2

CO2 is just one of many factors. The variability of the sun's radiation and the earth's orbit are much more important factors. And don't forget that the earth is a big ball of molten rock and metals. Under the earth's crust the temperature is 6000 degrees F. There's a lot of heat inside the planet and some of it escapes to the surface and into the oceans through volcanoes and hot springs.

CO2 is a minor greenhouse gas and humans add only a small fraction to the amount that's naturally in the atmosphere. Water vapor is by far the most significant greenhouse gas.

If there were no humans the earth would still be warming. If humans didn't burn another drop of fuel global warming would continue for centuries. That's the opinion of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

There have been previous ice ages and warm periods before humans were around. This proves that climate change is natural.

If you're worried about global warming you need to know that the best we can possibly hope for is to reduce the human contribution to the warming and that's a very small percentage of the total. Humans cannot stop global warming. Maybe we can slow it down. Nobody knows for sure.

Answer 3

Global warming is due to a number of factors. Right now the main thing is CO2 from fossil fuels.

Look at this graph.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Climate_Change_Attribution.png

The increase in greenhouse gases has not been steady. The big swing upwards was after 1960. The temperature didn't drop in the mid 1900s. The increase paused for a bit because of decreased solar radiation and man's emission of pollution (including "sulfate") which blocked the sun. We've controlled a lot of the other pollution, but not CO2.

CO2 both creates heat, because of the greenhouse effect and is created by heat, mostly because warm ocean water holds less CO2. It's one of the things that worries people because it means the situation could get worse faster than we think. Fossil fuel burning creates CO2 which creates heat which causes the oceans to emit more CO2 which creates more heat.

No one will get mean if you ask serious questions honestly.

Here's a good book about it:

http://www.amazon.com/Weather-Makers-Changing-Climate-Means/dp/0871139359/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/002-3714892-4628862?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1175451041&sr=8-1

Answer 4

Your first two corrects are wrong u have been listening to the environmentalist too much doom & gloom. The earth is coming out of an ice age and has increased 1/2 deg in 100 years. I an 76 years old and the storms we had back in the dust bole days were very bad and I havent sean anything approachong that lately. Look at all the data ,this last year we had several places that were colder than they had beev for 100 years. Look at it all is data u can not wear blinders and see the true picture.

Answer 5

No one can explain global warming without first explaining global cooling. To my knowledge, there have been two significant periods of global cooling: immediately prior to the Cambrian Period and during the Permian Period. This little Pleistocene Epoch (extending to the present) is such a minor blip in the Earth's history as to be inconsequential. The vast majority of the Earth's history has no record of ice, even at the polar regions. Once Pleistocene glaciation has been explained then science might be able to explain why it no longer is around.

Answer 6

Statistics indicate clearly that we are in a global warming pattern and it is not good for keeping the status quo. Temperature records are being broken each year. Personally, I am not concerned about who is to blame but more what can we do to slow or stop the trend. With that focus as a direction, policies can be made for individuals, communities, states, nations and international agreements. If these steps are taken correctly may we can continue to have the world as we know it for future generations.

Answer 7

actually, there is evidence that the polar ice caps are melting on the planet Mars. one of the emerging theories is that the sun has increased in temperature during the last century.

think about it real hard. you have approximately 100 years of meteorolgical record keeping on a planet that is millions of years old. let's all keep our heads and not let the Chicken Littles of the world scare us to death.

Answer 8

My Social Studies teacher said the best way to explain it is to explain how it started and how it affects our world today.