Study The Causes Of Global Warming And Future Effects (Essay Sample)

Global Warming
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Institutional Affiliation
Global Warming
The potential dramatic rise in annual average global surface temperature is called global warming (Yan, X.-H. et al., 2016). According to Dennis, Sara, and Berry (2017), there are distinct warm and cold layers above the surface of the earth. Nearest to the surface is the troposphere where there is a decrease in temperatures with height up to 12km.Above this is the stratosphere where temperatures increase with height. Uppermost is the Mesosphere, where temperature decrease again, and the thermosphere where they rise once more. The boundaries where inversion of temperatures takes place is referred to as the troposphere, the stratosphere, and the mesosphere respectively. Temperature changes in the atmosphere are brought about by the absorption and partial re-emission of visible, ultraviolet and near-infrared solar radiation by certain atmospheric gases mainly carbon dioxide, methane, ozone and water vapor(greenhouse gases). For the past five decades, many researchers continue to study the causes of global warming and future effects.
Humans are to blame for the increasingly rising temperatures since global warming has been linked to rapid industrialization and increasing concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Combustion process on land as well as by the absorption of reflected thermal radiation also warms the atmosphere. Together these may add an extra 20% to that caused by incoming solar radiation (Hobbs, 1980). Burning fossil fuels release greenhouse gases such as Carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. These gases act as a shielding layer, preventing sun's heat from reflecting back into space and thus, contributing to increases global temperatures. Rapid deforestation contributes to this process as CO2 consuming vegetative cover is destroyed, leading to an excess of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. With the onset of industrial revolution in the 1700s, increasing use has been made of fossil fuels which release large amounts of CO2 when burnt. The industrial and domestic energy demand of our society means that approximately seven gigatonnes (Gt) carbon from carbon dioxide is released every year (Drake, 2004).
Global warming presents a particularly pressing challenge to human society, even threatening the survival of species because rising temperatures have been linked to profoundly shifting climatic patterns. The changing climatic sequence has had an adverse impact on socioeconomic sectors of the global community. Such effects will worsen in future if the world does not implement measures to reduce the emission of anthropogenic greenhouse gases which are responsible for climate change. Some of the observed as well as projected climate change impacts in Kenya are: the extent of arid and semi-arid land is increasing; loss of species both flora and fauna, while in some places, the number of indigenous and significant species has tremendously dwindled; Threat of the demise of coast-line due to sea level rise in the world. For example, it is estimated that about 17% of Mombasa (4600 hectares of land) would submerge if the sea will rise by 0.3mete`rs only. Malaria, cholera, Ebola, Lyme disease, plague, tuberculosis, sleeping sickness, yellow fever and rift valley fever are some of the infections that are expected to spread as temperature rise and precipitation patterns change(Singh et al., 2016).
Mitigation measures to reduce the impact...