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In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate.
What is climate change? Climate change describes a change in the typical weather for a region — such as high and low temperatures and amount of rainfall — over a long period of time. Scientists have observed that, overall, Earth is warming. In fact, many of the warmest years on record have happened in the past 20 years. This
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What is Climate Change? Climate change affects more than just a change in the weather; it refers to seasonal changes over a long period of time. These climate patterns play a fundamental role in shaping natural ecosystems, and the human economies and cultures that depend on them.
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- What Is Climate Change?
- What's Different Now?
- What Could Happen?
- What Can We Do About It?
Weather changes day to day—sometimes it rains, other days it’s hot. Climate is the pattern of the weather conditions over a long period of time for a large area. And climate can be affected by Earth’satmosphere. Our Earth is surrounded by an atmosphere made up of gases. When sunlight enters our atmosphere, some of the sun’s heat is trapped by the g...
But during the past few hundred years, oil, gas, and coal have powered homes, cars, and factories. These energy sources release a gas called carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This gas traps heat that would otherwise escape Earth’s atmosphere. That increases Earth’s temperature, which contributes to the planet’s warming. That’s why many scie...
Climate change affects more than temperature. Warmer water changes the patterns of ocean currents, affecting global weather patterns. Some places will receive more rainfall, which could lead to flooding, while other places will get less, which might mean drought. Tropical storms could be stronger, and a continuing rise in sea level due to melting p...
You can do a lot!It’s simple to make a difference to keep the Earth healthy. Try some of these tips to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide you add to the atmosphere. 1. Instead of traveling in a car, use public transportation, walk, or ride your bike when you can. Biking or walking 10 miles each day instead of riding in a car can save up to 1.9 ton...
Climate change is altering temperature, precipitation, and sea levels, and will adversely impact human and natural systems, including water resources, human settlements and health, ecosystems, and
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climate change knowledge. This chapter starts by describing the fundamental nature of earth science. It then describes the history of climate change science using a wide-ranging subset of examples, and ends with a history of the IPCC. The concept of this chapter is new. There is no counterpart in
Climate is the sum of weather trends over long periods of time (centuries or even thousands of years). Climate is what we do expect. Weather is what we get. Global Climate change. Significant long-term changes in the climate parameters . Global. Climate Change . global. warming. Weather systems do not respect geographical borders.
