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Causes of
Natural Causes of Global Warming
Global warming can be caused by natural and astronomical causes and changes in the temperature of the Earth. Nature and celestial bodies indeed affect the temperature of the Earth. However, natural causes alone are insufficient to explain modern, rapid climate change.
Affected By Solar Radiation
Research has been around for hundreds of years to determine the link between the solar cycle and the Earth's climate. This study identifies solar activity through sunspots or solar radiation. According to the change in solar radiation measured since 1600, the activity of the sun has been steadily increasing for 400 years, and the temperature of the Earth has also been steadily increasing. In addition, between 1600 and 1700, when the ice age came, solar activity was significantly reduced. Through this, the hypothesis that solar activity is related to the global climate appears.
According to 25-year solar radiation data from 1978 to 2003, compiled by Richard Wilson from three NASA ACRIM satellites, solar radiation has increased by 0.05% in almost a decade since the late 1970s. This increase of 0.05 percent is said to exceed the amount of energy used by all humans. Wilson also reported that the effects of this increase in solar radiation are not known from before 1978, but if it continues throughout the 20th century, it will contribute significantly to modern global warming.
Change In The Earth's Axis And Orbit
Even if the amount of radiation emitted by the sun is constant, fluctuations in the Earth's axis relative to the ecliptic plane, precession of the earth's axis, and changes in the Earth's orbit affect the amount of solar radiation the Earth accepts. Representatively, there is the Milankovic theory.
Milankovich's theory is that the change in solar radiation energy due to changes in the earth's axis slope, the radius, and the eccentricity of the orbit are the decisive factors of climate change. Milankovic's calculations of past global temperatures based on these factors fit well with actual geological data, so this is recognized as an established theory in explaining why the ice age is coming.
However, Milankovich's theory doesn't do much to explain the current climate change. This is because the changes in the Earth's motion itself are not suitable for dealing with short-term fluctuations of decades to hundreds of years.
Reduced Solar Reflectance
Glaciers, ice sheets, melting of permafrost, and forest damage reduces solar reflectance, causing the Earth to receive more solar energy. The problem is that they themselves are the result of global warming, so a vicious cycle can occur.
Human Causes of Global Warming
Air Pollution
-Changes in the concentration of greenhouse gases
The atmospheric temperature covering the Earth is determined by the heat balance between the incident solar radiation energy and the emitted earth radiation energy. The heat balance of the atmosphere surrounding the Earth depends on the proportion of the atmosphere. Water vapor, ozone, Freon gas, carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, known as greenhouse gases, absorb long-wave radiation energy emitted from Earth and heat the atmosphere, so the heat balance can change depending on the change in concentration.
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide is a representative greenhouse gas that absorbs infrared radiation and heats the lower atmosphere. Human has consumed huge amounts of fossil fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas in the process of industrialization over the past 21st century. As a result, a huge amount of carbon dioxide has been emitted into the atmosphere, and the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is steadily increasing.
image from: https://gml.noaa.gov/aggi/aggi.html
image from: https://gml.noaa.gov/aggi/aggi.html
According to data from Glacier Core and Mauna Loa Observatory, carbon dioxide concentrations have increased rapidly since the Industrial Revolution in the past 1000 years, and carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere tend to be similar to increased emissions from fossil fuel combustion.
image from: Harris, R. (2011, November 11). Air pollution: Bad for health, but good for planet? NPR. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://www.npr.org/2011/11/11/142218650/air-pollution-bad-for-health-but-good-for-planet
As of May 2021, Mauna Loa's carbon dioxide concentration was 419.13 ppm, which was 149.7% of the concentration in 1750 before the Industrial Revolution. In the last 40 years (1979-2019), the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased by an annual average of 1.84 ppm, and the rate of increase is gradually increasing. If the current growth tendency continues, it is expected to reach 540 to 940 ppm at the end of the 21st century. In the mid-21st century, if the concentration of carbon dioxide reaches 560 ppm, which is twice as high as before industrialization, the average global temperature may rise by 2 to 5 degrees Celsius compared to before industrialization.
Methane
Trace gases such as methane, nitrous oxide, and Freon gas emitted by recent industrialization and agricultural activities also absorb long-wave radiation energy emitted from the Earth and affect the greenhouse effect. In September 2021, the concentration of methane in the atmosphere was about 1,900.5 ppb, an increase of more than 170% compared to 700 ppb before industrialization.
image from: https://gml.noaa.gov/aggi/aggi.html
Methane has a much lower concentration in the atmosphere than carbon dioxide, but it can absorb more than 20 to 30 times more long-wave radiation energy than carbon dioxide. About 55 million years ago, temperatures were 4 to 8°C higher than they are today, and studies have shown that this is related to a sudden increase in methane concentration in the atmosphere (Higgings and Schrag, 2006).
Rice paddy farming
Livestock breeding
Methane is released from oxygen-poor swamps, peat beds, wetlands, and other livestock waste, more than 70% of which are caused by artificial factors. The increase in the area of rice paddy farming and the size of livestock breeding due to the increase in population is becoming a major source of methane as a human activity.
Nitrous Oxide
The nitrous oxide concentration is also increasing due to various industrial activities.
image from: https://gml.noaa.gov/aggi/aggi.html
In agricultural activities, nitrogen fertilizers are used to increase crop production, and the amount of nitrogen from the fertilizers enters the air, which contributes to producing nitrous oxide. When fossil fuels are burned at high temperatures, nitrous oxide is also produced. This gas is not emitted much into the atmosphere, but it can affect the greenhouse effect for a long time because it exists in the atmosphere for 150 years.
Nitrogen Fertilizer
Fossil Fuel
image from:
Moore, J. (2019, September 13). Vermicompost makes your garden grow. Homegrown. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://homegrown.extension.ncsu.edu/2019/09/vermicompost-makes-your-garden-grow/
http://global-autonews.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=bd_035&wr_id=383
Overfishing
Overfishing
Studies of the marine system proved that the life in the oceans is definitely essential for holding on to carbon not being released into the atmosphere.
It is common for people to understand that planting trees contributes to solving the problem of carbon emissions nowadays. However, nothing matters more than preserving the integrity of ocean systems. Animals in the ocean take up a considerable amount of carbon, so they can contribute to sequestering carbon when they sink to the bottom of the ocean after death. However, when people catch fish in large quantities, a significant amount of carbon will be released from the sea into the atmosphere.
image from:
Ho, S. (2021, July 14). The $22B spent on overfishing subsidies is 'madness': Un special envoy. Green Queen. Retrieved November 26, 2022, from https://www.greenqueen.com.hk/fisheries-subsidies-overfishing/
Ali T. (Director). (2021, March 24). Seaspiracy. Netflix
In addition, it turns out that one of the most important members of Earth is marine plants. Coastal plants can save 20 times more carbon than forests. In this sense, the ocean stores 93% of all the world’s carbon dioxide due to the receptive capacity of marine vegetation, algae, and coral. A number of corals will suffer from a lack of nutrients when the fish population drops sharply. This is because the products from the digestion activity of the fish released into the water are food for the corals. And losing just 1% of this ecosystem is as fatal as releasing the emissions of 97 million cars.
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