Climate Change Response and Current Conditions

Scientific researchers analyze the climatic conditions of our planet and how they shift through diverse means, relying on historic, instrumental, environmental and satellite reports. The latter has been utilized only in the past two decades or so, while instrumental reports’ earliest employment can be traced back to nineteenth-century scientific scholars. The relatively short lifespan of instrumental- and satellite- based information in comparison to our planet’s life poses a challenge, though ("How Do Scientists Study Ancient Climates?” 2017). In order for extending these records, paleoclimatologists attempt to seek hints inherent within the planet’s natural environment records.
One may be able to acquire clues regarding prior climatic conditions from sediments deposited on the ocean floor, and within coral reefs, ice caps, tree rings, and glaciers. All the aforementioned naturally-found recorders offer researchers data pertaining to climatic aspects like temperature and precipitation. Several such recorders possess features like layers, rings or bands, which denote a definite time period (typically one growing season or year) ("How Do Scientists Study Ancient Climates?” 2017). These layers possess varying thickness, chemical makeup, color, etc., facilitating extrapolation of climatic data linked to the time of formation of individual layers. This is followed by acquisition of similar natural records automatically maintained by numerous kinds of natural recorders, and their integration for obtaining a general grasp of the world’s climate.
A major factor responsible for the changing world climate is the greenhouse effect. When energy from the Sun enters our planet’s atmosphere, a certain amount of it reflects back into space, while the remaining gets absorbed and radiated once again by gases such as methane, carbon dioxide, fluorinated gases and nitrous oxide (these gases have been labeled ‘greenhouse gases’). Most global emissions are the result of transportation, electric power generation, and the generation and utilization of other energy forms (Lallanilla, 2017). The earth is bombarded with enormous huge quantities of solar radiation that strike the atmosphere as visible light, infrared radiations, ultraviolet radiations and similar forms of radiation not visible to the naked eye.
Methane, carbon dioxide, water vapor and nitrous oxide constitute the most important greenhouse gases. The other class of greenhouse gases mentioned above, namely fluorinated gases, encompass hydrofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride and perfluorocarbons, formed in the course of industrial processes. Despite being present in rather small concentrations, these gases are able to effectively trap heat, thereby rendering them as having elevated GWP (global-warming potential). CFCs or chlorofluorocarbons that are utilized in the form of aerosol propellants and refrigerants are regarded as greenhouse gases too. Carbon dioxide greatly influences global warming, partially on account of the fact that it is abundantly present in the earth’s atmosphere (Lallanilla, 2017). Methane’s 21-fold greater potency of radiation absorption as compared to carbon dioxide makes it a high GWP gas.
Greenhouse gases’ accumulation within the earth’s atmosphere leads to ozone layer creation (considered akin to glass within a greenhouse). In-bound ultraviolet radiation is able to conveniently invade a greenhouse’s interior and get absorbed by hard surfaces and plants (Lallanilla, 2017). But the weaker infrared radiation struggles with escaping the ozone layer, getting trapped within and causing global warming.  The inbound-outbound radiation balance is responsible for maintaining the average overall global temperature at roughly 59°F.
Several lines of researched information corroborates the change in world climate, including proofs like the rise in sea levels worldwide at 1.8 millimeters a year, averagely, between 1961 and 2003. The figure has grown to roughly 3.2 millimeters a year between 1993 and 2012.  Ever since the year 1993, annual rise in sea level at the northwestern and northern coasts of Australia has been recorded as 7-11 millimeters, while that for the southern and central eastern coasts has been recorded as 2-5 millimeters ("Indicators of climate change", 2017). According to present scientific understanding, variability of natural climate (on decade-based timescales) drives this transient higher regional rate.












References
How Do Scientists Study Ancient Climates? | National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) formerly known as National Climatic Data Center (NCDC). (2017). Ncdc.noaa.gov. Retrieved 1 January 2018, from https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/news/how-do-scientists-study-ancient-climates
Indicators of climate change. (2017). Department of the Environment and Energy. Retrieved 1 January 2018, from http://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/climate-science-data/climate-science/understanding-climate-change/indicators
Lallanilla, M. (2017). Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Causes & Sources. Live Science. Retrieved 1 January 2018, from https://www.livescience.com/37821-greenhouse-gases.html