Simple terms what is global warming

The second is the energy that leaves the Earth, which is primarily due to the Earth radiating it away. During the day, we absorb energy from the Sun; this is the power inputted into the Earth. During both the day and the night, we radiate energy back into space; that's the power outputted by the Earth. Note how much fainter To know what the temperature of Earth ought to be, we need to first understand the energy that comes into our world. The source of this energy is the Sun, which radiates with a very well-measured power: 3.

The closer you are to the Sun, the more of this energy you absorb, while the farther away you are, the less you absorb. The anatomy of the Sun, including the inner core, which is the only place where fusion occurs.

Sunlight spreads out in a sphere the farther away you are from it, meaning that if you're twice as far away from the Sun, you only absorb one-quarter the radiation. At Earth's distance from the Sun, we encounter a power of around 1, watts-per-square-meter; that's how much hits the top of our atmosphere.

The Earth also orbits in an ellipse around the Sun, meaning that at some points it's closer to the Sun, absorbing more radiation, while at other times it's more distant, absorbing less. The way that sunlight spreads out as a function of distance means that the farther away from a power But that's not the full story. The sunlight that hits us comes in a variety of wavelengths: ultraviolet, visible, and infrared, all of which carry energy.

The atmosphere has many layers, some of which absorb that light, some of which allow it to transmit all the way down to the ground, and some of which reflect it back into space. The atmosphere of the Earth, although only 5. Some of that energy gets absorbed by Earth's surface, while some of it gets reflected. Clouds reflect sunlight better than average, as do dry sand and icecaps. Other ground conditions are better at absorbing sunlight, including oceans, forests, wet soil, and savannahs.

Depending on seasonal conditions on Earth, the individual locations on Earth vary tremendously in how much light they reflect or absorb. As far as global effects go, this average has changed remarkably little over time, even as human civilization has transformed the landscape of our planet. Although various components of the Earth's surface display huge variable ranges in the amount of And that's absurd, and completely not reflective of reality.

Our world is temperate, not frozen, and there's one big reason for these predictions and observations to be so thoroughly off from one another: we've been ignoring the insulating effects of Earth's atmosphere.

Sure, the Earth radiates the energy it absorbs back into space. NOAA reports that more areas are growing warmer than are cooling on a worldwide level. This trend has been continuing for at least years. The Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC has identified several important consequences of global warming : Severe weather events are increasing in frequency and becoming worse.

These include hurricanes, droughts, floods and prolonged heat waves. As the Earth warms, the atmosphere becomes capable of absorbing, holding and dropping more water, which usually results in dry areas becoming even dryer and in flooding in already wet areas.

This uneven distribution of moisture can lead to increased risks of hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters. NOAA tracks weather events and the costs associated with them. These include droughts, severe storms, tropical cyclones or hurricanes and one wildfire. The U. Environmental Protection Agency EPA also attributes the increased risk of wildfires in recent years to global warming and climate change.

According to figures compiled by the National Interagency Fire Center and released by the EPA, the average number of wildfires every year since is 72, Acreage burned by wildfires is showing a steady increase that appears to correlate with higher average global temperatures. Nine of the 10 years in which the highest number of acres were burned have occurred in the period since Global warming has been responsible directly or indirectly for a large number of human deaths. The Guardian reported in June that the average number of heat-related deaths in Arizona have doubled since Additionally, between and , there were more than 10, deaths that could be partially or wholly attributed to extreme heat.

People are not the only ones affected by global warming. According to a study published in June in the scholarly magazine Science Advances , the Earth may currently be experiencing a sixth mass extinction event involving vertebrate species.

Over the last century, vertebrate species have been lost at a rate times the normal and expected rate. This indicates that many species of wildlife cannot survive the changes in their environments that have resulted from global warming. According to the scientists at NASA , the greenhouse effect is responsible for most of the measured increase in global temperatures over the last 70 to years. The atmospheric gases that are most responsible for the greenhouse effect include carbon dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons, methane, and nitrous oxide.

Water vapor is also classed as a greenhouse gas. The moisture in the air, however, is seen as a mitigating factor that can actually respond to the presence of other greenhouse gases and may serve to lessen some of the most serious effects of greenhouse effect warming. The greenhouse gases responsible for global warming are produced by many human activities:. NASA attributes many of the changes in overall global temperatures to increased greenhouse gases, which are increasing the natural heat retention caused by the greenhouse effect.

Essentially, the world's atmosphere can be seen as a large and complex greenhouse. The gravity of the earth is responsible for keeping air and clouds close to the surface of the planet. The sun's rays filter through the atmosphere.

Light and heat from the sun are absorbed by the surface of the Earth and is then released and reflected upward as infrared heat. Greenhouse gases prevent this heat from leaving the atmosphere by trapping it and returning it once more to the surface of the earth. When large amounts of greenhouse gases are present in the atmosphere of the Earth, not enough heat can escape.

This causes a gradual but inevitable increase in the temperatures experienced in various areas of the world. Greenhouse gases play a large role in trapping heat close to the Earth's surface.

One example of a runaway greenhouse effect and its results can be found in our own solar system. NASA points to Venus as an example of what can happen when the greenhouse effect is too strong. Because only a small amount of heat can escape from its surface, the average temperature on the planetary surface of Venus is degrees Fahrenheit. Almost all scientists agree that global warming is not the result of changes in the energy Earth receives from the sun. There are several pieces of evidence that disprove this theory:.

This evidence has been collected and verified by NASA and by many other scientific organizations. It indicates that the process of global warming is primarily caused by the buildup of greenhouse gases in the Earth's atmosphere.

According to most scientific researchers, global warming started at least years ago. First Known Use of global warming , in the meaning defined above. Learn More About global warming. Share global warming Post the Definition of global warming to Facebook Share the Definition of global warming on Twitter. Time Traveler for global warming The first known use of global warming was in See more words from the same year. Style: MLA. English Language Learners Definition of global warming. Kids Definition of global warming.

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