Global warming is a slow steady rise in Earth's surface temperature.

[1] Temperat
ures today are 0.74 C (1.33 F) higher than 150 years ago.[2] Many scientists say t
hat in the next 100 200 years, temperatures might be up to 6 degrees Celsius highe
r than they were before the effects of global warming were discovered.
The basic cause seems to be a rise in atmospheric carbon dioxide, as predicted b
y Svante Arrhenius a hundred years ago. When people use fossil fuels like coal a
nd oil, this adds carbon dioxide to the air. When people cut down many trees (de
forestation), this means less carbon dioxide is taken out of the atmosphere by p
lants.
If the Earth's temperature becomes hotter the sea level will also become higher.
This is partly because water expands when it gets warmer. It is also partly bec
ause warm temperatures make glaciers melt. The sea level rise may cause coastal
areas to flood. Weather patterns, including where and how much rain or snow ther
e is, will change. Deserts will probably increase in size. Colder areas will war
m up faster than warm areas. Strong storms may become more likely and farming ma
y not make as much food. These effects will not be the same everywhere. The chan
ges from one area to another are not well known.
People in government and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) have t
alked about global warming. They do not agree on what to do about it. Some thing
s that could reduce warming are to burn less fossil fuels, adapt to any temperat
ure changes, or try to change the Earth to reduce warming. The Kyoto Protocol tr
ies to reduce pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. Most governments have
agreed to it. Some people in government think nothing should change.Climate chan
ge has happened many times over the history of the Earth, including the coming a
nd going of ice ages. For more recent centuries, we have more details.
Since the 1800s, people have recorded the daily temperature. By about 1850, ther
e were enough places measuring temperature so that scientists could know the glo
bal average temperature. From 1920 to 1940, the temperature got warmer. From 194
0 to 1970, the temperature got slightly cooler. From 1970 to today, the average
temperature for the world has increased by about 0.6 0.2 C.[3] Starting in 1979,
satellites started measuring the temperature of the Earth.
Before 1850, there were not enough temperature measurements for us to know how w
arm or cold it was. Climatologists use proxy measurements to try to figure out p
ast temperatures before there were thermometers. This means measuring things tha
t change when it gets colder or warmer. One way is to cut into a tree and measur
e how far apart the growth rings are. Trees that live a long time can give us an
idea of how temperature and rain changed while it was alive.
For most of the past 2000 years the temperature didn't change much. There were s
ome times where the temperatures were a little warmer or cooler. One of the most
famous warm times was the Medieval Warm Period and one of the most famous cool
times was the Little Ice Age. Other proxy measurements like the temperature meas
ured in deep holes mostly agree with the tree rings. Tree rings and bore holes c
an only help scientists work out the temperature until about 1000 years ago. Ice
cores are also used to find out the temperature back to about half a million ye
ars ago.
The greenhouse effect[change | change source]
Main page: Greenhouse effect
Fossil fuel related CO2 emissions compared to five IPCC scenarios. The dips are
related to global recessions.
Coal-burning power plants, car exhausts, factory smokestacks, and other man-made
waste gas vents give off about 23 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other gree
nhouse gases into the Earth's atmosphere each year. The amount of CO2 in the air

is about 31% more than it was around 1750. About three-quarters of the CO2 that
people have put in the air during the past 20 years are due to burning fossil f
uel like coal or oil. The rest mostly comes from changes in how land is used, li
ke cutting down trees.[4]
The Sun[change | change source]
Main page: Sun
The sun gets a little bit hotter and colder every 11 years. This is called the 1
1-year sunspot cycle. The change is so small that scientists can barely measure
how it affects the temperature of the Earth. If the sun was causing the Earth to
warm up, it would warm both the surface and high up in the air. But the air in
the upper stratosphere is actually getting colder, so scientists don't think cha
nges in the sun have much effect.
Dust and dirt[change | change source]
Dust and dirt in the air come from natural sources such as volcanos,[5][6] erosi
on and meteoric dust. People also add to it. Some of this dirt falls out within
a few hours. Some is aerosol, so small that it could stay in the air for years.
Some responses[change | change source]
Some people try to stop global warming, usually by burning less fossil fuel. Man
y people have tried to get countries to emit less greenhouse gases. The Kyoto Pr
otocol was signed in 1997. It was meant to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases
in the atmosphere to below their levels in 1990. However, this has not happened
. Carbon dioxide levels today are the highest they have been since the start of
the Industrial Revolution.
Energy conservation is used to burn less fossil fuel. People can also use energy
sources that don't burn fuel, or can prevent the carbon dioxide from getting ou
t.
People can also change how they live because of any changes that global warming
will bring. For example, they can go to places where the weather is better, or b
uild walls around cities to keep flood water out. Like the preventive measures,
these things cost money, and rich people and rich countries will be able to chan
ge more easily than the poor. Geoengineering is also seen by some as one climate
change mitigation response.
Etymology[change | change source]
The term global warming was first used in its modern sense on 8 August 1975 in a
science paper by Wally Broecker in the journal Science called "Are we on the br
ink of a pronounced global warming?". Broecker's choice of words was new and rep
resented a significant recognition that the climate was warming; previously the
phrasing used by scientists was "inadvertent climate modification," because whil
e it was recognized humans could change the climate, no one was sure which direc
tion it was going. The National Academy of Sciences first used global warming in
a 1979 paper called the Charney Report, it said: "if carbon dioxide continues t
o increase, we find no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no r
eason to believe that these changes will be negligible." The report made a disti
nction between referring to surface temperature changes as global warming, while
referring to other changes caused by increased CO2 as climate change.
Global warming became more widely popular after 1988 when NASA climate scientist
James Hansen used the term in a testimony to Congress. He said: "global warming
has reached a level such that we can ascribe with a high degree of confidence a
cause and effect relationship between the greenhouse effect and the observed wa
rming." His testimony was widely reported and afterward global warming was commo
nly used by the press and in public discourse.
Effects of global warming on sea levels[change | change source]

Global warming means that Antarctica and Greenland ice sheets are melting and th
e oceans are expanding. Recent climate change would still cause a 6-meter (20-fe
et) sea-level rise even if greenhouse gas emissions were reduced in 2015 per a s
cientific paper in Science.[7][8]
Low-lying areas such as Bangladesh, Florida and the Netherlands face massive flo
oding.[9]
Cities affected by current sea level rise[change | change source]
Places the would be flooded by a 6 meter sea level rise
Many cities under threat of flooding if the present sea level rises.
These and other cities have either started trying to deal with rising sea level
and related storm surge, or are discussing this, according to reliable sources.
London [10]
New York City [11][12][13][14][15][16]
Norfolk, Virginia, in Hampton Roads area of United States [17][18]
Southampton [19]
Crisfield, Maryland, United States [20]
Charleston, South Carolina [21]
Miami, Florida, has been listed as "the number-one most vulnerable city worldwid
e" in terms of potential damage to property from storm-related flooding and sealevel rise.[22][23]
Saint Petersburg [24]
Sydney, Australia [25]
Jakarta [26]
Thatta and Badin, in Sindh, Pakistan [27]
Mal, Maldives
Beijing, Mumbai, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Moscow, New Delhi, Rio
de Janeiro [28]
OECD 2007 report[change | change source]
From a 2007 OECD report;
Miami, USA
Guangzhou, P.R. of China
New York-Newark, USA
Kolkata, India
Shanghai, P.R. of China
Mumbai, India
Tianjin, P.R. of China
Tokyo, Japan
Hong Kong, P.R. of China
Bangkok, Thailand
Ningbo, P.R. of China
New Orleans, USA
Osaka-Kobe, Japan
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Nagoya, Japan
Qingdao, China
Virginia Beach, USA
Alexandria, Egypt
Another seven cities that are exposed to coastal flooding:
Rangoon, Myanmar
Hai Phng, Vietnam
Khulna, Bangladesh

Lagos, Nigeria
Abidjan, Cote D'Ivoire
Chittagong, Bangladesh
Jakarta, Indonesia
Further reading[change | change source]
Why you should sweat climate change March 1, 2013 USA Today
Report Blames Climate Change for Extremes in Australia March 4, 2013 The New Yor
k Times
It's Global Warming, Stupid November 1, 2012 en:BusinessWeek
Extremely Bad Weather: Studies start linking climate change to current events No
vember 17, 2012; Vol.182 #10 Science News
Global Temperatures Highest in 4,000 Years March 7, 2013 The New York Times
IPCC. 2007 Climate change 2007. the physical science basis. (summary for policy
makers) IPCC.
Jones C. Climate change: facts and impacts [online]. Available from: What effect
s are we seeing now and what is still to come?
Miller C. and Edwards P.N. (eds) 2001. Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge
and Environmental Governance, MIT Press.
Ruddiman W.F. 2003. The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ag
o, Climate Change 61 (3): 261-293.
Ruddiman W.F. 2005. Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: how humans took control of cli
mate. Princeton University Press.
Related pages[change | change source]
Climate change
James Hansen
Stern Review
Storms of My Grandchildren
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
References[change | change source]
Jump up ? Campbell, Neil A. 2009. Biology concepts & connections; page 119. Retr
ieved 2010-07-21.
Jump up ? IPCC (2007). "Summary for policymakers" (PDF). Climate change 2007: Th
e physical science basis: Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessme
nt Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Retrieved 2009-07-03
.
Jump up ? "Climate change 2001: the scientific basis". UNEP/GRID-Arendal (Grida.
no). Retrieved 2010-11-03. en:UNEP/GRID-Arendal
Jump up ? "Climate change 2001: the scientific basis". Grida.no. Retrieved 201011-03.
Jump up ? Sun-dimming Volcanoes Partly Explain Global Warming Hiatus Feb 23, 201
4 Reuters via Scientific American
Jump up ? Volcanoes that act as air-conditioning for a warming world; Many small
eruptions over the past decade or so have helped restrain climate change May 20
14 issue Scientific American
Jump up ? John von Radowitz (July 13, 2015). "Rising oceans impact enormous ". Time
s of Malta. TimesOfMalta.com. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
Jump up ? Dutton, A.; A. E. Carlson, A. J. Long, G. A. Milne, P. U. Clark, R. De
Conto, B. P. Horton, S. Rahmstorf, M. E. Raymo (10 July 2015). "Sea-level rise d
ue to polar ice-sheet mass loss during past warm periods". Science (journal) 349
(6244). DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa4019. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
Jump up ? Scientists to issue stark warning over dramatic new sea level figures
Jump up ? Floods in London. [1] Royal Geographical Society
Jump up ? en:PlaNYC
Jump up ? Sea Level Rise; Projections and Impacts for New York
Jump up ? interactive map from Climate Central
Jump up ? Sea Level Rise Tool for Sandy Recovery en:U.S. Global Change Research
Program
Jump up ? World Bank, World Development Report 2010, 91.
Jump up ? en:Climate change in New York City
Jump up ? Noguchi, Yuki (2014-06-24). "As Sea Levels Rise, Norfolk Is Sinking An

d Planning". NPR. Retrieved 2014-11-25.

Jump up ? National Security and the Accelerating Risks of Climate Change May 201
4 CNA Military Advisory Board
Jump up ? http://www.iapsc.org.uk/document/R_Crighton.pdf Investigation of Air P
ollution Standing Conference
Jump up ? Montgomery, David (2013-10-24). "Crisfield, Md., beats back a rising C
hesapeake Bay". Washington Post. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
Jump up ? Two cities, two very different responses to rising sea levels July 2,
2015 PBS NewsHour
Jump up ? Jeff Goodell (June 20, 2013). "Goodbye, Miami". Rolling Stone. Retriev
ed June 21, 2013. "The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development li
sts Miami as the number-one most vulnerable city worldwide in terms of property
damage, with more than $416 billion in assets at risk to storm-related flooding
and sea-level rise."
Jump up ? Climate Change Economics February 2015 National Geographic
Jump up ? http://www.climateadaptation.eu/russia/coastal-floods/
Jump up ? Most at risk: Study reveals Sydney's climate change 'hotspots' - ABC N
ews (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
Jump up ? http://www.deltacities.com/cities/jakarta/climate-change-adaptation
Jump up ? Khan, Sami (2012-01-25). "Effects of Climate Change on Thatta and Badi
n". Envirocivil.com. Retrieved 2013-10-27.
Jump up ? World Bank, World Development Report 2010, 91.
Other websites[change | change source]
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Learning resources from Wikiversity
The Climate Change Guide easy-to-understand information on Climate Change
Public administrations and organizations[change | change source]
US EPA climate change and global warming website
The UN Climate Change Secretariat
United Nations Environmental Program (UNEP): Climate Change Page
Introduction to climate change: Lecture notes for meteorologists
European Union page about Climate Change.
Other links[change | change source]
Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports regarding Climate change
The Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Climate Change - An Information Statement of the American Meteorological Society
, updated Feb. 2007.
Summary of the Impacts of Climate Change from The Nature Conservancy
Climate change and global warming - World Wide Fund for Nature.
Global Change - globalchange.org
Impacts of a Warming Arctic: Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (2004) by the Arct
ic Climate Impact Assessment
How To Help Prevent Global Warming Articles And Newsletter
UN scientist backs '350' target for CO2 reduction
Climate change dates back to dawn of first farmers March 3, 2013 USA Today
BBC articles[change | change source]
Nov 2006: Carbon emissions show sharp rise
Oct 2006: Guide to Climate Change
Nov 2005: 'Gas muzzlers' challenge Bush
Oct 2005: Earth - melting in the heat?
Oct 2005: Europe study shows climate risks
Feb 2005: Greenhouse gases 'do warm oceans'