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How is Global Warming caused?
| Global warming is caused by several causes such as pollution from factories, carbon dioxide from rotting trees, the burning of coal, natural gasses and fossil fuels lead to methane travelling into the Earth's atmosphere any transportation vehicles, water vapour, and many other little things, which contribute to make global warming even worse. |
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Scientists have different opinions about whether the current global warming is natural or unusual. Some believe that it is part of the Eath's natural cycle of warming and cooling. However most believe that what we are now experiencing is unusual and has been caused by human activities. |
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Another great contributor to Global Warming is water Vapour. You may be thinking how does water vapour contribute to Global Warming, well the answer is water vapour does not directly contribute to Global Warming. It contributes to the Greenhouse Effect, which then leads to Global Warming. In fact, water vapour makes up sixty percent of the Greenhouse gasses, twenty percent is carbon dioxide and the other twenty percent is caused by nitrous oxide , methane , ozone and other varieties of gasses. |
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Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period of rapid industrial growth which caused a radical shift in focus from agriculture to industry during the late 1700s and early 1800s. A dramatic increase in city populations was one of the effects of the Industrial Revolution and a big increase in the number and development of industries. |
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Keeling Curve
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The Keeling Curve is a graph showing the increase in the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere continuously since 1958. It was named after Dr Charles David Keeling, professor at Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Dr Keeling invented the manometer to measure CO2 emissions at a station on top of Mauna Loa which is a volcano in Hawaii. He chose the location because he believed it would not be influenced by human activities or industrial pollution.
In 1958 after taking a series of readings, Dr Keeling determined that carbon dioxide levels was 315 parts per million (ppm) and in 2000 the CO2 level was 367ppm.
Ancient ice from Antarctica was tested by scientists who found that carbon dioxide levels had been about 280ppm in the 1700s (before the Industrial Revolution).
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Keeling Curve
Photo courtesy of NASA |
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With this result, scientists could see that CO2 levels had steadily increased over the last two hundred years.
Scientists had also recorded thermometer readings of the Earth’s surface, and they showed that the planet’s temperature had continued to rise. From that information, scientists concluded that a build up of carbon dioxide was causing the Earth to become warmer.
In 2002 Dr. Keeling was awarded The “National Medal of Science” from President Bush, for his work on chemistry of the atmosphere and the carbon cycle.
Unfortunately on June 20 2005, Dr Charles David Keeling suffered from a heart attack and sadly passed away at age 77.
We believe that Dr Keeling’s legacy will inspire future generations to follow in his footsteps in seeking for the scientific discovery. | |
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