Trabajo Alber

7/30/2019 Trabajo Alber

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1. Regulators of the planet clime

The most important reason that determinates the clime of nowadays is the

amount of heat that leaves and receives the earth. The heat gets out of the

earth when the surface of the planet reaches heat after of being heated by thesolar energy.

The greenhouse gases of our atmosphere allow the lower atmosphere to

absorb the heat that is reached by the earths surface, the biosphere keeps this

heat. Without the greenhouse gases, the earth would be an iced world.

In spite of this, there are more elements that determine the clime of the earth.

They are latitude, altitude, place location, water masses, ocean currents and

big forests.

1.1. Altitude

The altitude respect the sea level affects in the highest or lowest heating of wind

masses. The wind that is nearer of the earth surface is hottest, decreasing its

temperature as we get higher. Each 100 meters, the temperature increases 6,4

C.

1.2. The location

The situation of a place, on the coasts or inside the continents, will be a factor

to remember at the moment of establishing the climate of this zone, knowing

that the water get warm and get cool slower than the land, seas and oceans

smooth the extreme temperatures both in winter and in summer, the sea is a

thermal regulator.

The relief is the different form that the terrestrial surface presents. The shape of

the land has been formed principally by the displacement of the plates of the

surface that form alterations of the earth surface.

Another factor that helps the formation of different reliefs are the winds that

produce erosion in them, which is tended to get in the same level. It spoils the

highest parts of the mountain chains and tends to fill with the alluviums.

Moreover, in the highest sectors there are major differences of temperatures


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that in the lowest sectors. Despite of this, lower sectors in general present major

relative dampness.

In conclusion, the distance respect the sea is an important factor. Places

situated near the sea have a lower thermal oscillation and a higher relativedampness than places situated far away from the sea.

How ocean currents work

The marine currents are formed by the wind thrust on the sea. When the earth

turns on itself, the marine currents twist and flow in the oceans in enormous

circles called drafts.

The hot currents move away from the equator, and the cold ones flow to it.

The winds that blow on these currents provide the near coasts of hot or cold

temperatures, thats why they affect the climate. The Gulf Stream, in the Atlantic

Ocean, keeps the northwestern part of Europe hot in winter.


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1.3. Latitude

The latitude of a given location is the distance (expressed in degrees, minutes

or seconds) between any point on earth and the equator. Latitude can be north

or south, its determinated by the location of it and the distance of north and

south, respectively, of Ecuador. The latitude determines the inclination with

which the solar rays are projected onto a place of the earth, and the length of

day and night.

According to the latitude are determined the large climatic bands, the shape of

the Earth determine them. The larger size of their extension in the equator

allows a high heat in these zones permanently. They decrease progressively

from the Tropics to the Poles that are subject to seasonal variations depending

on the position of the Earth in its movement around the sun.

Map of the climatic bands

In other words, if the place is situated in a lower latitude, its nearest of equator

and therefore, higher average temperatures are taken. As we move away from

equator the temperatures are lower and the precipitations are present as

showers.


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Image of the different latitudes in the earth

1.4. The vegetation

Vegetation is also a climate factor. The abundance of it makes the zone hotter

and makes this zone to have more precipitations.


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2. Evidences of the climate change

2.1. Global warming

Almost the 70% of the solar energy that reaches the earth is returned to the

space, but a part of the infrared energy is retained by the greenhouse gases

and returns to the earth.

As a result of the greenhouse effect the earth has kept the heat necessary to

make possible the existence of life in our planet. If this effect didnt exist, the

climatic fluctuations would be intolerable. However, a little variation of the

balance of the global temperature can cause big problems. In this last century

the earth has had an increase of 0,4 and 0,8 C in its temperatures.

The global warming consists in the increase of the temperatures of the earth

because of the fossil combustibles and other industrial process that cause an

accumulation of gases that cause the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. Its

a problem that is affecting more to the humanity every day, intervening

gradually in our life conditions. It threats us and there is no solution in a short

time.

The presences of changes in the clime and the climatic conditions that areknown nowadays and that have presented big variations causing environment

disasters that affect to the life in our planet. Some of these disasters are:

tsunamis, hurricanes, summer excessively hot, floods registered in a lot of

countries.

Some punctual evidences of the global warming are:

The temperature of the Antarctica has increased five times more than

the global average in the last 50 years.

According to the NASA, the cap of polar ice is melting about a 9 % per

decade. The thickness of the Arctic ice has diminished 40 % from the

decade of 1960.

In the big hydrographic African elements of the Niger, the lake Chad

and the Senegal, the total of the available water has decreased between

the 40% and the 60%, and the desertification has get worse especially inthe southern, north and western Africa.


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The temperatures of the Arctic air increased approximately 5C during

the 20th century, 10 times more than the temperature of the world

surface. In the Arctic Russian zone, the buildings are ruined because of

the fact that the permafrost1 situated under their foundations has melted.

Almost all the glaciers of mountain of the not polar regions moved back

during the 20th century. The total volume of the glaciers of Switzerland

diminished approximately two thirds.

In Europe the butterflies, dragonflies, moths, beetles and other insects

live now in higher altitudes, where previously it was doing too much

cold to survive.

The scientists have observed changes induced at least in 420 physical

processes and communities or biological species

Intense floods in estates of Texas, Montana and North Dakota during the

summer of 2002 caused hurts for hundreds of million dollars.

Moreover, information of the year 2007 conclude that the six hottest years,

information from the middle of the 19th century, are 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004,

2005 and 2006. To be considered a climate it would has to hold this situation in

a long term, in the year 2013 it has to continue. The IPCC2 affirms that more of

the 50% of the variation temperatures are caused by the human being.

1Permafrost: Cap of permanent ice in the superficial levels of the soil in very cold regions as the tundra.

It can appear in areas as Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Tibet, Norway and in several islands of the south

Atlantic Ocean as the Islands Georgias of the South and the Islands Sandwich of the South2IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
http://www.ipcc.ch/http://www.ipcc.ch/http://www.ipcc.ch/http://www.ipcc.ch/


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Graphic of the CO2 concentration and the temperature change in the earth

The global emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activities have

increased, since the preindustrial age, in a 70% between 1970 and 2004.


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Variations in earth with the human intervention and without it

The perforation of the Antarctic ice has recovered pieces of glacial ice which

have hundreds of thousands of years. This ice contains air bubbles that

preserve gases of the atmosphere of the time when the ice was formed. The

measures of the levels of CO2 in the bubbles indicate that during most of last

160.000 years the atmospheric concentration has changed of approximately

200 ppm3 to approximately 300 ppm. The levels more elevated of CO2 are

registered in the last interglacial important period, approximately 125.000 years

ago (less than 300 ppm) and in the current air (387 ppm).

3Ppm: parts per milion


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These levels of CO2 that indicate 387 ppm are the most elevated since 800.00

years ago, when the human specie hadnt evolved yet. Homo sapiens is present

in the earth since 200.000 years ago.

Changes in the atmosphere


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3. Climate changes in the past

The climate has not stopped changing along the history of the Earth. In

occasions they have appeared as small thermal oscillations. However, our

planet has had different periods, sometimes more than 300 millions of years of

duration, from which temperatures had caused a cover of ice in very extensive

continental zones. They are the periods known as glaciations. The last one of

them finished only 10000 years ago. There have been periods with an average

of 22 too.In thousand years ago, Europe enjoyed high temperatures. In that period,

named "Medieval Hot Period", the agriculture was growing in places as

Greenland, a toponym that in English ("Greenland", green land) evokes the past

climate. However, the evidences indicate of clear form that the cap of ice of

Greenland persists for million years and that during the "Mximo Medieval"

some small zone of the coast could have been liberated.

Ater of this period there was another one with lower temperatures, especially in

the north European zones. Although it cannot be considered an age of ice as

known one, it is known as the "small age of ice". Some experts indicate that

this period continued from the 16th century until middle of the 19th century. The

chronicles explain how the people were skating during the winter on the frozen

waters of the river Thames of London and the channels and rivers of Holland.

The frequencies of these climate changes can qualify in:

From the formation of the Earth to the current importance (global

cooling).

Hundreds of millions years (tectonic activity).

Thousands of years (changes in the orbit of the Earth: the Glaciations of

the Quaternary).

From hundreds to thousands of years (variations in the solar activity from

the last glaciation to the industrial revolution).

Decades to a few centuries (the current one due to the human activity).


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Specifically, we can find external and internal causes in all these climate

changes:

External causes:

They are foreign reasons to the climatic system of the Earth. They are because

of the solar radiation that comes to the terrestrial surface and, in consequence,

concerns the global climate of the planet. The most important are:

Changes in the solar activity: De solar activity modifications, for example

the changes in the solar spots. They concern the own source of energy and

its consequences reach to the Earth and to other bodies of the solar system.

Changes in the terrestrial orbit: Milankovitch discovered that the terrestrialorbit was experiencing changes that could concern the climate as the

eccentricity, obliquity and pressure.

Representations of the different changes in the terrestrial orbits.

Impacts of meteorites: As big are the meteorites as big is their effect on

earth, when they strike to the earth they cause a dust cloud that doesnt

allow the solar radiation to pass the atmosphere.

Internal causes:


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The internal reasons refer to the measure of the solar radiation that is absorbed

by the earth.

Changes in the albedo4: It is the fraction of the solar radiation reflected

by a surface or an object, the average value of the albedo of our planet is

30 %.

Representation of variations of albedo.

Changes in the atmospheric composition: The increase of CO2 for

diverse reasons for example, the intervention of organisms, volcanic

activity, etc.

4Albedo: the percentage of reflected radiation on any surface and the radiation incident

thereon. Clear surfaces have higher albedo values than the dark ones.


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Composition of the atmosphere nowadays

Presence of aerosols: The aerosols are small particles suspended in

the air that can have a natural origin or are caused because of the

human action (increased in the last years).

Changes in the marine currents: If there werent marine currents

between the "warm" waters of the equator and the "cold" waters of the

poles, the temperature in both places would change.


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4. Causes of the climate change

A natural cape of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keeps sufficiently

warmed the planet to make possible the life in the Earth, it keeps us in a

comfortable temperature of 15C nowadays.

The emission of greenhouse gases caused by the human beings has made this

cape denser, which has caught the heat and caused the global heating. The

fossil fuels are the major reason of this emission of greenhouse gases.

The medium temperature of the Earth seems to have been kept incredibly

stable during the last 10.000 years, with a variation of less of 1C, which

allowed the human civilization to prosper. But the prosperity of our civilization

has caused all these changes in our clime.

The "mantle" of greenhouse gases that is in a natural way in the troposfera, and

it represents less 1 % of the atmosphere, recovers the vital function to regulate

the climate of the planet. When the solar power, in the form of visible light hits

with the Earth, it warms the surface. As Earth is colder than the Sun, it sends

this energy to the space as infrared or thermal radiation. The greenhouse gases

block the direct exit of this infrared radiation to the space. The "natural effectof greenhouse" is essential for the life as we know her.

The problem that we have now is that, since the industrial revolution began 250

years ago approximately, our emission of greenhouse gases has made this

mantle denser to a pace without precedents. It has caused the most spectacular

change in the composition of the atmosphere for at least 650.000 years. Until

we do big efforts to reduce our emission of gases.

The reason why this "artificial" emission is a problem with so much importance

is that, eventually, de Earth has to liberate energy with the same rate that

receives it from the Sun. Because of a denser mantle of greenhouse gases

helps to reduce the loss of energy to the space, the climatic regime must adjust

somehow to restore the balance between the coming energy and its projection.

The result is known as "intensified greenhouse effect".

In conclusion, the most important factor of the climatic change is the human

being. We have a culture based in the consumerism, which consists in waste


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as much natural resources as we can. We only think buying more and more

products that we dont need, without th inking that we are warming our planet.

We have a model of life based on contaminate the environment, we use our

cars everyday and we waste electric energy with more frequency.

We simply dont stop and think in all that surrounds us and how we are

intervening with it. We should have more present the future of our descendants

and change our mode of life, maybe it is so difficult and its easier continue our

lives like now.


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5. Consequences and solutions

We are changing our planet everyday, we have to choose if we want to

continue like now or we want to stop this behavior. If we dont stop the climate

change we will suffer the consequences of it and we will regret of all our

attitudes. The principal consequences in the clime of the global warming are:

Emigrations

The consequences of the climate change can be fatal for the population.

According to well-known experts in the topic, the desertification and the floods

provoked by the hurts to the environment will provoke that millions of people will

have to leave their houses in the next years. In the year 2050, it is calculated

that 200 million persons will be in this alarming situation.

Janos Bogardi5 affirms that between 25 and 27 million migrations that take

place nowadays might be a reason of these adverse effects provoked by the

floods and the desertification.

The cyclical increase of temperatures

The reason of the increase of the temperature is directly linked with the

greenhouse effect. According to the scientific studies it is expected, that the

cyclical increases of the temperatures, will go in increase, with all the

consequences that imply the high temperatures. For example, the problems of

health in children and elders, who are in the habit of being the most vulnerable

in the warm days.

The most unfavorable forecasts aim that between the year 2070 and 2100 the

temperatures will rise up to 7 degrees in summer and 4 in winter.

The increase of the sea level

The process is much simpler than it seems. When the surface warms up, the

ice glaciers fuse, which generates an increase in the water quantity that comes

to the oceans generating an increase in the seas. It supposes an important risk

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Janos Bogardi, director of the Enviroment Institute and Human Security of the ONU


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for all those areas that place below level of the sea. The scientists wait that in

90 years, the height of the levels of the sea increases approximately 20 meters.

In Spain it will be one of the principal problems derived from the climate change

in the coastal zones. It will cause losses of an important number of beaches,especially in Cantabrian and part of the low coastal zones will be flooded -

deltas of the Ebro, Llobregat, Sleeve of the Mar Menor, and Doana's coast.

Big storms

The process in which the seas are becoming tropical, does the storms be more

intense, as they used to be in theCarib. Nowadays, the big storms are given

in any point of the planet. This happens because the water of the oceans is

hotter. We only have to observe the quantity of cyclones, storms and hurricanes

that day after day are present in the planet. It is estimated that in the last thirty

years, the force of these natural phenomena has doubled.

Drought

The problem of the drought, also can find its reason in the climate change. The

decrease of the sweet water generates a terrible panorama for those that

cultivate the lands and not only it. The food lack is the terrible one, but this

possible reality its estimated that we will feel it in the next 100 years. Moreover,

water will become more acid because of the CO2 contamination.

Spain is the most arid country of Europe. According to the ONU, a third of its

surface suffers a percentage very high of desertification and a 6% has already

degenerated by a irreversible form.

Changes in the ecosystems

The increase of the temperatures of the oceans as well as the deforestation is

contributing in an important way to the disastrous and irreversible changes that

are taking place in the habitat, and simultaneously, threatens to put in danger to

a lot of species, which in a space of a few decades might become extinct.

It seems that between 15 and 37 % of the species of the planet are going tobecome extinct, this fact will favor the increase of the expansion of invading


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species and pests. The natural ecosystems in risk by his special vulnerability

will be the glaciers, the coral reefs and atolls, the swamps, the tropical and

boreal forests, the polar and Alpine ecosystems and, the humid zones and

meadows.

The polar bear is an example of these changes in the ecosystems, the number

of exemplars of this specie has gone down quickly in the last years. A crucial

characteristic for the human success is the biodiversity, but the increasing loss

of flora and fauna as consequence of the extinction in mass that threatens to

our planet, puts in a serious danger to medium term the continuity of the human

race in the Earth.

Diseases

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the PNUMA and the

Meteorological World Organization (OMM), every year 150.000 persons die due

to the climate change, overcoat due to the spread of epidemics. The IPCC is

alerting of an increase and extension of the infectious diseases. In Spain it is

necessary to wait for an increase in the mortality caused by the waves of hot in

summer, which will be higher in intensity and duration in the next years.

Loss of resources

The global warming will provoke a big reduction of the food production in our

planet. Droughts and floods will destroy crops, animals and entire ecosystems.

In the other hand, we are wasting the resources of our planet and the majority

of them are limited.

Economic losses

The climatic change will increase the socioeconomic costs of the hurts caused

by floods, droughts, forest fires... Something already observed after the Katrina

hurricane in New Orleans (USA). The report of the IPCC affirms that the least

developed countries are the most vulnerable to the impact of the climate

change. It is calculated that the economic losses associated with natural


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disasters have gone on from 131.000 million dollars in the decade 1970-1980 to

629.000 million dollars in the year 1990.

Although some environment problems dont have solutions, we can stop allthese subjects that affect to it. We have to think in our future and in our planet,

we are responsible of it and we cant do whatever we want with it. Some

solutions to avoid the climate change are:

Eliminate fossil fuels

The first step is to stop using coal, oil and even natural gas. There is no doubt

that oil is the lubricant of the global economy, especially for transportation,

plastics production and power generation, but we can implant some alternative

measures, such as plastics derived from plant products, biodiesel and wind

power.

Improving infrastructures

Of course, new building construction involves the use of large quantities of

cement, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but buildings with a more

efficient energy use (with better thermal insulation in cold countries or betterventilated in the tropics) can help to cut emissions.

Movingcloser to the workplace

Transportation is a major source of greenhouse gases. Measures as living

closer to the workplace, work at home, go to places by walking, biking or using

the public transport, would be very useful for reduction of all that gases.

Consume less

Buying less means less pressure on natural resources and less use of fossil

fuels used in some way in their production process. Another alternative is to

practice the three RE: recycle, reuse, and reduce

Be efficient


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Do more with less, either accelerating less your vehicle (unless it is strictly

necessary to do so) or turning off lights when you do not really need them. We

can also use appliances that use less energy. Something as simple as opening

the windows can save energy used by fans or air conditioners.

Eat better

Cows are a major source of methane (a greenhouse gas more powerful than

CO2), they consume more food than they produce, and they take billions of

hectares that could be better used growing healthier food.

Donot cut more trees

Every year millions of hectares are lost in forests. And it is estimated that the

timber industry contributes annually to the atmosphere with 1,500 million tones

of CO2 (something as 20% of all greenhouse gases emissions produced by

humans).

Disconnect

Believe it or not, much of the bill we pay for energy is related with the energy

that our appliances consume when they are turned off (but not disconnected).

Another measure is to use valuable energy saving bulbs.

Having only one child

It is estimated that we are already 6,600 million people that live in this troubled

world, and this situation is expected to rise to 9 billion people by mid-century.

The Environment Programme of the United Nations calculate that every person

needs 20 hectares to satisfy his needs. Obviously, the fewer people there are,

the less pressure will be exerted on natural resources (and fewer greenhouse

gases issue).

Replace fossil fuels

Hybrid vehicles (that use biodiesel and electricity instead of gasoline) appear to

be the best alternative in the short term to meet this purpose.


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There are other alternatives that technology allows us to have present,

geoengineering is the branch of the science that study these solutions.

However, they are radical solutions and maybe can make worse the situation.

Among them we could try releasing sulphates (as do volcanic eruptions) to

block sunlight, cover portions of our planet with reflective films sunlight (or

failing to orbit million mirrors fulfilling the same function) and fertilize the oceans

with iron and other nutrients to encourage plankton to absorb more carbon

dioxide.

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