Climate and Global Change

Warm near the equator and cold at the poles, our planet is able to support a variety of living things because of its diverse regional climates. The average of all these regions makes up Earth's global climate. Climate has cooled and warmed throughout Earth history for various reasons. Rapid warming like we see today is unusual in the history of our planet. The scientific consensus is that climate is warming as a result of the addition of heat-trapping greenhouse gases which are increasing dramatically in the atmosphere as a result of human activities.

Earth's global average surface <a href="/earth/climate/ipcc_feb2007.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">warming</a> relative to the 1980-1999 average over the past 100 years is shown in the black line. Predictions of the amount of warming in the future are shown by the red, green, and purple lines. These predictions, developed with <a href="/earth/climate/cli_models.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">computer models</a>, make different assumptions about how many <a href="/earth/climate/cli_greengas.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">greenhouse gases</a> we release into the atmosphere in the future.<p><small><em> A Windows to the Universe image based on a graph from the IPCC 4th Assessment Report</em></small></p>Coral animals build reefs in warm, tropical seawater. However, <a href="/earth/changing_planet/ocean_temperatures_intro.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">seawater can be too warm</a> for their liking. If waters get too warm, coral animals lose the algae that live within their little bodies, a process called coral bleaching. Without the algae, corals have less nutrition. Unless cooler temperatures return, allowing algae to return, the coral dies.<p><small><em>Credit: UNC</em></small></p>Scientists at the University of Michigan have found that <a href="/earth/polar/cryosphere_permafrost1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">permafrost</a> in the <a href="/earth/polar/polar_north.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">Arctic</a> is extremely sensitive to sunlight. Exposure to sunlight releases carbon gases trapped in the permafrost, including <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">climate-warming</a> <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">carbon dioxide</a>, to the <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/overview.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">atmosphere</a> much faster than previously thought.<p><small><em>George Kling, The University of Michigan</em></small></p>Greenland's <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html">ice sheet</a> saw a record <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/headline_universe/olpa/greenland_10dec07.html">melt</a> in July 2012. Scientists studying this event have found that this melting event was triggered by an influx of unusually warm air and amplified by the presence of a blanket of thin low-level <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a> which pushed temperatures up above freezing. For more information see the <a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/21638">press release</a> from the University of Wisconsin Madison.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>On November 7, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines) made landfall, with imated wind speeds of ~315 km/hr - the strongest <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/intensity.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">tropical cyclone</a> to make landfall in recorded history. As Haiyan moved across the Philippines before reaching Vietnam and China, its <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/wind.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">winds</a> and <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/surge.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">storm surge</a> left devastation in its wake, leading to massive loss of life, destruction of homes, and hundreds of thousands of displaced inhabitants. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/iyw-how-to-help-typhoon-haiyan/index.html">How to Help</a><p><small><em>Image courtesy of COMS-1, SSEC, University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>How did life evolve on <a href="/earth/earth.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">Earth</a> during the <a href="/earth/past/Archean.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">Archean</a>, when the <a href="/sun/sun.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">Sun</a> was about 25% weaker than today? The Earth should have been <a href="/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">glaciated</a>, if <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">greenhouse</a> gas concentration was the same as today. <a href="http://www.manchester.ac.uk/aboutus/news/display/?id=10798">Researchers</a> studying the <a href="/physical_science/physics/atom_particle/isotope.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">isotopic</a> signatures of Earth's early atmosphere in <a href="/earth/geology/rocks_intro.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">rocks</a> from Northern Australia have ruled out high levels of <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/nitrogen_molecular.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">nitrogen</a> as a possible way to increase warming from <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/overview.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">atmospheric</a> <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/games_order_up.html">carbon dioxide</a>.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Manchester University</em></small></p>

Explore Climate and Global Change

What Is Climate?

The climate where you live is called regional climate. It is the average weather in a place ...Read more

What Controls the Climate System?

Some of the factors that have an affect on climate, like volcanic eruptions and changes in ...Read more

Climates of the Past (Paleoclimates)

Earth's climate has been changing for billions of years. It warmed and cooled many times long ...Read more

Our Changing Planet

Our planet is changing rapidly. Check out videos and lesson plans for key climate change indicators ...Read more

Effects of Climate Change Today

Over 100 years ago, people worldwide began burning more coal and oil for homes, factories, ...Read more

Climate Change in Polar Regions

The effects of climate change are not the same in all parts of the world. While Earth’s average ...Read more

El Nino and Other Climate Events

Sometimes there is a change in the way air moves through parts of the atmosphere. And there ...Read more

The Role of Clouds in Climate

Clouds are an important part of Earth's weather and climate. Scientists use computer models ...Read more

Energy Choices and Climate Change

The choices we make about the sources of the energy we use and the amount of energy we use affect ...Read more

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The IPCC is a group of hundreds of experts from more than 100 countries ...Read more

Tackling the Global Warming Challenge

Earth’s climate is warming and we humans are mostly to blame.  By releasing greenhouse gases ...Read more

More about Climate and Global Change

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Tide
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Research Highlights

Even in the Desert, Plants Feel the Heat of Global Warming

Scientists who study plants in the Sonoran Desert are worried about global warming. While desert winters have become warmer and drier over the years, climate changes have pushed the arrival of winter rains...Read more


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