Global Warming and Ice Ages

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Through the Earth’s geological history, it has often been frozen in the grips of various ice ages, interrupted with brief warming periods. For the past 10,000 to 50,000 years, the Earth has been enjoying the latest period of global warming. The Earth’s surface temperature is protected by its atmosphere, of which carbon dioxide (CO2) is a major component. There is a strong relationship between CO2 and the surface temperature on Earth. CO2 levels would naturally rise as the Earth warms up. However, over the past 200 years, humans have contributed to CO2 levels rising dramatically, way above even the highest historical levels, and this has hastened global warming.
Lutgens and Tarbuck (2014) explain that the Earth’s atmosphere greatly influences its surface temperature and its life-giving environment. The major components of the atmosphere are nitrogen and oxygen, composing about 99% of the atmosphere. The next major component is carbon dioxide (CO2). Additional variable components are water vapor, aerosols, and ozone (O3). Both water vapor and CO2 act like a greenhouse by conserving the heat emitted from the Earth. Aerosols are solid and liquid particles that float in the atmosphere and can either reflect or absorb the sun’s radiation. Two examples of an aerosol are man made pollution or ash from a volcanic eruption. These aerosols can reduce the temperature on Earth, because they effectively block sunlight from reaching the Earth’s surface. Ozone sits on the stratosphere like a layer. This layer of ozone absorbs the sun’s harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation. Each component of the atmosphere guards the Earth’s current habitable state.
CO2 is released and absorbed into the atmosphere as part of the carbon cycle. CO2 is...

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...d through various ice ages, punctuated with brief warming periods through its geological history. The last 10,000 to 50,000 years, the Earth has experienced global warming. The CO2 concentration levels are strongly linked with the warming and cooling of the Earth. While this is the natural process, the human contribution of significant levels of additional CO2 has intensified and hastened the warming effect.

References
CO2Now.org (2008-2013). Earth’s CO2 home page. ProOxygen. Retrieved from: http://co2now.org/
Lutgens, F.K., Tarbuck, E.J. & Tasa, D. (2014). Foundations of earth science (7th ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. Prentice Hall.
Schlumberger Excellence in Education Development [SEED](2013). Global climate change and energy: co2 and temperature change. Retrieved from http://www.planetseed.com/relatedarticle/co2-and-temperature-change

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