Climate change theories: cause and effect

Change in climate
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Change in climate
Abstract
The change in climate is an important issue not only to one nation but to all nations across the world. As a result of this, nations have taken their time in understanding what causes global warming and if the findings can assist in resolving the change in climate. In this regards, the paper introduces the change in climate and noting the key areas that it intend to discuss in length. The paper goes further to examine how the theories such as Anthropogenic Global warming, human forces, ocean currents, and variability of solar cause the change in climate. At the same, it discusses the effects that the theories outlined above have on the global warming. In addition to this, the paper provides a lengthy discussion on how the change in climatic benefits the nations. The major reason behind pointing out the advantages of the change in climate is to reduce the worrying on the increase of the global warming. On a similar note, it presents the disadvantages of the change in climate. The paper concludes by providing a summary of the discussion.
Introduction
The constant increase of the global warming has been a matter of great concern across the globe. Nations around the world firmly believe that if no measure is put in place, then the field such as agriculture, environment, health, and country’s economy would continue to be negatively affected by the change in climate. Apart from the mentioned concerns, meteorologists have noted a worrying trend.

They have pointed out that as the global warming increases, counties that have reached or close to temperature levels would mostly be affected; they may register failure of crops and death cases. On the other hand, researchers have argued that there is no need for alarm since the change in climate is of great benefit to the global world as it exterminates the prolonged drought, provides raw materials needed for photosynthesis among other benefits. In an effort to determine the primary causes of the change in climates, a number of theories have been put forth to try and give an understanding of what causes the change in climate. The paper endeavors to provide an in-depth explanation of the theories that explains causes of the change in climate. It further discusses the merits and demerits of the change in climate.
Anthropogenic Global Warming
As mentioned in the earlier, Anthropogenic Global Warming (AGW) is among theories that seek to explain the causes for change in climate. The theory above, believe that human emissions of green house gasses, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrous oxide, and methane are major factors causing a tragic rise in global temperatures (Bast, J. (2010). Notably, the process in which the method gasses are causing a rise in temperature is termed as the green house effect.
The process starts when the energy remitted by the sun passes through space and reaches the ground of the earth. Notably, the atmosphere of the ground is invariably transparent to any arriving sun rays thereby permits it to reach the exterior of the planet where part of the sun rays is absorbed, and some are reflected back into the atmosphere. The green house gasses, CO2, methane nitrous oxide, found in the atmosphere will then absorb sunlight that was reflected in the atmosphere (Sinclaire, & Weiss, 2010). As a resulting of absorption of then sunlight by greenhouse gasses, the atmosphere of the earth eventually becomes warmer; this raises the temperature of the ground than it was there before.
Notably, any small rise in temperature of the ground would result in more evaporation which creates additional water vapor in the atmosphere. Consequently, the huge amount of water vapor would cause more global warming which has an adverse impact on reducing ice and snow cover making the surface of the earth to be more exposed and less reflective. This eventual makes the earth surface to absorb the high content of solar radiation causing more warming (Sinclaire, & Weiss, 2010). Worst to note is that global warming or the increased temperature of the earth may trigger the release of CO2 from ocean and methane from the freezing peat bogs. Proponents of AGW strong believed that the mentioned increased in temperature of the ground is the primary cause for the change in climate.
Human Forces
Human forces apart from green house gasses are another theory explaining the change in climate. To start with, deforestation invariably leads to the cutting down of trees with little effort to replace them. The effect of deforestation has had a negative impact on the increase of the atmospheric temperature. For plants growth and during photosynthesis, it needs to absorb the excess CO2 in the atmosphere. Cutting them down, would, therefore, lead to less CO2 being absorbed by the plants (Moore, Roulet, & Waddington, 1998). Consequently, there will be a high concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere which stimulates the global warming.
Additionally, the man-made aerosols and ozone have been noted as factors leading to the change in climate, the direct radiation on the aerosols would scatter the solar radiation while indirect radiation interferes with the cloud patterns. Owing to the scattering of solar radiation and change in cloud patterns, there would global warming leading to change in climate plants (Moore, Roulet, & Waddington, 1998). A point note is that anthropogenic aerosols and ozone has a shorter lifespan as compared to the greenhouse gasses, this makes them have a concentration in their source regions. A higher concentration means more exposure of aerosols and ozone to earthly radiation, thereby increasing the temperature of the earth surface.
Prevalently, urban areas tend to be warmer than the suburbs. On the other hand, suburbs are warmer as compared to rural areas. The major cause of these differences is the fact that urban areas is presented with heavy machines, buildings, and industries that produce a high concentration of energy plants (Moore, Roulet, & Waddington, 1998). In essence, the mentioned elements absorb solar energy to assist in their functionality but remit thermal energy as an end product. The production of the thermal energy would raise the temperature of the ground, making the city to be warmer than suburbs, leading to the global warming, therefore, causes the change in climate.
Ocean Currents
Another theory that explains the cause of change in climate is the slow-down, or the weakness of the ocean’s Thermohaline Circulation abbreviated as (THC). Reportedly, there has been a variation in the global temperature for the last century and a half; this is attributed to the weakening of THC (Bast, J. (2010.
Notably, there is always a constant transfer of ocean water from the surface of the mixed layer to the internal layer through ventilation process. Historically, the ventilation of the ocean usually takes place in a range of 1000 to 2000 years; this takes place through a polar region. During the process, the deep ocean subsidence to cold- saline water, this is followed by compensation of outpouring of the less warm saline water located in the in the tropics (Bast, J. (2010). Importantly, the deep ocean circulation termed as Meridional Overturning Circulation abbreviated as MOC has two major parts that attribute to the global warming. The parts include the primary Atlantic Thermohaline Circulation abbreviated as THC and the other part called secondary Antarctica Subsidence (SAS).
The meteorologists have observed that there has been a variation in the strength of THC for the last thousand years. Notably, when there is a high circulation of THC as compared to the normal, the system of the earth will experience a slight increase in the level of evaporation that is about 2%. Conversely, when THC is weak as compared to the normal, the surface evaporation and global rainfall will decrease by about 2%.
Also to note is that extra energy of about 29W/m2 from the ocean is needed to evaporate 1mm of the liquid water to water vapor. During the period of strong THC, the energy depletion conditions act jointly with the enrichment of the outpouring of deep ocean cold water in the humid ocean high level located in the mixed region. This will bring about supplementary upper-level ocean energy depletion, within a period of one or two decades, there will be a reduction of the temperature of the ocean surface (Bast, J. (2010). However, when the THC is weak as compared to the normal, the system of the earth will have less net evaporation and less deep ocean outpouring of cold water. Notably, at this particular time period, the ocean upper mixed surface would be presented with buildup. Within duration of about two decades, the global ocean begins to warm up, leading to the change in climate.
Solar Variability
Another theory that explains the causes of the change in climate is the variation of the solar that has led to the global warming in the twentieth century. Meteorologists continue to argue that variability in solar will continue to have an enormous impact on climate in the twenty-first century in spite of the human-made greenhouse gasses. It is imperative to point out that the alteration in the brightness of the sun can be caused by radiations and sunspots-bursts of the energy particles (Bast, J. (2010). Worth mentioning is that the outlined elements vary in frequency of circles.
The frequency of the circle causes changes amounting to electromagnetic radiation that reaches the earth surface and the atmosphere, thereby affecting the climate of the earth. In a similar note, the variation of the electromagnetic radiation would have an impact on the formation of the cloud (Bast, J. (2010). For instance, the variation in the intensity of the solar winds and cosmetic rays would result in the low cloud formation which in turn increases the systemic-earth temperature leading to global warming. The mentioned variation of the electromagnetic radiation is a natural and self-initiated process making it intricate for scientists to forestall the solar variability.
Advantages of the Global Warming
A number of people have perceived the change in climate to have only the negative impact on the world. However, scientists and researchers have pointed out some of its benefits. First and foremost, global warming can be as a result of the high concentration of the carbon dioxide gas that initiates the warming of the earth system. The high concentration of CO2 is of significant benefits for the plants for production of its food or during photosynthesis (National Research Council (U.S.) & National Research Council (U.S.), 2010). This means, the change in climate, has boosted the field of agriculture but providing the needed raw material for plants, thereby increasing the production of food.
Researchers have also argued that change climate has also reduced drought that has been facing many countries. In the past, many nations of the world used to face drought in a given season of the year. Conversely, with the appearance of the change in climate, countries have had a changeable change of seasons (Metz, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, & Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). For instance, a country having an extended rainfall during the drought season, as such has eliminated the droughts, which is a positive impact of the change in climate. Comparatively, in the past, drought season would have lasted for several months, but currently, the long duration has been reduced because of the change in climate.
There has been an argument that the global would have an adverse effect on the economy of the developing nations. Some have argued that it would cause famine and since developing country has less finance to counter such disastrous events, the famine in these countries would cause poverty leading to low standard of living (Helm, & Hepburn, 2009). But such expectation has never happened, instead, in the recent years, the world has experienced more rainfall accompanied by moderate warming. Owing to this occurrence, it has been argued that change in climate has positively impacted the economy of many nations through increased production of agricultural products.
Another benefit of the change in climate is that the number of death cases has reduced approximately by 98% as from the 1920s. The major reason behind this findings is that the change in climate has slashed down the number deaths associated with floods, storms, and famine. In this regards, it can be argued that change in climate is of great benefit to the world (Helm, & Hepburn, 2009).
Disadvantages of the Change in climate
The change of climate would have profound effects in the field of agriculture. To start with, despite the availability of CO2, plants also need steady supply of rainfall. Since the change in climate results to alterations of seasons, this may hinder with the stable deliver of water, thereby affecting the crops (Metz, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, & Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). Additionally, the countries whose climates are close to temperature or has reached the temperature limit. Owing to this, such countries would experience high temperature leading to deaths of crops.
Another demerit of the change in climate is that it would significantly affect the field of health. The change in climate would result in the increase of heat waves that is likely to affect the vulnerable groups such as the aged (National Research Council (U.S.) & National Research Council (U.S.), 2010). As a result of the heat mentioned above, a number of death cases have been recorded. Similarly, it is believed that the warmer climate attributed to the change in climate would encourage the migration of disease that bears insects such as mosquitoes. As a result of this migration, the said insects have been found in places that it has never been seen before.
Change in climate can negatively impact the environment in a number of ways. To start with, the increased temperature in the earth system would cause the vegetation dries off during drought. Secondly, the change in climate there would alter the migration patterns of animals and birds. Thirdly, there would be a disruption of food chains as a result of variation in seasons (Metz, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, & Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 2007). In regards to the above occurrences, it is clear that change in climate affects the environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it is clear that many theories have been put forth in explaining the causes of the change in climate. Anthropogenic Global warming explains how human emissions of greenhouse gasses cause the global warming. On the other hand, human forces such as deforestation, massive machines, and human aerosols have been noted as among the key factors that cause the change in climate. Conversely, the slow-down of ocean’s Thermohaline has an effect of heating up the global ocean, thereby leading to change in climate. On the other hand, the variability of solar has been noted to cause the low cloud formation, thus leading to change in climate. Apart from these theories, the change in climatic has been of benefit to the world, just to mention a few, it has increased the crop production, reduce famine and death cases. On the other hand, it has led to the migration of insect causing diseases from one nation to another, and it has changed the pattern of migration of birds and animals. Lastly, it has led to the increasing of warmth that has killed the vulnerable group such as the aged.
References
Bast, J. (2010). The seven theories of the climate change. Chicago: The Heartland Institute.
Helm, D., & Hepburn, C. (2009). The economics and politics of climate change. Oxford: Oxford University Press National Research Council (U.S.), & National Research Council (U.S.). (2010). Adapting to the impacts of climate change: America’s Climate Choices. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Metz, B., Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, & Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. (2007). Climate change 2007: Mitigation of climate change: Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Moore, T. R., Roulet, N. T., & Waddington, J. M. (1998). Uncertainty in predicting the effect of climatic change on the carbon cycling of Canadian peatlands. Change in climate, 40(2), 229-245.
National Research Council (U.S.), & National Research Council (U.S.). (2010). Adapting to the impacts of climate change: America’s Climate Choices. Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
Sinclaire, T. R., & Weiss, A. (2010). Anthropogenic global warming. Principles of ecology in plant production, (Ed. 2), 111-124.