Is Your Global Warming?

Carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas linked to global warming, is accumulating in the Earth?s atmosphere at an increasing rate, according to a new study released by the US government?s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The research has renewed concern that the ability of the environment to absorb the gas may be waning. The NOAA study said the average atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in 2005 reached 381 parts per million, up from 2.6 ppm since 2004. The annual rate of increase, which has been recorded since the 1950s, now exceeds 2 ppm for three of the past four years. This is an unprecedented increase; 50 years ago, the annual increase was less than 1 ppm.

The extra CO2 is produced by the burning of fossil fuels, currently emitting approximately 7 billion tons of carbon per year, and roughly half is absorbed by vegetation and the oceans. Researchers believe the yearly fluctuations in CO2 build-up are caused largely by nature's variable ability to absorb the emissions. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide is now higher than experienced on Earth for at least the last 400,000 years, and the rise is expected to continue. Over the past two decades, only half of the CO2 released by human activities such as fossil fuel burning, the so-called ?anthropogenic CO2,? is still in the atmosphere; about 30% has been taken up by the ocean, and 20% by the terrestrial biosphere.

This new finding follows reports that 2005 was probably the warmest year on record, with temperatures slightly higher than the previous peak in 1998. Also, scientists at the US National Snow and Ice Data Center, in Boulder, Colorado, reported that Arctic sea ice did not reform fully in the winter of 2005 after record rates of melting during the summer.

Until recently the largest increases in concentrations of CO2 always occurred during El Ni?o years, when tropical vegetation grows more slowly due to lack of rain and fires occur in dried-out rainforests. The greatest recorded increase of 2.7 ppm occurred in the El Ni?o year of 1998. However, scientists are alarmed by the fact that none of the past three years of near-record increases have coincided with an El Ni?o event.

According to Peter Cox, a scientist at the Center for Ecology and Hydrology in Dorset, UK, who studies the interaction between plants and the atmosphere, the recent surge in CO2 levels ?may be the first evidence of a feedback from the carbon cycle, in which plants under heat stress from global warming start to absorb less carbon dioxide?.

Not only are plants slowing their rate of CO2 absorption, but coastal carbon sinks are shrinking as well. Mangrove forests, which play a large role in sequestering carbon from the atmosphere and dissolving it into the ocean, are disappearing rapidly. A research team led by Thorsten Dittmar of Florida State University in Tallahassee studied how much mangroves contribute to the organic carbon dissolved in ocean waters off the coast of Brazil. They came to the conclusion that even though intertidal mangrove forests cover only 0.1% of the earth's surface, they contribute up to 10 per cent worldwide of the ocean's dissolved organic carbon. This is approximately equal to the amount reaching the ocean from the Amazon river, the largest single source of dissolved organic carbon.

Intertidal forests of mangroves surround many tropical coastlines. Mangroves, like all plants, fix carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through photosynthesis and return organic material to the soil when they decompose. Their tangled root systems also collect fallen leaf litter. However, mangrove roots and soil are washed over by tides, and much of this organic carbon leaches into the ocean. Unlike CO2 absorbed directly from the atmosphere, much of the carbon produced by mangrove trees is bound up in large molecules which are highly resistant to decomposition, and is therefor likely to be held in the ocean for decades instead of being returned to the atmosphere as carbon dioxide.

Mangrove forests have declined by nearly fifty percent during the past century due to increasing coastal development and habitat damage, such as the draining of swamps for agriculture. As the habitat has changed, fewer mangrove trees and their derived detritus are available to bind and export dissolved organic matter into the ocean. The research team concluded that the rapid decline in mangrove forests threatens to shut off this important link in the carbon cycle, with potentially damaging consequences for atmospheric composition and climate.

Direct absorption of CO2 by the ocean surface also occurs, but it has unfortunate consequences not produced by complex carbon molecules fixed by plants. As dissolved CO2 rises, the pH of the ocean water decreases, becoming more acidic. This low pH causes the calcium carbonate shells of sea creatures to dissolve or form poorly, threatening coral reefs.

A pH reduction of approximately 0.1 unit in surface waters has occurred already due to oceanic uptake of anthropogenic CO2. Scientists estimate that the total drop in surface seawater acidity (pH) will be approximately 0.4 pH units by the end of this century, with an almost 50% increase in the concentration of dissolved carbonate ion concentration. The surface ocean pH drop would be lower than it has been for more than twenty million years.

J Schipper is interested in Global Warming Stem Cells 911 faqs Life Extension

Global Warming

Earth's average temperature is increasing continuously to a dangerous extent. Temperature has risen by 0.5 ? 0.2C. Glaciers are melting across the globe and the gravity of the situation can be harnessed from the fact that some glaciers have even disappeared from some parts of the world. In Polar Regions ice is melting at an alarming speed. Such melting of ice caps is in turn affecting the sea level. This may give a push to natural disasters like floods, droughts, hurricanes etc. Human activities have attributed greatly towards these adverse conditions.

Extensive studies conducted by the scientists have proved that global warming cannot be a result of natural changes only. Emission of gases, which is a major factor in global warming, is a result of human activities. According to a report prepared by a U.S. scientific institute, the increase in surface air temperature and sea temperature is an outcome of accumulation of greenhouse gases, which in turn is attributable to inconsiderate human activities. Figures prove that in the last 1000 years, temperature of surface of the earth has been recorded as the warmest in the 20th century. From last 150 years green house gases are being accumulated in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is increasing in the atmosphere due to deforestation and fuel burning. Along with it, emission of other greenhouse gases like methane, chlorofluorocarbons is also polluting the atmosphere. The contribution of volcanic gas emissions in global warming is also a major one. Statistics show that before the year 1750, volcanoes and solar forces were contributing about 50 percent towards global warming but in the recent years the effect of green house gases on temperature variations has risen up to eight times.

The pattern of global warming is not uniform throughout the whole world. Due to the changes in the atmosphere some cooling effect is also seen in the Atlantic and central North Pacific. Burning of fossil fuels makes the environment polluted by changing the balance or constitution of aerosols and gases in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide has long survival time in the atmosphere. Development of industrial sector is resulting in increase in emission of other gases like methane etc. These greenhouse gases make the surface of the earth warmer by blocking the radiations of the sun and increasing the evaporation rate of the surface moisture. The humidity in the environment is also mounting due to global warming. The threat of floods is lurking large because of rise in frequency of rainfalls and snowfalls. Increase in evaporation also raises the risk of droughts. It may also result in amplifying numerous kinds of viral infections.

Some scientists do not accept human activities as culprit for global warming but there are numerous instances from which human hand in global warming is clearly visible. The process of global warming and its results are very gradual so the outcome would not be visible to a large extent to the present generation. But the consequences of global warming would be very dangerous for the future generations. The long term accumulated adverse effects would start coming in limelight. Extreme weather conditions like heavy rainfalls, humid weather, floods, droughts would be very devastating.

United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is an international agreement which was enforced on March 21,1994. Its main goal is to control the emission of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which pose a threat to climate system. Kyoto protocol is an international agreement that has been framed as an amendment to the UNFCC with the same objective. Recent estimates make it clear that if this protocol becomes successful it would greatly help in maintaining the temperature of the earth. Kyoto Protocol was agreed upon in Kyoto on December 1997 and was enforced on February 2005. All the countries, which have signed or ratified UNFCC are allowed to sign or ratify Kyoto Protocol. This agreement has been ratified by 156 countries. The goal of this agreement is to reduce the collective emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases like methane, nitrous oxide etc. The limits for controlling emissions are different for different nations like 8% for European Nations, 6% for Japan etc. The developed countries are directed to provide technology for attaining knowledge and completing projects concerning environment, to other countries. Two countries USA and Australia are not in favour of Kyoto Protocol. Some critics treat this agreement as a hindrance to industrial growth of the world and transfer of wealth to not so technologically advanced third world countries.

Except the oppositon put forth by a few countries, collective positive steps towards reducing global warming has now become mandatory for almost whole of the world. As global warming is a gradual process, efforts of present generation would be fruitful for future genertions.

For more articles visit at www.nrilegalservices.com