Climate Change Essay

620 Words2 Pages

Climate change is “any significant change in climate including temperature, precipitation, or wind patterns that occur over an extended period of time.” (Glossary of Climate Change Terms)
The term specifically refers to climate change caused by human activity and not that resulted as part of Earth's natural processes. For this reason, it is also called anthropogenic global warming in environmental policy. (Department of Climate Change)

Observed Changes in the Climate System
Although climate change has been regularly discussed since the 1950s, climate change is the result of activities that go way beyond that period. Effects of climate change include higher air and ocean temperatures, increasing melting ice and snow, leading to rising sea levels, and the increase in the level of concentrations of greenhouse gases.
• Atmosphere:
In relation to 1850, these past 30 years have resulted in a successive increase in the Earth’s surface temperature. This resulted in the Northern Hemisphere experiencing the warmest thirty year period of the last 1400 years.
• Ocean:
Between 1971 and ...

More about Climate Change Essay

Open Document