CLIMATE CHANGE (Research Paper Sample)

Student Name Name of Professor Course Title Date of Submission Climate Change Climate change refers to the forceful changes in global temperature, precipitation, wind patterns and other measure of climate that occur over several decades or even longer. It can occur due to human activity and this is referred to anthropogenic climate change or due to naturally occurring processes that are already occurring or predicted to occur. There are many factors that influence the day to day climate and bring about the change in most weather pattern. There are many factors that cause climate change to occur. One of the major causes of climate change is the green house gases. Green house gases are mostly released by the human activities. One of the activities includes burning of the fossil fuels that releases so much carbon dioxide into the environment. Concentration of carbon dioxide has increased to over 40% from 1900- 2012 which has affected the earth’s energy balance. Deforestation has also led to accumulation of carbon dioxide in the environment since the balance of the carbon cycle has been destroyed. This is to show that the natural processes that are supposed to maintain the carbon dioxide in then environment are now very slow compared to the increasing human activities that are increasing the release of carbon dioxide to the environment and as a result of this the carbon dioxide released in the environment will not just be there for centuries or decades it will remain in the environment for thousands of years (Climate change pg5-6) Another human activity that has resulted to climate change is the agricultural activity. Farming only releases so much of the most powerful green house gases which include nitrous oxide and methane gas. Methane is produce by decomposing organic matter on the farm lands and also by the animals during their digestion. Nitrous oxide gas is significantly produces by the fertilizers that are applied on the farm lands. Agriculture amounts to 10% of the green house gases released into the atmosphere by the year 2012. When this compounds get into the environment they are volatilized in the ozone. Controlling the release of nitrogen oxide and methane gas in this generation and next will be difficult since there is increasing demand of food and also increasing number of livestock hence there will be increase in their production of methane and nitrogen oxide(Matson pg 9). Industrialization has also caused climate change to occur. In industrial activities melting of polymers and polymer based materials releases halocarbons which are among the green house gases that result to global warming. One of the natural processes that result to climate change includes volcanic eruption. This eruption leads to release of gases and particles into the atmosphere that has a great influence on the climate. Most of the particle released into the environment such as dust shade the sunlight and cause temporary cooling. Sulphur dioxide is also released into the atmosphere where it combines with water to form sulphuric acid. Also significant amount of water vapour is released into the environment as a result of volcanic eruption. This therefore contributes to massive climatic changes. These gases that are released by both human activities and natural occurring process bring about the climatic changes. Some of the climatic changes that are brought about by these gases include; Temperature rise globally, the recent years there has been an increase in the rise of temperature on the earth. This has been attributed by the fact that there is increased level of carbon dioxide and other green house gases in the atmosphere due to the human activities. This green house gases form a layer of blanket on the ozone layer preventing the heat from escaping by trapping them on the atmosphere bringing a rise in temperature. This global warming has occurred in the past with the warmest record being the year 2010. This rise in temperature has also brought about other natural disaster such as drought, leading to food shortage and more deaths sue to hunger. Others have suffered heat stroke due to the high temperatures. Wildlife migration has greatly been affected by the rise in temperature ( Walther pg20) Secondly there will be melting of the poles and rising of the sea levels. This will happen due to high temperatures which will make the water of most oceans to expand, ice melting in the Antarctic and green land which will contribute to rise of the sea level. Moreover, by the year 2100, the sea level is expected to rise by as much as 25- 50 which will endanger the low lying coastal areas such as Netherlands and Bangladesh causing floods and rendering people to be homeless. In the arctic temperature levels have consequently risen by about 5 degrees. In the next decade there will be no summer ice cover left on the arctic ( Eric pg 15) There is also change in precipitation pattern due to climatic changes. Precipitation patterns are being moved to a new direction due to climatic changes. A new study shows shift precipitation in two different ways due to heat trapping gases in the atmosphere. One of the ways will be strengthening the existing patterns and the other way is that there will be a change in storm tract which will move away from the equator and towards the poles as atmospheric circulation changes. This will result t some areas experiencing high rainfall and other areas will not receive any rainfall at all There has been a rise in Atlantic hurricane over the past years. The hurricane changed in terms of the intensity, frequency and duration as well as the number of the strongest storms. The recent increase in hurricanes is attributed to higher sea surface temperature in the region that Atlantic hurricanes form in and move through. Numerous factors that have contributed to the higher sea surface temperature tht increase the events of hurricane include human induce activities that release heat trapping gases t the environment as well as naturally occurring events. Change in other storm has been experienced due to the green houses gases emitted that result to this kind of change. Winter storm is one of the examples where its frequency of occurrence and strength has changed over the past years and their tracks have shifted north wards over the United States. Other severe storms such as tornados, hails and damaging thunderstorm winds patterns are uncertain and further research are being conducted. Humidity levels in the atmosphere will continue rising in the coming years. This is because water vapor initiates a comeback loop that advances the effects of other green house gases. As the climate warms, the air absorbs up more moisture. The moisture then prevents heat from radiating trough the atmosphere and into the space, which instead warms the air further, enabling it to hold still more water leading to high humidity. Adverse climatic changes bring about and drought in many places. High temperature results to higher evaporation and higher loss of water from the plants making them dry up due to lack of enough moisture. If the high temperature goes on for some time, there is rapid increase of evaporation from the plants which will intern lead into drying up of the soil and subsequent drought will occur. There has been acidification of the oceans that has occurred due to combustion of fossil fuels that release so much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Ocean acidification occurs when the carbon in the atmosphere reacts with water to form carbon acid which is released and this falls on the oceanic water. The carbonic acid in water releases hydrogen ions in water making the ocean water surface to be acidic.Most of the marine life is at risk of extinction since they cannot survive in the acidic conditions. Climatic changes have had a great influence on the wildlife. This is because the harsh climatic conditions are affecting the biodiversity globally. Most habitats of wildlife animals have been destroyed by the everyday changing weather patterns for examples animals like the the asian rhinos that are found in the northern Indian which depend on the monsoon winds to bring plentiful and seasonable rain to restore the vegetation they feed on. But they would suffer due to hunger and death and become extinct because the changing climate may disrupt the normal season and bring about drought and floods. There is also a linkage between climatic weather changes and health. In the case of floods, there are many incidences of water borne diseases such as typhoid and cholera which kills so many people. A rise in temperature also brings about health related problems among the old people and very young people. It is estimated that almost 2000 people died due to the high temperature in England and 40000 deaths in parts of Europe. Climatic changes also occur when the ozone layer is depletected allowing the ultra violet rays to penetrate into the atmosphere. The UV rays have caused so many form of cancer and has been a major cause of death today. Climate change has brought about economic strain. This has affected water availability in most areas due to hotter temperature and changes in the rainfall pattern. This will automatically affect food production as there will be less water for agricultural activity, leading to less crop yield. Crops will also be swept out by flood and this will results to less crops on the market and this will lead to prices being increased. Tourism sector will also suffer since there will be no be tourist coming since there will be no wildlife to see nor the ice on the mountains and also the hotels that rely on skiing as a for...