The Earth's climate (click here) has changed throughout history. Just in the last
650,000 years there have been seven cycles of glacial advance and
retreat, with the abrupt end of the last ice age about 7,000 years ago
marking the beginning of the modern climate era — and of human
civilization. Most of these climate changes are attributed to very small
variations in Earth’s orbit that change the amount of solar energy our
planet receives.
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years.
The word rarely heard is ABRUPT. This is abrupt climate change. It is different from the others for that reason. This warming has occurred over a very short time period of about 130 years. The only other episode of Earth that was this radically short was the K-T Juncture or K-T Event when the dinosaurs went extinct. Meteor is believed to have caused that event. The geological rock globally records it as such. It is that small area of rock between what could be called normal rock formation. It was rapid and abrupt. The end of the dinosaurs.
Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. Studying these climate data collected over many years reveal the signals of a changing climate.
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.
Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. They also show that in the past, large changes in climate have happened very quickly, geologically-speaking: in tens of years, not in millions or even thousands.
Abrupt climate change is a crisis. It will cause extinction in many species, important species. There simply is no time for them to adapt or mutate because their circumstances change so rapidly. Evolution, regardless of it's place in science and history, requires time. Abrupt climate change is a crisis because of the lack of time for the biological world to meet their needs in a different and quite possibly an extreme climate.
The current warming trend is of particular significance because most of it is very likely human-induced and proceeding at a rate that is unprecedented in the past 1,300 years.
The word rarely heard is ABRUPT. This is abrupt climate change. It is different from the others for that reason. This warming has occurred over a very short time period of about 130 years. The only other episode of Earth that was this radically short was the K-T Juncture or K-T Event when the dinosaurs went extinct. Meteor is believed to have caused that event. The geological rock globally records it as such. It is that small area of rock between what could be called normal rock formation. It was rapid and abrupt. The end of the dinosaurs. Earth-orbiting satellites and other technological advances have enabled scientists to see the big picture, collecting many different types of information about our planet and its climate on a global scale. Studying these climate data collected over many years reveal the signals of a changing climate.
The heat-trapping nature of carbon dioxide and other gases was demonstrated in the mid-19th century.2 Their ability to affect the transfer of infrared energy through the atmosphere is the scientific basis of many instruments flown by NASA. There is no question that increased levels of greenhouse gases must cause the Earth to warm in response.
Ice cores drawn from Greenland, Antarctica, and tropical mountain glaciers show that the Earth’s climate responds to changes in greenhouse gas levels. They also show that in the past, large changes in climate have happened very quickly, geologically-speaking: in tens of years, not in millions or even thousands.
Abrupt climate change is a crisis. It will cause extinction in many species, important species. There simply is no time for them to adapt or mutate because their circumstances change so rapidly. Evolution, regardless of it's place in science and history, requires time. Abrupt climate change is a crisis because of the lack of time for the biological world to meet their needs in a different and quite possibly an extreme climate.
