global warming

an increase in the earth's average atmospheric temperature that causes corresponding changes in climate and that may result from the greenhouse effect.

[1975-80]

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Potential increase in global average surface temperatures resulting from enhancement of the greenhouse effect by air pollution.

In 2001 the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated that by 2100 global average surface temperatures would increase by 2.5 to 10.4 °F (1.4 to 5.8 °C), depending on a range of scenarios for greenhouse gas emissions. Many scientists predict that such an increase would cause polar ice caps and mountain glaciers to melt rapidly, significantly raising the levels of coastal waters, and would produce new patterns and extremes of drought and rainfall, seriously disrupting food production in certain regions. Other scientists maintain that such predictions are overstated. The 1992 Earth Summit and the 1997 conference of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change attempted to address the issue of global warming, but in both cases the cause was hindered by conflicting national economic agendas and disputes between rich and poor nations over the cost and consequences of reducing emissions of greenhouse gases.

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▪ Earth science

Introduction

 the phenomenon of increasing average air temperatures (temperature) near the surface of Earth over the past one to two centuries. Since the mid-20th century, climate scientists have gathered detailed observations of various weather phenomena (such as temperature, precipitation, and storms) and of related influences on climate (such as ocean currents (ocean current) and the atmosphere's chemical composition). These data indicate that Earth's climate has changed over almost every conceivable timescale since the beginning of geologic time and that, since at least the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the influence of human activities has been deeply woven into the very fabric of climate change.

 Giving voice to a growing conviction of most of the scientific community, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reported that the 20th century saw an increase in global average surface temperature of approximately 0.6 °C (1.1 °F). The IPCC went on to state that most of the warming observed over the second half of the 20th century could be attributed to human activities, and it predicted that by the end of the 21st century the average surface temperature would increase by another 1.8 to 4.0 °C (3.2 to 7.2 °F), depending on a range of possible scenarios. Many climate scientists agree that significant economic and ecological damage would result if global average temperatures rose by more than 2 °C [3.6 °F] in such a short time. Such damage might include increased extinction of many plant and animal species, shifts in patterns of agriculture (agriculture, origins of), and rising sea levels. The IPCC reported that the global average sea level rose by some 17 cm (6.7 inches) during the 20th century, that sea levels rose faster in the second half of that century than in the first half, and that—again depending on a wide range of scenarios—the global average sea level could rise by another 18 to 59 cm (7 to 23 inches) by the end of the 21st century. Furthermore, the IPCC reported that average snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere declined by 4 percent, or 1.5 million square km (580,000 square miles), between 1920 and 2005.

 The scenarios referred to above depend mainly on future concentrations of certain trace gases, called greenhouse gases (greenhouse gas), that have been injected into the lower atmosphere in increasing amounts through the burning of fossil fuels (fossil fuel) for industry, transportation, and residential uses. Modern global warming is widely believed to be the result of an increase in magnitude of the so-called greenhouse effect, a warming of Earth's surface and lower atmosphere caused by the presence of water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, and other greenhouse gases. Of all these gases, carbon dioxide is the most important, both for its role in the greenhouse effect and for its role in the human economy. It has been estimated that, at the beginning of the industrial age in the mid-18th century, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were roughly 280 parts per million (ppm). By the end of the 20th century, carbon dioxide concentrations reached 369 ppm (possibly the highest concentrations in at least 650,000 years), and by the mid-21st century, if fossil fuels continue to be burned at current rates, they are projected to reach 560 ppm—essentially, a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations in 300 years. It has been calculated that an increase of this magnitude alone (that is, not accounting for possible effects of other greenhouse gases) would be responsible for adding 2 to 5 °C (3.6 to 9 °F) to the global average surface temperatures that existed at the beginning of the industrial age.

      A vigorous debate is in progress over the extent and seriousness of rising surface temperatures, the effects of past and future warming on human life, and the need for action to reduce future warming and deal with its consequences. This article provides an overview of the scientific background and public policy debate related to the subject of global warming. It considers the causes of rising near-surface air temperatures, the influencing factors, the process of climate research and forecasting, the possible ecological and social impacts of rising temperatures, and the public policy developments since the mid-20th century. For a detailed description of Earth's climate, its processes, and the responses of living things to its changing nature, see climate. For additional background on how Earth's climate has changed throughout geologic time, see climatic variation and change (climate change). For a full description of Earth's gaseous envelope, within which climate change and global warming occur, see atmosphere.

Climatic variation since the last glaciation

 Global warming is related to the more general phenomenon of climate change, which refers to changes in the totality of attributes that define climate. In addition to changes in air temperature, climate change involves changes to precipitation patterns, winds (wind), ocean currents (ocean current), and other measures of Earth's climate. Normally, climate change can be viewed as the combination of various natural forces occurring over diverse timescales. Since the advent of human civilization, climate change has involved an “anthropogenic,” or exclusively human-caused, element, and this anthropogenic element has become more important in the industrial period of the past two centuries. The term global warming is used specifically to refer to any warming of near-surface air during the past two centuries that can be traced to anthropogenic causes.

      To define the concepts of global warming and climate change properly, it is first necessary to recognize that the climate of Earth has varied across many timescales, ranging from an individual human life span to billions of years. This variable climate history is typically classified in terms of “regimes” or “epochs.” For instance, the Pleistocene (Pleistocene Epoch) glacial epoch (1,800,000 to 11,800 years ago) was marked by substantial variations in the global extent of glaciers (glacier) and ice sheets. These variations took place on timescales of tens to hundreds of millennia and were driven by changes in the distribution of solar radiation across Earth's surface. The distribution of solar radiation is known as the insolation pattern, and it is strongly affected by the geometry of Earth's orbit around the Sun and by the orientation, or tilt, of Earth's axis relative to the direct rays of the Sun.

      Worldwide, the most recent glacial period, or ice age, culminated about 21,000 years ago in what is often called the Last Glacial Maximum. During this time, continental ice sheets extended well into the middle latitude regions of Europe and North America, reaching as far south as present-day London and New York City. Global annual mean temperature appears to have been about 4–5 °C (7–9 °F) colder than in the mid-20th century. It is important to remember that these figures are a global average. In fact, during the height of this last ice age, Earth's climate was characterized by greater cooling at higher latitudes (that is, toward the poles) and relatively little cooling over large parts of the tropical oceans (near the Equator). This glacial interval terminated abruptly about 11,800 years ago and was followed by the subsequent relatively ice-free period known as the Holocene Epoch. The modern period of Earth's history is conventionally defined as residing within the Holocene. However, some scientists have argued that the Holocene Epoch terminated in the relatively recent past and that Earth currently resides in a climatic interval that could justly be called the Anthropocene Epoch—that is, a period during which humans have exerted a dominant influence over climate.

      Though less dramatic than the climate changes that occurred during the Pleistocene Epoch, significant variations in global climate have nonetheless taken place over the course of the Holocene. During the early Holocene, roughly 9,000 years ago, atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns appear to have been substantially different from those of today. For example, there is evidence for relatively wet conditions in what is now the Sahara Desert. The change from one climatic regime to another was caused by only modest changes in the pattern of insolation within the Holocene interval as well as the interaction of these patterns with large-scale climate phenomena such as monsoons (monsoon) and El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO).

      During the middle Holocene, some 5,000–7,000 years ago, conditions appear to have been relatively warm—indeed, perhaps warmer than today in some parts of the world and during certain seasons. For this reason, this interval is sometimes referred to as the Mid-Holocene Climatic Optimum. The relative warmth of average near-surface air temperatures at this time, however, is somewhat unclear. Changes in the pattern of insolation favoured warmer summers at higher latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, but these changes also produced cooler winters in the Northern Hemisphere and relatively cool conditions year-round in the tropics. Any overall hemispheric or global mean temperature changes thus reflected a balance between competing seasonal and regional changes. In fact, recent theoretical climate model studies suggest that global mean temperatures during the middle Holocene were probably 0.2–0.3 °C (0.4–0.5 °F) colder than average late-20th-century conditions.

      Over subsequent millennia, conditions appear to have cooled relative to middle Holocene levels. This period has sometimes been referred to as the “Neoglacial.” In the middle latitudes this cooling trend was associated with intermittent periods of advancing and retreating mountain glaciers reminiscent of (though far more modest than) the more substantial advance and retreat of the major continental ice sheets of the Pleistocene climate epoch.

Causes of global warming

The greenhouse effect

 The average surface temperature of Earth is maintained by a balance of various forms of solar (solar radiation) and terrestrial radiation. Solar radiation is often called “shortwave” radiation because the frequencies of the radiation are relatively high and the wavelengths relatively short—close to the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Terrestrial radiation, on the other hand, is often called “longwave” radiation because the frequencies are relatively low and the wavelengths relatively long—somewhere in the infrared (infrared radiation) part of the spectrum. Downward-moving solar energy is typically measured in watts (watt) per square metre. The energy of the total incoming solar radiation at the top of Earth's atmosphere (the so-called “ solar constant”) amounts roughly to 1,366 watts per square metre annually. Adjusting for the fact that only one-half of the planet's surface receives solar radiation at any given time, the average surface insolation is 342 watts per square metre annually.

      The amount of solar radiation absorbed by Earth's surface is only a small fraction of the total solar radiation entering the atmosphere. For every 100 units of incoming solar radiation, roughly 30 units are reflected back to space by either clouds (cloud), the atmosphere, or reflective regions of Earth's surface. This reflective capacity is referred to as Earth's planetary albedo, and it need not remain fixed over time, since the spatial extent and distribution of reflective formations, such as clouds and ice cover, can change. The 70 units of solar radiation that are not reflected may be absorbed by the atmosphere, clouds, or the surface. In the absence of further complications, in order to maintain thermodynamic equilibrium, Earth's surface and atmosphere must radiate these same 70 units back to space. Earth's surface temperature (and that of the lower layer of the atmosphere essentially in contact with the surface) is tied to the magnitude of this emission of outgoing radiation according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law (Stefan–Boltzmann law).

      Earth's energy budget is further complicated by the greenhouse effect. Trace gases (gas) with certain chemical properties—the so-called greenhouse gases (greenhouse gas), mainly carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), and nitrous oxide (N₂O)—absorb some of the infrared radiation produced by Earth's surface. Because of this absorption, some fraction of the original 70 units does not directly escape to space. Because greenhouse gases emit the same amount of radiation they absorb and because this radiation is emitted equally in all directions (that is, as much downward as upward), the net effect of absorption by greenhouse gases is to increase the total amount of radiation emitted downward toward Earth's surface and lower atmosphere. To maintain equilibrium, Earth's surface and lower atmosphere must emit more radiation than the original 70 units. Consequently, the surface temperature must be higher. This process is not quite the same as that which governs a true greenhouse, but the end effect is similar. The presence of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere leads to a warming of the surface and lower part of the atmosphere (and a cooling higher up in the atmosphere) relative to what would be expected in the absence of greenhouse gases.

      It is essential to distinguish the “natural,” or background, greenhouse effect from the “enhanced” greenhouse effect associated with human activity. The natural greenhouse effect is associated with surface warming properties of natural constituents of Earth's atmosphere, especially water vapour, carbon dioxide, and methane. The existence of this effect is accepted by all scientists. Indeed, in its absence, Earth's average temperature would be approximately 33 °C (59 °F) colder than today, and Earth would be a frozen and likely uninhabitable planet. What has been subject to controversy is the so-called enhanced greenhouse effect, which is associated with increased concentrations of greenhouse gases caused by human activity. In particular, the burning of fossil fuels (fossil fuel) raises the concentrations of the major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and these higher concentrations have the potential to warm the atmosphere by several degrees.

Radiative forcing

 In light of the discussion above of the greenhouse effect, it is apparent that the temperature of Earth's surface and lower atmosphere may be modified in three ways: (1) through a net increase in the solar radiation entering at the top of Earth's atmosphere, (2) through a change in the fraction of the radiation reaching the surface, and (3) through a change in the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. In each case the changes can be thought of in terms of “radiative forcing.” As defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), radiative forcing is a measure of the influence a given climatic factor has on the amount of downward-directed radiant energy impinging upon Earth's surface. Climatic factors are divided between those caused primarily by human activity (such as greenhouse gas emissions and aerosol emissions) and those caused by natural forces (such as solar irradiance); then, for each factor, so-called forcing values are calculated for the time period between 1750 and the present day. “Positive forcing” is exerted by climatic factors that contribute to the warming of Earth's surface, whereas “negative forcing” is exerted by factors that cool Earth's surface.

      On average about 342 watts of solar radiation strike each square metre of Earth's surface per year, and this quantity can in turn be related to a rise or fall in Earth's surface temperature. Temperatures at the surface may also rise or fall through a change in the distribution of terrestrial radiation (that is, radiation emitted by Earth) within the atmosphere. In some cases, radiative forcing has a natural origin, such as during explosive eruptions from volcanoes (volcano) where vented gases and ash block some portion of solar radiation from the surface. In other cases, radiative forcing has an anthropogenic, or exclusively human, origin. For example, anthropogenic increases in carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide are estimated to account for 2.3 watts per square metre of positive radiative forcing. When all values of positive and negative radiative forcing are taken together and all interactions between climatic factors are accounted for, the total net increase in surface radiation due to human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution is 1.6 watts per square metre.

The influences of human activity on climate

   Human activity has influenced global surface temperatures by changing the radiative balance governing the Earth on various timescales and at varying spatial scales. The most profound and well-known anthropogenic influence is the elevation of concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Humans also influence climate by changing the concentrations of aerosols and ozone and by modifying the land cover of Earth's surface.

Greenhouse gases

 As discussed above, greenhouse gases warm Earth's surface by increasing the net downward longwave radiation reaching the surface. The relationship between atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases and the associated positive radiative forcing of the surface is different for each gas. A complicated relationship exists between the chemical properties of each greenhouse gas and the relative amount of longwave radiation that each can absorb. What follows is a discussion of the radiative behaviour of each major greenhouse gas.

Water vapour

 Water vapour is the most potent of the greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere, but its behaviour is fundamentally different from that of the other greenhouse gases. The primary role of water vapour is not as a direct agent of radiative forcing but rather as a climate feedback—that is, as a response within the climate system that influences the system's continued activity (see below Water vapour feedback (global warming)). This distinction arises from the fact that the amount of water vapour in the atmosphere cannot, in general, be directly modified by human behaviour but is instead set by air temperatures. The warmer the surface, the greater the evaporation (vaporization) rate of water from the surface. As a result, increased evaporation leads to a greater concentration of water vapour in the lower atmosphere capable of absorbing longwave radiation and emitting it downward.

carbon dioxide

 Of the greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide (CO₂) is most significant. Natural sources of atmospheric CO₂ include outgassing from volcanoes (volcano), the combustion and natural decay of organic matter, and respiration by aerobic (oxygen-using) organisms. These sources are balanced, on average, by a set of physical, chemical, or biological processes, called “sinks,” that tend to remove CO₂ from the atmosphere. Significant natural sinks include terrestrial vegetation, which takes up CO₂ during the process of photosynthesis.

      A number of oceanic processes also act as carbon sinks. One such process, called the “solubility pump,” involves the descent of surface sea water containing dissolved CO₂. Another process, the “biological pump,” involves the uptake of dissolved CO₂ by marine vegetation and phytoplankton (small, free-floating, photosynthetic organisms) living in the upper ocean or by other marine organisms that use CO₂ to build skeletons (skeleton) and other structures made of calcium carbonate (carbonate rock) (CaCO₃). As these organisms expire and fall to the ocean floor, the carbon they contain is transported downward and eventually buried at depth. A long-term balance between these natural sources and sinks leads to the background, or natural, level of CO₂ in the atmosphere.

  In contrast, human activities increase atmospheric CO₂ levels primarily through the burning of fossil fuels (principally oil (petroleum) and coal, and secondarily natural gas, for use in transportation, heating, and the generation of electrical power (electric power)) and through the production of cement. Other anthropogenic sources include the burning of forests (forest) and the clearing of land. Anthropogenic emissions currently account for the annual release of about 7 gigatons (7 billion tons) of carbon into the atmosphere. Anthropogenic emissions are equal to approximately 3 percent of the total emissions of CO₂ by natural sources, and this amplified carbon load from human activities far exceeds the offsetting capacity of natural sinks (by perhaps as much as 2–3 gigatons per year). CO₂ has consequently accumulated in the atmosphere at an average rate of 1.4 parts per million (ppm) by volume per year between 1959 and 2006, and this rate of accumulation has been linear (that is, uniform over time). However, certain current sinks, such as the oceans, could become sources in the future (see Carbon cycle feedbacks (global warming)). This may lead to a situation in which the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ builds at an exponential rate.

      The natural background level of carbon dioxide varies on timescales of millions of years due to slow changes in outgassing through volcanic activity. For example, roughly 100 million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period, CO₂ concentrations appear to have been several times higher than today (perhaps close to 2,000 ppm). Over the past 700,000 years, CO₂ concentrations have varied over a far smaller range (between roughly 180 and 300 ppm) in association with the same Earth orbital effects linked to the coming and going of the Pleistocene (Pleistocene Epoch) ice ages (see below Natural influences on climate (global warming)). By the early 21st century, CO₂ levels reached 384 ppm, which is approximately 37 percent above the natural background level of roughly 280 ppm that existed at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. According to ice core measurements, this level (384 ppm) is believed to be the highest in at least 650,000 years.

      Radiative forcing caused by carbon dioxide varies in an approximately logarithmic fashion with the concentration of that gas in the atmosphere. The logarithmic relationship occurs as the result of a saturation effect wherein it becomes increasingly difficult, as CO₂ concentrations increase, for additional CO₂ molecules (molecule) to further influence the “infrared window” (a certain narrow band of wavelengths in the infrared region that is not absorbed by atmospheric gases). The logarithmic relationship predicts that the surface warming potential will rise by roughly the same amount for each doubling of CO₂ concentration. At current rates of fossil-fuel use, a doubling of CO₂ concentrations over preindustrial levels is expected to take place by the middle of the 21st century (when CO₂ concentrations are projected to reach 560 ppm). A doubling of CO₂ concentrations would represent an increase of roughly 4 watts per square metre of radiative forcing. Given typical estimates of “climate sensitivity” in the absence of any offsetting factors, this energy increase would lead to a warming of 2 to 5 °C (3.6 to 9 °F) over preindustrial times (see Feedback mechanisms and climate sensitivity (global warming)). The total radiative forcing by anthropogenic CO₂ emissions since the beginning of the industrial age is approximately 1.66 watts per square metre.

methane

 Methane (CH₄) is the second most important greenhouse gas. CH₄ is more potent than CO₂ because the radiative forcing produced per molecule is greater. In addition, the infrared window is less saturated in the range of wavelengths of radiation absorbed by CH₄, so more molecules may fill in the region. However, CH₄ exists in far lower concentrations than CO₂ in the atmosphere, and its concentrations by volume in the atmosphere are generally measured in parts per billion (ppb) rather than ppm. CH₄ also has a considerably shorter residence time in the atmosphere than CO₂ (the residence time for CH₄ is roughly 10 years, compared with hundreds of years for CO₂).

      Natural sources of methane include tropical and northern wetlands (wetland), methane-oxidizing bacteria that feed on organic material consumed by termites (termite), volcanoes, seepage vents of the seafloor in regions rich with organic sediment, and methane hydrates trapped along the continental shelves of the oceans and in polar permafrost. The primary natural sink for methane is the atmosphere itself, as methane reacts readily with the hydroxyl radical (OH^-) within the troposphere to form CO₂ and water vapour (H₂O). When CH₄ reaches the stratosphere, it is destroyed. Another natural sink is soil, where methane is oxidized (oxidation–reduction reaction) by bacteria.

      As with CO₂, human activity is increasing the CH₄ concentration faster than it can be offset by natural sinks. Anthropogenic sources currently account for approximately 70 percent of total annual emissions, leading to substantial increases in concentration over time. The major anthropogenic sources of atmospheric CH₄ are rice cultivation, livestock farming, the burning of coal and natural gas, the combustion of biomass, and the decomposition of organic matter in landfills. Future trends are particularly difficult to anticipate. This is in part due to an incomplete understanding of the climate feedbacks associated with CH₄ emissions. In addition, as human populations grow, it is difficult to predict how possible changes in livestock raising, rice cultivation, and energy utilization will influence CH₄ emissions.

      It is believed that a sudden increase in the concentration of methane in the atmosphere was responsible for a warming event that raised average global temperatures by 4–8 °C (7.2–14.4 °F) over a few thousand years during the so-called Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, or PETM. This episode took place roughly 55 million years ago, and the rise in CH₄ appears to have been related to a massive volcanic eruption that interacted with methane-containing flood deposits. As a result, large amounts of gaseous CH₄ were injected into the atmosphere. It is difficult to know precisely how high these concentrations were or how long they persisted. At very high concentrations, residence times of CH₄ in the atmosphere can become much greater than the nominal 10-year residence time that applies today. Nevertheless, it is likely that these concentrations reached several ppm during the PETM.

      Methane concentrations have also varied over a smaller range (between roughly 350 and 800 ppb) in association with the Pleistocene ice age cycles (see Natural influences on climate (global warming)). Preindustrial levels of CH₄ in the atmosphere were approximately 700 ppb, whereas early 21st-century levels exceeded 1,770 ppb. (These concentrations are well above the natural levels observed for at least the past 650,000 years.) The net radiative forcing by anthropogenic CH₄ emissions is approximately 0.5 watt per square metre—or roughly one-third the radiative forcing of CO₂.

Surface-level ozone and other compounds

 The next most significant greenhouse gas is surface, or low-level, ozone (O₃). Surface O₃ is a result of air pollution; it must be distinguished from naturally occurring stratospheric O₃, which has a very different role in the planetary radiation balance. The primary natural source of surface O₃ is the subsidence of stratospheric O₃ from the upper atmosphere (see below Stratospheric ozone depletion (global warming)). In contrast, the primary anthropogenic source of surface O₃ is photochemical reactions involving the atmospheric pollutant (pollution) carbon monoxide (CO). The best estimates of the concentration of surface O₃ are 50 ppb, and the net radiative forcing due to anthropogenic emissions of surface O₃ is approximately 0.35 watt per square metre.

Nitrous oxides (nitrous oxide) and fluorinated gases

      Additional trace gases produced by industrial activity that have greenhouse properties include nitrous oxide (N₂O) and fluorinated gases (halocarbons (halocarbon)), the latter including sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and perfluorocarbons (PFCs). Nitrous oxide is responsible for 0.16 watt per square metre radiative forcing, while fluorinated gases are collectively responsible for 0.34 watt per square metre. Nitrous oxides have small background concentrations due to natural biological reactions in soil and water, whereas the fluorinated gases owe their existence almost entirely to industrial sources.

Aerosols (aerosol)

 The production of aerosols (aerosol) represents an important anthropogenic radiative forcing of climate. Collectively, aerosols block—that is, reflect and absorb—a portion of incoming solar radiation, and this creates a negative radiative forcing. Aerosols are second only to greenhouse gases in relative importance in their impact on near-surface air temperatures. Unlike the decade-long residence times of the “well-mixed” greenhouse gases, such as CO₂ and CH₄, aerosols are readily flushed out of the atmosphere within days, either by rain or snow (wet deposition) or by settling out of the air (dry deposition). They must therefore be continually generated in order to produce a steady effect on radiative forcing. Aerosols have the ability to influence climate directly by absorbing or reflecting incoming solar radiation, but they can also produce indirect effects on climate by modifying cloud formation or cloud properties. Most aerosols serve as condensation nuclei (condensation nucleus) (surfaces upon which water vapour can condense to form clouds); however, darker-coloured aerosols may hinder cloud formation by absorbing sunlight and heating up the surrounding air. Aerosols can be transported thousands of kilometres from their sources of origin by winds and upper-level circulation (climate) in the atmosphere.

      Perhaps the most important type of anthropogenic aerosol in radiative forcing is sulfate aerosol. It is produced from sulfur dioxide (sulfur oxide) (SO₂) emissions associated with the burning of coal and oil. Since the late 1980s, global emissions of SO₂ have decreased from about 73 million tons to about 54 million tons of sulfur per year.

       nitrate aerosol is not as important as sulfate aerosol, but it has the potential to become a significant source of negative forcing. One major source of nitrate aerosol is smog (the combination of ozone with oxides of nitrogen in the lower atmosphere) released from the incomplete burning of fuel in internal-combustion engines (internal-combustion engine). Another source is ammonia (NH₃), which is often used in fertilizers (fertilizer) or released by the burning of plants and other organic materials. If greater amounts of atmospheric nitrogen are converted to ammonia and agricultural ammonia emissions continue to increase as projected, the influence of nitrate aerosols on radiative forcing is expected to grow.

      Both sulfate and nitrate aerosols act primarily by reflecting incoming solar radiation, thereby reducing the amount of sunlight reaching the surface. Most aerosols, unlike greenhouse gases, impart a cooling rather than warming influence on Earth's surface. One prominent exception is carbonaceous aerosols such as carbon black or soot, which are produced by the burning of fossil fuels and biomass. Carbon black tends to absorb rather than reflect incident solar radiation, and so it has a warming impact on the lower atmosphere, where it resides. Because of its absorptive properties, carbon black is also capable of having an additional indirect effect on climate. Through its deposition in snowfall, it can decrease the albedo of snow cover. This reduction in the amount of solar radiation reflected back to space by snow surfaces creates a minor positive radiative forcing.

      Natural forms of aerosol include windblown mineral dust generated in arid and semiarid regions and sea salt produced by the action of waves breaking in the ocean. Changes to wind patterns as a result of climate modification could alter the emissions of these aerosols. The influence of climate change on regional patterns of aridity could shift both the sources and the destinations of dust clouds. In addition, since the concentration of sea salt aerosol, or sea aerosol, increases with the strength of the winds near the ocean surface, changes in wind speed due to global warming and climate change could influence the concentration of sea salt aerosol. For example, some studies suggest that climate change might lead to stronger winds over parts of the North Atlantic Ocean. Areas with stronger winds may experience an increase in the concentration of sea salt aerosol.

      Other natural sources of aerosols include volcanic eruptions, which produce sulfate aerosol, and biogenic sources (e.g., phytoplankton), which produce dimethyl sulfide (DMS). Other important biogenic aerosols, such as terpenes (terpene), are produced naturally by certain kinds of trees (tree) or other plants (plant). For example, the dense forests of the Blue Ridge Mountains (Blue Ridge) of Virginia in the United States emit terpenes during the summer months, which in turn interact with the high humidity and warm temperatures to produce a natural photochemical smog. Anthropogenic pollutants such as nitrate and ozone, both of which serve as precursor molecules for the generation of biogenic aerosol, appear to have increased the rate of production of these aerosols severalfold. This process appears to be responsible for some of the increased aerosol pollution in regions undergoing rapid urbanization.

      Human activity has greatly increased the amount of aerosol in the atmosphere compared with the background levels of preindustrial times. In contrast to the global effects of greenhouse gases, the impact of anthropogenic aerosols is confined primarily to the Northern Hemisphere, where most of the world's industrial activity occurs. The pattern of increases in anthropogenic aerosol over time is also somewhat different from that of greenhouse gases. During the middle of the 20th century, there was a substantial increase in aerosol emissions. This appears to have been at least partially responsible for a cessation of surface warming that took place in the Northern Hemisphere from the 1940s through the 1970s. Since that time, aerosol emissions have leveled off due to antipollution measures undertaken in the industrialized countries since the 1960s. Aerosol emissions may rise in the future, however, as a result of the rapid emergence of coal-fired electric power generation in China and India.

 The total radiative forcing of all anthropogenic aerosols is approximately –1.2 watts per square metre. Of this total, –0.5 watt per square metre comes from direct effects (such as the reflection of solar energy back into space), and –0.7 watt per square metre comes from indirect effects (such as the influence of aerosols on cloud formation). This negative radiative forcing represents an offset of roughly 40 percent from the positive radiative forcing caused by human activity. However, the relative uncertainty in aerosol radiative forcing (approximately 90 percent) is much greater than that of greenhouse gases. In addition, future emissions of aerosols from human activities, and the influence of these emissions on future climate change, are not known with any certainty. Nevertheless, it can be said that, if concentrations of anthropogenic aerosols continue to decrease as they have since the 1970s, a significant offset to the effects of greenhouse gases will be reduced, opening future climate to further warming.

Land-use change

  There are a number of ways in which changes in land use can influence climate. The most direct influence is through the alteration of Earth's albedo, or surface reflectance. For example, the replacement of forest by cropland and pasture in the middle latitudes over the past several centuries has led to an increase in albedo, which in turn has led to greater reflection of incoming solar radiation in those regions. This replacement of forest by agriculture (agriculture, origins of) has been associated with a change in global average radiative forcing of approximately –0.2 watt per square metre since 1750. In Europe and other major agricultural regions, such land-use conversion began more than 1,000 years ago and has proceeded nearly to completion. For Europe, the negative radiative forcing due to land-use change has probably been substantial, perhaps approaching –5 watts per square metre. The influence of early land use on radiative forcing may help to explain a long period of cooling in Europe that followed a period of relatively mild conditions roughly 1,000 years ago. It is generally believed that the mild temperatures of this “medieval warm period,” which was followed by a long period of cooling, rivaled those of 20th-century Europe.

      Land-use changes can also influence climate through their influence on the exchange of heat between Earth's surface and the atmosphere. For example, vegetation helps to facilitate the evaporation of water into the atmosphere through evapotranspiration. In this process, plants take up liquid water from the soil through their root systems. Eventually this water is released through transpiration into the atmosphere, as water vapour through the stomata (stomate) in leaves. While deforestation generally leads to surface cooling due to the albedo factor discussed above, the land surface may also be warmed as a result of the release of latent heat by the evapotranspiration process. The relative importance of these two factors, one exerting a cooling effect and the other a warming effect, varies by both season and region. While the albedo effect is likely to dominate in middle latitudes, especially during the period from autumn through spring, the evapotranspiration effect may dominate during the summer in the midlatitudes and year-round in the tropics. The latter case is particularly important in assessing the potential impacts of continued tropical deforestation.

      The rate at which tropical regions are deforested is also relevant to the process of carbon sequestration (see Carbon cycle feedbacks (global warming)), the long-term storage of carbon in underground cavities and biomass rather than in the atmosphere. By removing carbon from the atmosphere, carbon sequestration acts to mitigate global warming. Deforestation contributes to global warming as fewer plants are available to take up carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. In addition, as fallen trees, shrubs, and other plants are burned or allowed to slowly decompose, they release as carbon dioxide the carbon they stored during their lifetimes. Furthermore, any land-use change that influences the amount, distribution, or type of vegetation in a region can affect the concentrations of biogenic aerosols; however, the impact of such changes on climate is indirect and relatively minor.

Stratospheric (stratosphere) ozone depletion

 Since the 1970s the loss of ozone (O₃) from the stratosphere has led to a small amount of negative radiative forcing of the surface. This negative forcing represents a competition between two distinct effects caused by the fact that ozone absorbs solar radiation. In the first case, as ozone levels in the stratosphere are depleted, more solar radiation reaches Earth's surface. In the absence of any other influence, this rise in insolation would represent a positive radiative forcing of the surface. However, there is a second effect of ozone depletion that is related to its greenhouse properties. As the amount of ozone in the stratosphere is decreased, there is also less ozone to absorb longwave radiation emitted by Earth's surface. With less absorption of radiation by ozone, there is a corresponding decrease in the downward re-emission of radiation. This second effect overwhelms the first and results in a modest negative radiative forcing of Earth's surface and a modest cooling of the lower stratosphere by approximately 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) per decade since the 1970s.

Natural influences on climate

      There are a number of natural factors that influence Earth's climate. These factors include external influences such as explosive volcanic eruptions, natural variations in the output of the Sun, and slow changes in the configuration of Earth's orbit relative to the Sun. In addition, there are natural oscillations in Earth's climate that alter global patterns of wind circulation, precipitation, and surface temperatures. One such phenomenon is the El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO), a coupled atmospheric and oceanic event that occurs in the Pacific Ocean every three to seven years. In addition, the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO) is a similar phenomenon that occurs over decades in the North Atlantic Ocean. Other types of oscillatory behaviour that produce dramatic shifts in climate may occur across timescales of centuries and millennia (see climatic variation and change (climate change)).

Volcanic aerosols (aerosol)

 Explosive volcanic eruptions have the potential to inject substantial amounts of sulfate aerosols into the lower stratosphere. In contrast to aerosol emissions in the lower troposphere (see above Aerosols (global warming)), aerosols that enter the stratosphere may remain for several years before settling out, because of the relative absence of turbulent motions there. Consequently, aerosols from explosive volcanic eruptions have the potential to affect Earth's climate. Less explosive eruptions, or eruptions that are less vertical in orientation, have a lower potential for substantial climate impact. Furthermore, because of large-scale circulation patterns within the stratosphere, aerosols injected within tropical regions tend to spread out over the globe, whereas aerosols injected within midlatitude and polar regions tend to remain confined to the middle and high latitudes of that hemisphere. Tropical eruptions, therefore, tend to have a greater climatic impact than eruptions occurring toward the poles. In 1991 the moderate eruption of Mount Pinatubo (Pinatubo, Mount) in the Philippines provided a peak forcing of approximately –4 watts per square metre and cooled the climate by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) over the following few years. By comparison, the 1815 Mount Tambora (Tambora, Mount) eruption in present-day Indonesia, typically implicated for the 1816 “year without a summer” in Europe and North America, is believed to have been associated with a radiative forcing of approximately –6 watts per square metre.

      While in the stratosphere, volcanic sulfate aerosol actually absorbs longwave radiation emitted by Earth's surface, and absorption in the stratosphere tends to result in a cooling of the troposphere below. This vertical pattern of temperature change in the atmosphere influences the behaviour of winds in the lower atmosphere, primarily in winter. Thus, while there is essentially a global cooling effect for the first few years following an explosive volcanic eruption, changes in the winter patterns of surface winds may actually lead to warmer winters in some areas, such as Europe. Some modern examples of major eruptions include Krakatoa (Indonesia) in 1883, El Chichón (Mexico) in 1982, and Mount Pinatubo in 1991. There is also evidence that volcanic eruptions may influence other climate phenomena such as ENSO.

Variations in solar (solar radiation) output

    Direct measurements of solar irradiance, or solar output, have been available from satellites only since the late 1970s. These measurements show a very small peak-to-peak variation in solar irradiance (roughly 0.1 percent of the 1,366 watts per square metre received at the top of the atmosphere, for approximately 0.12 watt per square metre). However, indirect measures of solar activity are available from historical sunspot measurements dating back through the early 17th century. Attempts have been made to reconstruct graphs of solar irradiance variations from historical sunspot data by calibrating them against the measurements from modern satellites; however, since the modern measurements span only a few of the most recent 11-year solar cycles, estimates of solar output variability on 100-year and longer timescales are poorly correlated. Different assumptions regarding the relationship between the amplitudes of 11-year solar cycles and long-period solar output changes can lead to considerable differences in the resulting solar reconstructions. These differences in turn lead to fairly large uncertainty in estimating positive forcing by changes in solar irradiance since 1750. (Estimates range from 0.06 to 0.3 watt per square metre.) Even more challenging, given the lack of any modern analog, is the estimation of solar irradiance during the so-called Maunder Minimum, a period lasting from the mid-17th century to the early 18th century when very few sunspots were observed. While it is likely that solar irradiance was reduced at this time, it is difficult to calculate by how much. However, additional proxies of solar output exist that match reasonably well with the sunspot-derived records following the Maunder Minimum; these may be used as crude estimates of the solar irradiance variations.

      In theory it is possible to estimate solar irradiance even farther back in time, over at least the past millennium, by measuring levels of cosmogenic isotopes (isotope) such as carbon-14 (carbon-14 dating) and beryllium-10. Cosmogenic isotopes are isotopes that are formed by interactions of cosmic rays (cosmic ray) with atomic nuclei in the atmosphere and that subsequently fall to Earth, where they can be measured in the annual layers found in ice cores (ice core). Since their production rate in the upper atmosphere is modulated by changes in solar activity, cosmogenic isotopes may be used as indirect indicators of solar irradiance. However, as with the sunspot data, there is still considerable uncertainty in the amplitude of past solar variability implied by these data.

 Solar forcing also affects the photochemical reactions that manufacture ozone in the stratosphere. Through this modulation of stratospheric ozone concentrations, changes in solar irradiance (particularly in the ultraviolet (ultraviolet radiation) portion of the electromagnetic spectrum) can modify how both shortwave and longwave radiation in the lower stratosphere are absorbed. As a result, the vertical temperature profile of the atmospheric can change, and this change in turn can influence phenomena such as the strength of the winter jet streams (jet stream).

Variations in Earth's orbit

 On timescales of tens of millennia, the dominant radiative forcing of Earth's climate is associated with slow variations in the geometry of Earth's orbit about the Sun. These variations include the precession of the equinoxes (equinoxes, precession of the) (that is, changes in the timing of summer and winter), occurring on a roughly 26,000-year timescale; changes in the tilt angle of Earth's rotational axis relative to the plane of Earth's orbit around the Sun, occurring on a roughly 41,000-year timescale; and changes in the eccentricity (the departure from a perfect circle) of Earth's orbit around the Sun, occurring on a roughly 100,000-year timescale. Changes in eccentricity slightly influence the mean annual solar radiation at the top of Earth's atmosphere, but the primary influence of all the orbital variations listed above is on the seasonal and latitudinal distribution of incoming solar radiation over Earth's surface. The major ice ages of the Pleistocene Epoch were closely related to the influence of these variations on summer insolation at high northern latitudes. Orbital variations thus exerted a primary control on the extent of continental ice sheets. However, Earth's orbital changes are generally believed to have had little impact on climate over the past few millennia, and so they are not considered to be significant factors in present-day climate variability.

Feedback mechanisms and climate sensitivity

      There are a number of feedback processes important to Earth's climate system and, in particular, its response to external radiative forcing. The most fundamental of these feedback mechanisms involves the loss of longwave radiation to space from the surface. Since this radiative loss increases with increasing surface temperatures according to the Stefan-Boltzmann law (Stefan–Boltzmann law), it represents a stabilizing factor (that is, a negative feedback) with respect to near-surface air temperature.

      Climate sensitivity can be defined as the amount of surface warming resulting from each additional watt per square metre of radiative forcing. Alternatively, it is sometimes defined as the warming that would result from a doubling of CO₂ concentrations and the associated addition of 4 watts per square metre of radiative forcing. In the absence of any additional feedbacks, climate sensitivity would be approximately 0.25 °C (0.45 °F) for each additional watt per square metre of radiative forcing. Stated alternatively, if the CO₂ concentration of the atmosphere present at the start of the industrial age (280 ppm) were doubled (to 560 ppm), the resulting additional 4 watts per square metre of radiative forcing would translate into a 1 °C (1.8 °F) increase in air temperature. However, there are additional feedbacks that exert a destabilizing, rather than stabilizing, influence (see below), and these feedbacks tend to increase the sensitivity of climate to somewhere between 0.5 and 1.0 °C (0.9 and 1.8 °F) for each additional watt per square metre of radiative forcing.

Water vapour feedback

      Unlike concentrations of other greenhouse gases, the concentration of water vapour in the atmosphere cannot freely vary. Instead, it is determined by the temperature of the lower atmosphere and surface through a physical relationship known as the Clausius-Clapeyron equation (thermodynamics), named for 19th-century German physicist Rudolf Clausius (Clausius, Rudolf) and 19th-century French engineer Émile Clapeyron. Under the assumption that there is a liquid water surface in equilibrium with the atmosphere, this relationship indicates that an increase in the capacity of air to hold water vapour is a function of increasing temperature of that volume of air. This assumption is relatively good over the oceans, where water is plentiful, but not over the continents. For this reason the relative humidity (the percent of water vapour the air contains relative to its capacity) is approximately 100 percent over ocean regions and much lower over continental regions (approaching 0 percent in arid regions). Not surprisingly, the average relative humidity of Earth's lower atmosphere is similar to the fraction of Earth's surface covered by the oceans (that is, roughly 70 percent). This quantity is expected to remain approximately constant as Earth warms or cools. Slight changes to global relative humidity may result from human land-use modification, such as tropical deforestation and irrigation (irrigation and drainage), which can affect the relative humidity over land areas up to regional scales.

      The amount of water vapour in the atmosphere will rise as the temperature of the atmosphere rises. Since water vapour is a very potent greenhouse gas, even more potent than CO₂, the net greenhouse effect actually becomes stronger as the surface warms, which leads to even greater warming. This positive feedback is known as the “water vapour feedback.” It is the primary reason that climate sensitivity is substantially greater than the previously stated theoretical value of 0.25 °C (0.45 °F) for each increase of 1 watt per square metre of radiative forcing.

cloud feedbacks

 It is generally believed that as Earth's surface warms and the atmosphere's water vapour content increases, global cloud cover increases; however, the effects on near-surface air temperatures are complicated. In the case of low clouds, such as marine stratus clouds, the dominant radiative feature of the cloud is its albedo. Here any increase in low cloud cover acts in much the same way as an increase in surface ice cover: more incoming solar radiation is reflected and Earth's surface cools. On the other hand, high clouds, such as the towering cumulus clouds that extend up to the boundary between the troposphere and stratosphere, have a quite different impact on the surface radiation balance. The tops of cumulus clouds are considerably higher in the atmosphere and colder than their undersides. Cumulus cloud tops emit less longwave radiation out to space than the warmer cloud bottoms emit downward toward the surface. The end result of the formation of high cumulus clouds is greater warming at the surface.

      The net feedback of clouds on rising surface temperatures is therefore somewhat uncertain. It represents a competition between the impacts of high and low clouds, and the balance is difficult to determine. Nonetheless, most estimates indicate that clouds on the whole represent a positive feedback and thus additional warming.

Ice albedo feedback

      Another important positive climate feedback is the so-called ice albedo feedback. This feedback arises from the simple fact that ice is more reflective (that is, has a higher albedo) than land or water surfaces. Therefore, as global ice cover decreases, the reflectivity of Earth's surface decreases, more incoming solar radiation is absorbed by the surface, and the surface warms. This feedback is considerably more important when there is relatively extensive global ice cover, such as during the height of the last ice age, roughly 25,000 years ago. On a global scale the importance of ice albedo feedback decreases as Earth's surface warms and there is relatively less ice available to be melted.

carbon cycle feedbacks

 Another important set of climate feedbacks involves the global carbon cycle. In particular, the two main reservoirs of carbon in the climate system are the oceans (ocean) and the terrestrial biosphere. These reservoirs have historically taken up large amounts of anthropogenic CO (carbon dioxide)₂ emissions. Roughly 50–70 percent is removed by the oceans, whereas the remainder is taken up by the terrestrial biosphere. Global warming, however, could decrease the capacity of these reservoirs to sequester atmospheric CO₂. Reductions in the rate of carbon uptake by these reservoirs would increase the pace of CO₂ buildup in the atmosphere and represent yet another possible positive feedback to increased greenhouse gas concentrations.

      In the world's oceans, this feedback effect might take several paths. First, as surface waters warmed, they would hold less dissolved CO₂. Second, if more CO₂ was added to the atmosphere and taken up by the oceans, bicarbonate ions (HCO₃^–) would multiply and ocean acidity would increase. Since calcium carbonate (CaCO₃) is broken down by acidic solutions, rising acidity would threaten ocean-dwelling fauna that incorporate CaCO₃ into their skeletons or shells. As it became increasingly difficult for these organisms to absorb oceanic carbon, there would be a corresponding decrease in the efficiency of the biological pump that helps to maintain the oceans as a carbon sink (as described in the section Carbon dioxide (global warming)). Third, rising surface temperatures might lead to a slowdown in the so-called thermohaline circulation (see Ocean circulation changes (global warming)), a global pattern of oceanic flow that partly drives the sinking of surface waters near the poles and is responsible for much of the burial of carbon in the deep ocean. A slowdown in this flow due to an influx of melting fresh water into what are normally saltwater conditions might also cause the solubility pump, which transfers CO₂ from shallow to deeper waters, to become less efficient. Indeed, it is predicted that if global warming continued to a certain point, the oceans would cease to be a net sink of CO₂ and would become a net source.

      As large sections of tropical forest are lost because of the warming and drying of regions such as Amazonia, the overall capacity of plants (plant) to sequester atmospheric CO₂ would be reduced. As a result, the terrestrial biosphere, though currently a carbon sink, would become a carbon source. Ambient temperature is a significant factor affecting the pace of photosynthesis in plants, and many plant species that are well-adapted to their local climatic conditions have maximized their photosynthetic rates. As temperatures increase and conditions begin to exceed the optimal temperature range for both photosynthesis and soil respiration, the rate of photosynthesis would decline. As dead plants decompose, microbial metabolic activity (a CO₂ source) would increase and would eventually outpace photosynthesis.

      Under sufficient global warming conditions, methane sinks in the oceans and terrestrial biosphere also might become methane sources. Annual emissions of methane by wetlands might either increase or decrease, depending on temperatures and input of nutrients, and it is possible that wetlands could switch from source to sink. There is also the potential for increased methane release as a result of the warming of Arctic permafrost (on land) and further methane release at the continental margins of the oceans (a few hundred metres below sea level). The current average atmospheric methane concentration of 1,750 ppb is equivalent to 3.5 gigatons (3.5 billion tons) of carbon. There are at least 400 gigatons of carbon equivalent stored in Arctic permafrost and as much as 10,000 gigatons (10 trillion tons) of carbon equivalent trapped on the continental margins of the oceans in a hydrated crystalline form known as clathrate. It is believed that some fraction of this trapped methane could become unstable with additional warming, although the amount and rate of potential emission remain highly uncertain.

Climate research

      Modern research into climatic variation and change (climate change) is based on a variety of empirical and theoretical lines of inquiry. One line of inquiry is the analysis of data that record changes in atmosphere, oceans (ocean), and climate from roughly 1850 to the present. In a second line of inquiry, information describing paleoclimatic changes is gathered from “proxy,” or indirect, sources such as ocean and lake sediments (sedimentation), pollen grains, corals (coral), ice cores (ice core), and tree rings. Finally, a variety of theoretical models can be used to investigate the behaviour of Earth's climate under different conditions. These three lines of investigation are described in this section.

Modern observations

      Although a limited regional subset of land-based records is available from the 17th and 18th centuries, instrumental measurements of key climate variables have been collected systematically and at global scales since the mid-19th to early 20th centuries. These data include measurements of surface temperature on land and at sea, atmospheric pressure at sea level, precipitation over continents and oceans, sea-ice (sea ice) extents, surface winds (wind), humidity, and tides (tide). Such records are the most reliable of all available climate data, since they are precisely dated and are based on well-understood instruments and physical principles. Corrections must be made for uncertainties in the data (for instance, gaps in the observational record, particularly during earlier years) and for systematic errors (such as an “urban heat island (urban climate)” bias in temperature measurements made on land).

      Since the mid-20th century a variety of upper-air observations have become available (for example, of temperature, humidity, and winds), allowing climatic conditions to be characterized from the ground upward through the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Since the 1970s these data have been supplemented by polar-orbiting and geostationary satellites (Earth satellite) and by platforms in the oceans that gauge temperature, salinity, and other properties of seawater. Attempts have been made to fill the gaps in early measurements by using various statistical techniques (statistics) and “backward prediction” models and by assimilating available observations into numerical weather prediction (weather forecasting) models. These techniques seek to estimate meteorological observations or atmospheric variables (such as relative humidity) that have been poorly measured in the past.

 Modern measurements of greenhouse gas concentrations began with an investigation of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations by American climate scientist Charles Keeling at the summit of Mauna Loa in Hawaii in 1958. Keeling's findings indicated that CO₂ concentrations were steadily rising in association with the combustion of fossil fuels (fossil fuel), and they also yielded the famous “Keeling curve,” a graph in which the longer-term rising trend is superimposed on small oscillations related to seasonal variations in the uptake and release of CO₂ from photosynthesis and respiration in the terrestrial biosphere. Keeling's measurements at Mauna Loa apply primarily to the Northern Hemisphere.

 Taking into account the uncertainties, the instrumental climate record indicates substantial trends over the past century consistent with a warming Earth. These trends include a rise in global surface temperature of 0.6 °C (1.1 °F), an associated elevation of global sea level of 17 cm (6.7 inches), and a decrease in snow cover in the Northern Hemisphere of approximately 1.5 million square km (580,000 square miles). Increases in global sea level are attributed to a combination of seawater expansion due to ocean heating and freshwater runoff caused by the melting of terrestrial ice. Reductions in snow cover are the result of warmer temperatures favouring a steadily shrinking winter season.

Prehistorical climate records

      In order to reconstruct climate changes that occurred prior to about the mid-19th century, it is necessary to use “proxy” measurements—that is, records of other natural phenomena that indirectly measure various climate conditions. Some proxies, such as most sediment cores and pollen records, glacial moraine evidence, and geothermal borehole temperature profiles, are coarsely resolved or dated and thus are only useful for describing climate changes on long timescales. Other proxies, such as growth rings from trees or oxygen isotopes (isotope) from corals and ice cores, can provide a record of yearly or even seasonal climate changes.

      The data from these proxies should be calibrated to known physical principles or related statistically to the records collected by modern instruments, such as satellites. Networks of proxy data can then be used to infer patterns of change in climate variables, such as the behaviour of surface temperature over time and geography. Yearly reconstructions of climate variables are possible over the past 1,000 to 2,000 years using annually dated proxy records, but reconstructions farther back in time are generally based on more coarsely resolved evidence such as ocean sediments and pollen records. For these, records of conditions can be reconstructed only on timescales of hundreds or thousands of years. In addition, since relatively few long-term proxy records are available for the Southern Hemisphere, most reconstructions focus on the Northern Hemisphere.

      The various proxy-based reconstructions of the average surface temperature of the Northern Hemisphere differ in their details. These differences are the result of uncertainties implicit in the proxy data themselves and also of differences in the statistical methods used to relate the proxy data to surface temperature. Nevertheless, all studies as reviewed in the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) indicate that the average surface temperature since about 1950 is higher than at any time during the previous 1,000 years.

Theoretical climate models

 Theoretical models of Earth's climate system can be used to investigate the response of climate to external radiative forcing as well as its own internal variability. Two or more models that focus on different physical processes may be coupled or linked together through a common feature, such as geographic location. Climate models vary considerably in their degree of complexity. The simplest models of energy balance describe Earth's surface as a globally uniform layer whose temperature is determined by a balance of incoming and outgoing shortwave and longwave radiation. These simple models may also consider the effects of greenhouse gases. At the other end of the spectrum are fully coupled, three-dimensional, global climate models. These are complex models that solve for radiative balance; for laws of motion governing the atmosphere, ocean, and ice; and for exchanges of energy and momentum within and between the different components of the climate. In some cases, theoretical climate models also include an interactive representation of Earth's biosphere and carbon cycle.

      Even the most-detailed climate models cannot resolve all the processes that are important in the atmosphere and ocean. Most climate models are designed to gauge the behaviour of a number of physical variables over space and time, and they often artificially divide Earth's surface into a grid of many equal-sized “cells.” Each cell may neatly correspond to some physical process (such as summer near-surface air temperature) or other variable (such as land-use type), and it may be assigned a relatively straightforward value. So-called “sub-grid-scale” processes, such as those of clouds, are too small to be captured by the relatively coarse spacing of the individual grid cells. Instead, such processes must be represented through a statistical process that relates the properties of the atmosphere and ocean. For example, the average fraction of cloud cover over a hypothetical “grid box” (that is, a representative volume of air or water in the model) can be estimated from the average relative humidity and the vertical temperature profile of the grid cell. Variations in the behaviour of different coupled climate models arise in large part from differences in the ways sub-grid-scale processes are mathematically expressed.

      Despite these required simplifications, many theoretical climate models perform remarkably well when reproducing basic features of the atmosphere, such as the behaviour of midlatitude jet streams (jet stream) or Hadley cell circulation. The models also adequately reproduce important features of the oceans, such as the Gulf Stream. In addition, models are becoming better able to reproduce the main patterns of internal climate variability, such as those of El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Consequently, periodically recurring events—such as ENSO and other interactions between the atmosphere and ocean currents—are being modeled with growing confidence.

      Climate models have been tested in their ability to reproduce observed changes in response to radiative forcing. In 1987 a team at NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York City used a fairly primitive climate model to predict warming patterns that might occur in response to three different scenarios of anthropogenic radiative forcing. Warming patterns were forecasted for subsequent decades. Of the three scenarios, one very closely followed the actual near-surface air temperature pattern that occurred through the 1990s and into the following decade, and it predicted the temperature rise of roughly 0.5 °C (0.9 °F) that actually took place during that interval. The NASA team also used a climate model to successfully predict that global mean surface temperatures would cool by about 0.5 °C for one to two years after the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo (Pinatubo, Mount) in the Philippines.

      More recently, so-called “detection and attribution” studies have been performed. These studies compare predicted changes in near-surface air temperature and other climate variables with patterns of change that have been observed for the past one to two centuries (see below). The simulations have shown that the observed patterns of warming of Earth's surface and upper oceans, as well as changes in other climate phenomena such as prevailing winds and precipitation patterns, are consistent with the effects of an anthropogenic influence predicted by the climate models. In addition, climate model simulations have shown success in reproducing the magnitude and the spatial pattern of cooling in the Northern Hemisphere between roughly 1400 and 1850—during the Little Ice Age, which appears to have resulted from a combination of lowered solar output and heightened explosive volcanic activity.

Potential effects of global warming

   Projected range of sea-level rise by climate change scenario Projected range of sea-level rise by climate change scenarioThe path of future climate change will depend on what courses of action are taken by society—in particular the emission of greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels (fossil fuel). A range of alternative emissions scenarios have been proposed by the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) to predict future climate changes. These scenarios depend on various assumptions concerning future rates of human population growth, economic development, energy demand, technological advancement (technology, history of), and other factors. Scenarios with the smallest increases in greenhouse gases are associated with low-to-moderate economic growth and increasing use of more environmentally friendly and resource-efficient technologies or with rapid economic growth and use of alternative energy sources. In each of these scenarios, CO₂ concentrations at the year 2100 are held near or below twice the levels of the preindustrial age—that is, at or below 600 ppm. At the other extreme are scenarios that assume either more intensive use of fossil fuels or unabated growth in world population. In these scenarios CO₂ concentrations approach or exceed 900 ppm by 2100. The intermediate scenarios reflect so-called “business-as-usual” (BAU) activities, where civilization continues to burn fossil fuels at early 21st-century rates. In the BAU scenarios CO₂ concentrations approach levels of 700–750 ppm by 2100.

Simulations of future climate change

 The differences between the various simulations arise from disparities between the various climate models used and from assumptions made by each emission scenario. For example, best estimates of the predicted increases in global surface temperature between the years 2000 and 2100 range from about 1.8 °C (3.2 °F) to about 4 °C (7.2 °F), depending on which emission scenario is assumed and which climate model is used. These projections are conservative in that they do not take into account potential positive carbon cycle feedbacks discussed above (see Feedback mechanisms and climate sensitivity (global warming)). Only the lower-end emissions scenarios are likely to hold additional global surface warming by 2100 to less than 2 °C (3.6 °F)—a level considered by many scientists to be the threshold above which pervasive and extreme climatic effects will occur.

Patterns of warming

 The greatest increase in near-surface air temperature is projected to occur over the polar region of the Northern Hemisphere because of the melting of sea ice and the associated reduction in surface albedo. Greater warming is predicted over land areas than over the ocean. Largely due to the delayed warming of the oceans and their greater specific heat, the Northern Hemisphere—with less than 40 percent of its surface area covered by water—is expected to warm faster than the Southern Hemisphere. Some of the regional variation in predicted warming is expected to arise from changes to wind patterns and ocean currents (ocean current) in response to surface warming. For example, the warming of the region of the North Atlantic Ocean just south of Greenland is expected to be slight. This anomaly is projected to arise from a weakening of warm northward ocean currents combined with a shift in the jet stream that will bring colder polar air masses to the region.

precipitation patterns

  The climate changes associated with global warming are also projected to lead to changes in precipitation patterns across the globe. Increased precipitation is predicted in the polar and subpolar regions, whereas decreased precipitation is projected for the middle latitudes of both hemispheres as a result of the expected poleward shift in the jet streams (jet stream). Whereas precipitation near the Equator is predicted to increase, it is thought that rainfall in the subtropics will decrease. Both phenomena are associated with a forecasted strengthening of the tropical Hadley cell pattern of atmospheric circulation.

      Changes in precipitation patterns are expected to increase the chances of both drought and flood conditions in many areas. Decreased summer precipitation in North America, Europe, and Africa, combined with greater rates of evaporation (vaporization) due to warming surface temperatures, is projected to lead to decreased soil moisture and drought in many regions. Furthermore, since anthropogenic climate change will likely lead to a more vigorous hydrologic cycle with greater rates of both evaporation and precipitation, there will be a greater probability for intense precipitation and flooding in many regions.

Regional predictions

      Regional predictions of future climate change remain limited by uncertainties in how the precise patterns of atmospheric winds and ocean currents will vary with increased surface warming. For example, some uncertainty remains in how the frequency and magnitude of El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events will adjust to climate change. Since ENSO is one of the most prominent sources of interannual variations in regional patterns of precipitation and temperature, any uncertainty in how it will change implies a corresponding uncertainty in certain regional patterns of climate change. For example, increased El Niño activity would likely lead to more winter precipitation in some regions, such as the desert southwest of the United States. This might offset the drought predicted for those regions, but at the same time it might lead to less precipitation in other regions. Rising winter precipitation in the desert southwest of the United States might exacerbate drought conditions in locations as far away as South Africa.

ice melt and sea-level (sea level) rise

      A warming climate holds important implications for other aspects of the global environment. Because of the slow process of heat diffusion in water, the world's oceans (ocean) are likely to continue to warm for several centuries in response to increases in greenhouse concentrations that have taken place so far. The combination of seawater's thermal expansion associated with this warming and the melting of mountain glaciers (glacier) is predicted to lead to an increase in global sea level of 0.21–0.48 metre (0.7–1.6 feet) by 2100 under the BAU emissions scenario. However, the actual rise in sea level could be considerably greater than this. It is probable that the continued warming of Greenland will cause its ice sheet to melt at accelerated rates. In addition, this level of surface warming may also melt the ice sheet of West Antarctica. Paleoclimatic evidence suggests that an additional 2 °C (3.6 °F) of warming could lead to the ultimate destruction of the Greenland Ice Sheet, an event that would add another 5 to 6 metres (16 to 20 feet) to predicted sea-level rise. Such an increase would submerge a substantial number of islands and lowland regions. Selected lowland regions include substantial parts of the U.S. Gulf Coast and Eastern Seaboard (including roughly the lower third of Florida), much of The Netherlands and Belgium (two of the European Low Countries), and heavily populated tropical areas such as Bangladesh. In addition, many of the world's major cities—such as Tokyo, New York, Mumbai (Bombay), Shanghai, and Dhaka—are located in lowland regions vulnerable to rising sea levels. With the loss of the West Antarctic ice sheet, additional sea-level rise would approach 10.5 metres (34 feet). While the current generation of models predicts that such global sea-level changes might take several centuries to occur, it is possible that the rate could accelerate as a result of processes that tend to hasten the collapse of ice sheets. One such process is the development of moulins (moulin), or large, vertical shafts in the ice that allow surface meltwater to penetrate to the base of the ice sheet. A second process involves the vast ice shelves off Antarctica that buttress the grounded continental ice sheet of Antarctica's interior. If these ice shelves collapse, the continental ice sheet could become unstable, slide rapidly toward the ocean, and melt, thereby further increasing mean sea level. Thus far, neither process has been incorporated into the theoretical models used to predict sea-level rise.

Ocean circulation changes

  Another possible consequence of global warming is a decrease in the global ocean circulation system known as the “thermohaline circulation” or “great ocean conveyor belt.” This system involves the sinking of cold saline waters in the subpolar regions of the oceans, an action that helps to drive warmer surface waters poleward from the subtropics. As a result of this process, a warming influence is carried to Iceland and the coastal regions of Europe that moderates the climate in those regions. Some scientists believe that global warming could shut down this ocean current system by creating an influx of fresh water (Freshwater) from melting ice sheets and glaciers into the subpolar North Atlantic Ocean. Since fresh water is less dense than saline water, a significant intrusion of fresh water would lower the density of the surface waters and thus inhibit the sinking motion that drives the large-scale thermohaline circulation. It has also been speculated that, as a consequence of large-scale surface warming, such changes could even trigger colder conditions in regions surrounding the North Atlantic. Experiments with modern climate models suggest that such an event would be unlikely. Instead, a moderate weakening of the thermohaline circulation might occur that would lead to a dampening of surface warming—rather than actual cooling—in the higher latitudes of the North Atlantic Ocean.

Tropical cyclones (tropical cyclone)

      One of the more controversial topics in the science of climate change involves the impact of global warming on tropical cyclone activity. It appears likely that rising tropical ocean temperatures associated with global warming will lead to an increase in the intensity (and the associated destructive potential) of tropical cyclones. In the Atlantic a close relationship has been observed between rising ocean temperatures and a rise in the strength of hurricanes. Trends in the intensities of tropical cyclones in other regions, such as in the tropical Pacific and Indian oceans, are more uncertain due to a paucity of reliable long-term measurements.

      While the warming of oceans favours increased tropical cyclone intensities, it is unclear to what extent rising temperatures affect the number of tropical cyclones that occur each year. Other factors, such as wind shear, could play a role. If climate change increases the amount of wind shear—a factor that discourages the formation of tropical cyclones—in regions where such storms tend to form, it might partially mitigate the impact of warmer temperatures. On the other hand, changes in atmospheric winds are themselves uncertain—because of, for example, uncertainties in how climate change will affect ENSO.

Environmental consequences of global warming

      Global warming and climate change have the potential to alter biological systems. More specifically, changes to near-surface air temperatures will likely influence ecosystem functioning and thus the biodiversity of plants (plant), animals (animal), and other forms of life. The current geographic ranges of plant and animal species have been established by adaptation to long-term seasonal climate patterns. As global warming alters these patterns on timescales considerably shorter than those that arose in the past from natural climate variability, relatively sudden climatic changes may challenge the natural adaptive capacity of many species.

      It has been estimated that one-fifth to one-third of all plant and animal species are likely to be at an increased risk of extinction if global average surface temperatures rise another 1.5 to 2.5 °C (2.7 to 4.5 °F) by the year 2100. This temperature range falls within the scope of the lower emissions scenarios projected by the IPCC (see above). Species-loss estimates climb to as much as 40 percent for a warming in excess of 4.5 °C (8.1 °F)—a level that could be reached in the IPCC's higher emissions scenarios. A 40 percent extinction rate would likely lead to major changes in the food webs within ecosystems and have a destructive impact on ecosystem function.

      Surface warming in temperate regions is likely to lead changes in various seasonal processes—for instance, earlier leaf production by trees, earlier greening of vegetation, altered timing of egg-laying and hatching, and shifts in the seasonal migration patterns of birds (bird), fishes (fish), and other migratory animals. In high-latitude ecosystems, changes in the seasonal patterns of sea ice threaten predators such as polar bears (polar bear) and walruses (walrus). (Both species rely on broken sea ice for their hunting activities.) Also in the high latitudes, a combination of warming waters, decreased sea ice, and changes in ocean salinity and circulation is likely to lead to reductions or redistributions in populations of algae and plankton. As a result, fish and other organisms that forage upon algae and plankton may be threatened. On land, rising temperatures and changes in precipitation patterns and drought frequencies are likely to alter patterns of disturbance by fires (fire) and pests (pest).

      Other likely impacts on the environment include the destruction of many coastal wetlands (wetland), salt marshes (salt marsh), and mangrove swamps as a result of rising sea levels and the loss of certain rare and fragile habitats that are often home to specialist species that are unable to thrive in other environments. For example, certain amphibians (amphibian) limited to isolated tropical cloud forests (cloud forest) either have become extinct already or are under serious threat of extinction. Cloud forests—tropical forests that depend on persistent condensation of moisture in the air—are disappearing as optimal condensation levels move to higher elevations in response to warming temperatures in the lower atmosphere.

  In many cases a combination of stresses caused by climate change as well as human activity represents a considerably greater threat than either climatic stresses or nonclimatic stresses alone. A particularly important example is coral reefs (coral reef), which contain much of the ocean's biodiversity. Rising ocean temperatures increase the tendency for coral bleaching (a condition where zooxanthellae (zooxanthella), or yellow-green algae, living in symbiosis with coral either lose their pigments (pigment) or abandon the coral polyps (polyp) altogether), and they also raise the likelihood of greater physical damage by progressively more destructive tropical cyclones. In many areas coral is also under stress from increased ocean acidification (see above), marine pollution, runoff from agricultural fertilizer, and physical damage by boat anchors and dredging.

      Another example of how climate and nonclimatic stresses combine is illustrated by the threat to migratory animals. As these animals attempt to relocate to regions with more favourable climate conditions, they are likely to encounter impediments such as highways, walls, artificial waterways, and other man-made structures.

 Warmer temperatures are also likely to affect the spread of infectious diseases (infectious disease), since the geographic ranges of carriers, such as insects (insect) and rodents (rodent), are often limited by climatic conditions. Warmer winter conditions in New York in 1999, for example, appear to have facilitated an outbreak of West Nile virus, whereas the lack of killing frosts (frost) in New Orleans during the early 1990s led to an explosion of disease-carrying mosquitoes (mosquito) and cockroaches (cockroach). Warmer winters in the Korean peninsula and southern Europe have allowed the spread of the Anopheles mosquito, which carries the malaria parasite, whereas warmer conditions in Scandinavia in recent years have allowed for the northward advance of encephalitis.

      In the southwestern United States, alternations between drought and flooding related in part to the ENSO phenomenon have created conditions favourable for the spread of hantaviruses (hantavirus) by rodents. The spread of mosquito-borne Rift Valley fever in equatorial East Africa has also been related to wet conditions in the region associated with ENSO. Severe weather conditions conducive to rodents or insects have been implicated in infectious disease outbreaks—for instance, the outbreaks of cholera and leptospirosis that occurred after Hurricane Mitch struck Central America in 1998. Global warming could therefore affect the spread of infectious disease through its influence on ENSO or on severe weather conditions.

Socioeconomic consequences of global warming

      Socioeconomic impacts of global warming could be substantial depending on the actual temperature increases over the next century. Models predict that a net global warming of 1 to 3 °C (1.8 to 5.4 °F) beyond the late-20th-century global average would produce economic losses in some regions (particularly the tropics and high latitudes) and economic benefits in others. For warming beyond these levels, benefits would tend to decline and costs increase. For warming in excess of 4 °C (7.2 °F), models predict that costs will exceed benefits on average, with global mean economic losses estimated between 1 and 5 percent of gross domestic product. Substantial disruptions could be expected under these conditions, specifically in the areas of agriculture (agriculture, origins of), food and forest products, water and energy supply, and human health.

      Agricultural (agriculture, origins of) productivity might increase modestly in temperate regions for some crops in response to a local warming of 1–3 °C (1.8–5.4 °F), but productivity will generally decrease with further warming. For tropical and subtropical regions, models predict decreases in crop productivity for even small increases in local warming. In some cases, adaptations such as altered planting practices are projected to ameliorate losses in productivity for modest amounts of warming. An increased incidence of drought and flood events would likely lead to further decreases in agricultural productivity and to decreases in livestock production (livestock farming), particularly among subsistence farmers in tropical regions. In regions such as the African Sahel, decreases in agricultural productivity have already been observed as a result of shortened growing seasons, which in turn have occurred as a result of warmer and drier climatic conditions. In other regions, changes in agricultural practice, such as planting crops earlier in the growing season, have been undertaken. The warming of oceans is predicted to have an adverse impact on commercial fisheries (commercial fishing) by changing the distribution and productivity of various fish species, whereas commercial timber productivity may increase globally with modest warming.

 Water resources (water resource) are likely to be affected substantially by global warming. At current rates of warming, a 10–40 percent increase in average surface runoff and water availability has been projected in higher latitudes and in certain wet regions in the tropics by the middle of the 21st century, while decreases of similar magnitude are expected in other parts of the tropics and in the dry regions in the subtropics. This would be particularly severe during the summer season. In many cases water availability is already decreasing or expected to decrease in regions that have been stressed for water resources since the turn of the 21st century. Such regions as the African Sahel, western North America, southern Africa, the Middle East, and western Australia continue to be particularly vulnerable. In these regions drought is projected to increase in both magnitude and extent, which would bring about adverse effects on agriculture and livestock raising. Earlier and increased spring runoff is already being observed in western North America and other temperate regions served by glacial or snow-fed streams and rivers. Fresh water currently stored by mountain glaciers and snow in both the tropics and extratropics is also projected to decline and thus reduce the availability of fresh water for more than 15 percent of the world's population. It is also likely that warming temperatures, through their impact on biological activity in lakes (lake) and rivers (river), may have an adverse impact on water quality, further diminishing access to safe water sources for drinking or farming. For example, warmer waters favour an increased frequency of nuisance algal blooms (algae), which can pose health risks to humans. Risk-management procedures have already been taken by some countries in response to expected changes in water availability.

      Energy availability and use could be affected in at least two distinct ways by rising surface temperatures. In general, warmer conditions would favour an increased demand for air-conditioning; however, this would be at least partially offset by decreased demand for winter heating in temperate regions. Energy generation that requires water either directly, as in hydroelectric power, or indirectly, as in steam turbines (turbine) used in coal-fired power plants or in cooling towers used in nuclear power (nuclear reactor) plants, may become more difficult in regions with reduced water supplies.

      As discussed above, it is expected that human health will be further stressed under global warming conditions by potential increases in the spread of infectious diseases. Declines in overall human health might occur with increases in the levels of malnutrition due to disruptions in food production and by increases in the incidence of afflictions. Such afflictions could include diarrhea, cardiorespiratory illness, and allergic reactions in the midlatitudes of the Northern Hemisphere as a result of rising levels of pollen. Rising heat-related mortality, such as that observed in response to the 2003 European heat wave, might occur in many regions, especially in impoverished areas where air-conditioning is not generally available.

      The economic infrastructure of most countries is predicted to be severely strained by global warming and climate change. Poor countries and communities with limited adaptive capacities are likely to be disproportionately affected. Projected increases in the incidence of severe weather, heavy flooding, and wildfires associated with reduced summer ground moisture in many regions will threaten homes, dams (dam), transportation networks and other facets of human infrastructure. In high-latitude and mountain regions, melting permafrost is likely to lead to ground instability or rock avalanches (avalanche), further threatening structures in those regions. Rising sea levels and the increased potential for severe tropical cyclones represent a heightened threat to coastal communities throughout the world. It has been estimated that an additional warming of 1–3 °C (1.8–5.4 °F) beyond the late-20th-century global average would threaten millions more people with the risk of annual flooding. People in the densely populated, poor, low-lying regions of Africa, Asia, and tropical islands would be the most vulnerable, given their limited adaptive capacity. In addition, certain regions in developed countries, such as the Low Countries of Europe and the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast of the United States, would also be vulnerable to the effects of rising sea levels. Adaptive steps are already being taken by some governments to reduce the threat of increased coastal vulnerability through the construction of dams and drainage works.

Michael E. Mann

Global warming and public policy

 Since the 19th century, many researchers working across a wide range of academic disciplines have contributed to an enhanced understanding of the atmosphere and the global climate system. Concern among prominent climate scientists about global warming and human-induced (or “anthropogenic”) climate change arose in the mid-20th century, but most scientific and political debate over the issue did not begin until the 1980s. Today, leading climate scientists agree that many of the ongoing changes to the global climate system are largely caused by the release into the atmosphere of greenhouse gases (greenhouse gas), or gases (gas) that enhance Earth's natural greenhouse effect. Most greenhouse gases are released by the burning of fossil fuels for heating, cooking, electrical generation (electric power), transportation, and manufacturing, but they are also released as a result of the natural decomposition of organic materials, wildfires, deforestation, and land-clearing activities (see The influences of human activity on climate (global warming)). Opponents of this view have often stressed the role of natural factors in past climatic variation (climate change) and have accentuated the scientific uncertainties associated with data on global warming and climate change. Nevertheless, a growing body of scientists has called upon governments, industries, and citizens to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases.

 All countries emit greenhouse gases, but highly industrialized countries and more populous countries emit significantly greater quantities than others. Countries in North America and Europe that were the first to undergo the process of industrialization have been responsible for releasing most greenhouse gases in absolute cumulative terms since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the mid-18th century. Today these countries are being joined by large developing countries such as China and India, where rapid industrialization is being accompanied by a growing release of greenhouse gases. The United States, possessing approximately 5 percent of the global population, emitted almost 21 percent of global greenhouse gases in 2000. The same year, the then 25 member states of the European Union (EU)—possessing a combined population of 450 million people—emitted 14 percent of all anthropogenic greenhouse gases. This figure was roughly the same as the fraction released by the 1.2 billion people of China. In 2000 the average American emitted 24.5 tons of greenhouse gases, the average person living in the EU released 10.5 tons, and the average person living in China discharged only 3.9 tons. Although China's per capita greenhouse gas emissions remained significantly lower than those of the EU and the United States, it was the largest greenhouse gas emitter in 2006 in absolute terms.

The IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) and the scientific consensus

 An important first step in formulating public policy on global warming and climate change is the gathering of relevant scientific and socioeconomic data. In 1998 the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was established by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme. The IPCC is mandated to assess and summarize the latest scientific, technical, and socioeconomic data on climate change and to publish its findings in reports presented to international organizations and national governments all over the world. Many thousands of the world's leading scientists and experts in the areas of global warming and climate change have worked under the IPCC to produce major sets of assessments in 1990, 1995, 2001, and 2007. These reports have evaluated the scientific basis of global warming and climate change, the major issues relating to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the process of adjusting to a changing climate.

 The first IPCC report, published in 1990, stated that a good deal of data showed that human activity affected the variability of the climate system; nevertheless, the authors of the report could not reach a consensus on the causes and effects of global warming and climate change at that time. The 1995 IPCC report stated that the balance of evidence suggested “a discernible human influence on the climate.” The 2001 IPCC report confirmed earlier findings and presented stronger evidence that most of the warming over the previous 50 years was attributable to human activities. The 2001 report also noted that observed changes in regional climates were beginning to affect many physical and biological systems and that there were indications that social and economic systems were also being affected.

      The IPCC's fourth assessment, issued in 2007, reaffirmed the main conclusions of earlier reports, but the authors also stated—in what was regarded as a conservative judgment—that they were at least 90 percent certain that most of the warming observed over the previous half century had been caused by the release of greenhouse gases through a multitude of human activities. Both the 2001 and 2007 reports stated that during the 20th century there had been an increase in global average surface temperature of 0.6 °C (1.1 °F), within a margin of error of ±0.2 °C (0.4 °F). Whereas the 2001 report forecasted an additional rise in average temperature by 1.4 to 5.8 °C (2.5 to 10.4 °F) by 2100, the 2007 report refined this forecast to an increase of 1.8–4.0 °C (3.2–7.2 °F) by the end of the 21st century. These forecasts were based on examinations of a range of scenarios that characterized future trends in greenhouse gas emissions (see Potential effects of global warming (global warming).

      Each IPCC report has helped to build a scientific consensus that elevated concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are the major drivers of rising near-surface air temperatures and their associated ongoing climatic changes. In this respect, the current episode of climatic change, which began about the middle of the 20th century, is seen to be fundamentally different from earlier periods in that critical adjustments have been caused by activities resulting from human behaviour rather than nonanthropogenic factors. The IPCC's 2007 assessment projected that future climatic changes could be expected to include continued warming, modifications to precipitation patterns and amounts, elevated sea levels, and “changes in the frequency and intensity of some extreme events.” Such changes would have significant effects on many societies and on ecological systems (ecosystem) around the world (see Environmental consequences of global warming (global warming)).

The UN Framework Convention and the Kyoto Protocol

      The reports of the IPCC and the scientific consensus they reflect have provided one of the most prominent bases for the formulation of climate-change policy. On a global scale, climate-change policy is guided by two major treaties: the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) of 1992 and the associated 1997 Kyoto Protocol to the UNFCCC (named after the city in Japan where it was concluded).

      The UNFCCC was negotiated between 1991 and 1992. It was adopted at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 and became legally binding in March 1994. In Article 2 the UNFCCC sets the long-term objective of “stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” Article 3 establishes that the world's countries have “common but differentiated responsibilities,” meaning that all countries share an obligation to act—though industrialized countries have a particular responsibility to take the lead in reducing emissions because of their relative contribution to the problem in the past. To this end, the UNFCCC Annex I lists 40 specific industrialized countries and countries with economies in transition plus the European Community (EC), and Article 4 states that these countries should work to reduce their anthropogenic emissions to 1990 levels. However, no deadline is set for this target; moreover, the UNFCCC does not assign any specific reduction commitments to non-Annex I countries (that is, developing countries).

      The follow-up agreement to the UNFCCC, the Kyoto Protocol, was negotiated between 1995 and 1997 and was adopted in December 1997. The Kyoto Protocol regulates six greenhouse gases released through human activities: carbon dioxide (CO₂), methane (CH₄), nitrous oxide (N₂O), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF₆). Under the Kyoto Protocol, Annex I countries are required to reduce their aggregate emissions of greenhouse gases to 5.2 percent below their 1990 levels by no later than 2012. Toward this goal, the protocol sets individual reduction targets for each Annex I country. These targets require the reduction of greenhouse gases in most countries, but they also allow increased emissions from others. For example, the protocol requires the then 15 member states of the EU and 11 other European countries to reduce their emissions to 8 percent below their 1990 emission levels, whereas Iceland, a country that produces relatively small amounts of greenhouse gases, may increase its emissions as much as 10 percent above its 1990 level. In addition, the Kyoto Protocol requires three countries—New Zealand, Ukraine, and Russia—to freeze their emissions at 1990 levels.

      The Kyoto Protocol outlines five requisites by which Annex I parties can choose to meet their 2012 emission targets. First, it requires the development of national policies and measures that lower domestic greenhouse gas emissions. Second, countries may calculate the benefits from domestic carbon sinks that soak up more carbon than they emit (see Carbon cycle feedbacks (global warming)). Third, countries can participate in schemes that trade emissions with other Annex I countries. Fourth, signatory countries may create joint implementation programs with other Annex I parties and receive credit for such projects that lower emissions. Fifth, countries may receive credit for lowering the emissions in non-Annex I countries through a “clean development” mechanism, such as investing in the building of a new wind power project.

      In order to go into effect, the Kyoto Protocol had to be ratified by at least 55 countries, including enough Annex I countries to account for at least 55 percent of that group's total greenhouse gas emissions. More than 55 countries quickly ratified the protocol, including all the Annex I countries except for Russia, the United States, and Australia. It was not until Russia, under heavy pressure from the EU (European Union), ratified the protocol that it became legally binding in February 2005.

      The most-developed regional climate-change policy to date has been formulated by the EU in part to meet its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol. By 2005 the 15 EU countries that have a collective commitment under the protocol reduced their greenhouse gas emissions to 2 percent below their 1990 levels, though it is not certain that they will meet their 8 percent reduction target by 2012. In 2007 the EU set a collective goal for all 27 member states to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent below 1990 levels by the year 2020. As part of its effort to achieve this goal, the EU in 2005 established the world's first multilateral trading scheme for carbon dioxide emissions, covering more than 11,500 large installations across its member states.

      In the United States, by contrast, Pres. George W. Bush (Bush, George W.) and a majority of senators rejected the Kyoto Protocol, citing the lack of compulsory emission reductions for developing countries as a particular grievance. At the same time, U.S. federal policy does not set any mandatory restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions, and U.S. emissions increased over 16 percent between 1990 and 2005. Partly to make up for a lack of direction at the federal level, many individual U.S. states have formulated their own action plans to address global warming and climate change and have taken a host of legal and political initiatives to curb emissions. These initiatives include: capping emissions from power plants, establishing renewable portfolio standards requiring electricity providers to obtain a minimum percentage of their power from renewable sources, developing vehicle emissions and fuel standards, and adopting “green building” standards.

Future climate-change policy

      Countries differ in opinion on how to proceed with international policy after the commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol ends in 2012. The EU supports a continuation of a legally based collective approach in the form of another treaty, but other countries, including the United States, support more voluntary measures, as in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate that was announced in 2005. Long-term goals formulated in Europe and the United States seek to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80 percent by the middle of the 21st century. Related to these efforts, the EU set a goal of limiting temperature rises to a maximum of 2 °C (3.6 °F) above preindustrial levels. (Many climate scientists and other experts agree that significant economic and ecological damage will result should the global average of near-surface air temperatures rise more than 2 °C [3.6 °F] above preindustrial temperatures in the next century.) Despite differences in approach, countries have begun negotiations on a new treaty, based on an agreement made at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2007 in Bali, Indon., that will replace the Kyoto Protocol after it expires.

      A growing number of the world's cities are initiating a multitude of local and subregional efforts to reduce their emissions of greenhouse gases. Many of these municipalities are taking action as members of the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives and its Cities for Climate Protection program, which outlines principles and steps for taking local-level action. In 2005 the U.S. Conference of Mayors adopted the Climate Protection Agreement, in which cities committed to reduce emissions to 7 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. In addition, many private firms are developing corporate policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One notable example of an effort led by the private sector is the creation of the Chicago Climate Exchange as a means for reducing emissions through a trading process.

      As public policies relative to global warming and climate change continue to develop globally, regionally, nationally, and locally, they fall into two major types. The first type, mitigation policy, focuses on different ways to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. As most emissions come from the burning of fossil fuels for energy and transportation, much of the mitigation policy focuses on switching to less carbon-intensive energy sources (such as wind (turbine), solar (solar energy), and hydropower (hydroelectric power)), improving energy efficiency for vehicles, and supporting the development of new technology. In contrast, the second type, adaptation policy, seeks to improve the ability of various societies to face the challenges of a changing climate. For example, some adaptation policies are devised to encourage groups to change agricultural practices in response to seasonal changes, whereas other policies are designed to prepare cities located in coastal areas for elevated sea levels.

      In either case, long-term reductions in greenhouse gas discharges will require the participation of both industrial countries and major developing countries. In particular, the release of greenhouse gases from Chinese and Indian sources is rising quickly in parallel with the rapid industrialization of those countries. In 2006 China overtook the United States as the world's leading emitter of greenhouse gases in absolute terms (though not in per capita terms), largely because of China's increased use of coal and other fossil fuels. Indeed, all the world's countries are faced with the challenge of finding ways to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions while promoting environmentally and socially desirable economic development (known as “sustainable development” or “smart growth”). Whereas some opponents of those calling for corrective action continue to argue that short-term mitigation costs will be too high, a growing number of economists and policy makers argue that it will be less costly, and possibly more profitable, for societies to take early preventive action than to address severe climatic changes in the future. Many of the most harmful effects of a warming climate are likely to take place in developing countries. Combating the harmful effects of global warming in developing countries will be especially difficult, as many of these countries are already struggling and possess a limited capacity to meet challenges from a changing climate.

      It is expected that each country will be affected differently by the expanding effort to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Countries that are relatively large emitters will face greater reduction demands than will smaller emitters. Similarly, countries experiencing rapid economic growth are expected to face growing demands to control their greenhouse gas emissions as they consume increasing amounts of energy. Differences will also occur across industrial sectors and even between individual companies. For example, producers of oil (petroleum), coal, and natural gas—which in some cases represent significant portions of national export revenues—may see reduced demand or falling prices for their goods as their clients decrease their use of fossil fuels (fossil fuel). In contrast, many producers of new, more climate-friendly technologies and products (such as generators of renewable energy) are likely to see increases in demand.

      To address global warming and climate change, societies must find ways to fundamentally change their patterns of energy use in favour of less carbon-intensive energy generation, transportation, and forest and land use management. A growing number of countries have taken on this challenge, and there are many things individuals too can do. For instance, consumers have more options to purchase electricity generated from renewable sources. Additional measures that would reduce personal emissions of greenhouse gases and also conserve energy include the operation of more energy-efficient vehicles, the use of public transportation when available, and the transition to more energy-efficient household products. Individuals might also improve their household insulation, learn to heat and cool their residences more effectively, and purchase and recycle more environmentally sustainable products.

Henrik Selin

Additional Reading

Documentaries

Of the several productions describing the scientific concepts behind the global warming phenomenon, An Inconvenient Truth (2006), produced by Laurie David, Lawrence Bender, and Scott Z. Burns and narrated by Albert Gore, Jr., is the most lauded. A feature placing special emphasis on solutions that reduce carbon dioxide production is Global Warming: What You Need to Know (2006), produced by the Discovery Channel, the BBC, and NBC News Productions and narrated by Tom Brokaw. Other noted documentaries on global warming include two originally aired on PBS-TV: What's Up with the Weather? (2007), produced by Jon Palfreman; and Global Warming: The Signs and the Science (2005), produced by David Kennard and narrated by Alanis Morissette.Michael E. Mann

Scientific background

An excellent general overview of the factors governing Earth's climate over all timescales is presented in William Ruddiman, Earth's Climate: Past and Future (2000). In addition, Richard C.J. Somerville, The Forgiving Air: Understanding Environmental Change (1996, reissued 1998), is a readable introduction to the science of climate and global environmental change. John Houghton, Global Warming: The Complete Briefing (1997), also offers an accessible treatment of the science of climate change as well as a discussion of the policy and ethical overtones of climate change as an issue confronting society. Spencer Weart, Discovery of Global Warming (2003), provides a reasoned account of the history of climate change science.A somewhat more technical introduction to the science of climate change is provided in David Archer, Global Warming: Understanding the Forecast (2006). More advanced treatments of the science of global warming and climate change are included in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Working Group I, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis: Summary for Policymakers: Fourth Assessment Report (2007); and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Working Group II, Climate Change 2007: Climate Change Impacts, Adaptations, and Vulnerability: Fourth Assessment Report (2007). Possible solutions to the challenges of global warming and climate change are detailed in Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: Working Group III, Climate Change 2007: Mitigation of Climate Change: Fourth Assessment Report (2007).A number of books present thoughtful discussions of global warming as an environmental and societal issue. Still prescient is an early account provided in Bill McKibben, The End of Nature (1989). Other good treatments include Stephen Schneider, Laboratory Earth (2001); Albert Gore, An Inconvenient Truth (2006); Elizabeth Kolbert, Field Notes from a Catastrophe (2006); Eugene Linden, The Winds of Change (2006); and Tim Flannery, The Weather Makers (2006). An excellent exposition for younger readers is found in Andrew Revkin, The North Pole Was Here (2007).

Public policy background

Stephen H. Schneider, Armin Rosencranz, and John O. Niles (eds.), Climate Change Policy: A Survey (2002), is a primer on various aspects of the policy debate that explains alternatives for dealing with climate change. A broad analysis of the climate change debate is imparted in Andrew E. Dessler and Edward A. Parson, The Science and Politics of Global Climate Change: A Guide to the Debate (2006). A summary of the quantitative aspects of greenhouse gas emissions designed to assist stakeholders and policy makers is provided in Kevin A. Baumert, Timothy Herzog, and Jonathan Pershing, Navigating the Numbers: Greenhouse Gas Data and International Climate Policy (2005). John T. Houghton, Global Warming: The Complete Briefing, 3rd ed. (2004), offers a perspective on climate change from one of the leading participants in the IPCC process. Daniel Sarewitz and Roger Pielke, Jr., “Breaking the Global-Warming Gridlock,” The Atlantic Monthly, 286(1):55–64 (2000), presents an alternative view on how to make progress on climate policy by focusing on reducing vulnerability to climate impacts.Thoughtful discussions of the politics underlying the issue of climate change are provided in Ross Gelbspan, Boiling Point (2004); Mark Lynas, High Tide (2004); and Ross Gelbspan, The Heat Is On (1998). The social justice implications involved in adapting the human population to changing climatic conditions are presented in W. Neil Adger et al. (eds.), Fairness in Adaptation to Climate Change (2006).Henrik Selin

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