An Article for the Non-Believers
One quiet morning, you switch on the TV and begin watching the news with your friend Bill. The news anchors talk about politics, the weather, and then make the transition to climate change. Bill grunts and moves towards the TV to shut it off while saying something along the lines of “Climate change? Bah humbug.”
The sad reality is that there are plenty of “Bills” around in our modern day society claiming that climate change isn’t real despite the plethora of scientific evidence that seems to state otherwise. This article is for all the “Bills” out there. Here are the top 5 reasons why climate change is not a “Chinese hoax.”
1. Sea level rise
The cause of sea level rise is caused by two main factors related to global warming: water added from melting ice and the expansion of sea water as it warms. The latest sea level rise measurement was done in September 2016 and was recorded to be 81.2 millimeters (plus or minus .4 millimeters in error). In October 2010, the reading was 54.1 millimeters. In a matter of 5 years, sea level rose about 25 millimeters. The graph on the right shows sea level changes starting from 1973 as observed by satellites. The rate of change is about 3.4 millimeters per year (plus or minus .4 millimeters in error).
Data source: Satellite sea level observations.
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
2. Shrinking ice sheets
Data from NASA's GRACE satellites show that the land ice sheets in both Antarctica and Greenland are losing mass. Antarctica has been losing about 134 gigatonnes of ice per year since 2002, while the Greenland ice sheet has been losing approximately 287 gigatonnes per year. Below are graphs that show the mass of Greenland from 2002 to 2016.
Data source: Ice mass measurement by NASA's GRACE satellites.
Credit: NASA
3. Glacial retreat
The Alps, the Himalayas, the Rocky Mountains, you name it. Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere around the world. Below are pictures of Muir Glacier, in Glacier Bay, Alaska. The picture on the left was taken in 1941, the middle in 1976, and the right in 2004. Note how the glacier has retreated extensively and is barely visible in the 2004 photo.
Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center (comp.). 2002, updated 2009. Glacier Photograph Collection. Boulder, Colorado USA: National Snow and Ice Data Center.
4. Warming oceans
The atmosphere has effects on the ocean, and the ocean has effects on the atmosphere. As the temperature of the air rises, oceans absorb some of this heat and also become warmer. The oceans have absorbed much of this increased heat, with the top 700 meters of ocean warming about 0.302 degrees Fahrenheit since 1969.
5. Ocean acidification
Commonly referred to as “the other carbon dioxide problem,” is evidence that climate change exists. What happens when a TON of carbon mixes with the ocean? The answer in chemistry terms is simple: it becomes and acid. Ocean acidification is a huge problem in itself, having effects on the tiniest creatures which will have effects on the food chain of the ocean as a whole. Click the button below to learn more about ocean acidification
Overall, it doesn't take much to understand that there has to be some consequence for the excess amount of carbon dioxide being released into our atmosphere every year. Those consequences will have so many wide ranging effects on not only our generation but the next few generations to come. Climate change is real, and next time someone says it isn't, you now know what to tell them.
References
1. Church, J. A. and N.J. White (2006), A 20th century acceleration in global sea level rise, Geophysical Research Letters 33, L01602
The global sea level estimate described in this work can be downloaded from the CSIRO website.
2. I. Allison, et.al, The Copenhagen Diagnosis: Updating the World on the Latest Climate Science, UNSW Climate Change Research Center, Sydney, Australia, 2009
http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news/20100121/
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2009/01apr_deepsolarminimum.htm
3. Levitus, et.al, "Global ocean heat content 1955–2008 in light of recently revealed instrumentation problems," Geophys. Research Letters 36, L07608 (2009).
4. L. Polyak, et.al, “History of Sea Ice in the Arctic,” in Past Climate Variability and Change in the Arctic and at High Latitudes, U.S. Geological Survey, Climate Change Science Program Synthesis and Assessment Product 1.2, January 2009, chapter 7
http://nsidc.org/sotc/sea_ice.html
5. Teach Ocean Science, “How does climate change affect coral reefs?”
http://www.teachoceanscience.net/teaching_resources/education_modules/
6. National Snow and Ice Data Center
World Glacier Monitoring Service
