Megan ByrneNew NASA Study Reports Rising Global Temperatures
October 20th 2006 00:09
In an article posted September 25, 2006 in the Earth Institute News, Ken Kostel and Clare Oh reported that this planet's temperature has been rising at the rate of approximately 0.36 degrees Fahrenheit per decade for the past thirty years. This according to a study led by James Hansen of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, a part of The Earth Institute. The study was published in the September 26, 2006 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
The recent rapid temperature rise indicates Earth is likely to reach a level higher than any seen during the current interglacial period.
Kostel and Oh quote Hansen as saying, "This evidence implies that we are getting close to dangerous levels of human-made pollution." Human-made greenhouse gasses have become the largest climate change factor, trapping heat in the Earth's atmosphere and warming the surface. Other, naturally occurring gasses include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone.
According to the study, temperature rises are greatest at high latitudes when snow and ice from there melt and create larger land surfaces that absorb more sunlight. Conversely, the trend is less over oceans than over land masses.
The Earth is now about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit below the maximum temperature of the past million years. Kostel and Oh quote, "If further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 meters [80 feet] higher than today."
The recent rapid temperature rise indicates Earth is likely to reach a level higher than any seen during the current interglacial period.
According to the study, temperature rises are greatest at high latitudes when snow and ice from there melt and create larger land surfaces that absorb more sunlight. Conversely, the trend is less over oceans than over land masses.
The Earth is now about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit below the maximum temperature of the past million years. Kostel and Oh quote, "If further global warming reaches 2 or 3 degrees Celsius, we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know The last time it was that warm was in the middle Pliocene, about three million years ago, when sea level was estimated to have been about 25 meters [80 feet] higher than today."
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Comment by Jessicca
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I didn't know Global warming problem occured 3 million years ago.
But it is not new for me for the issue of Global Warming is getting worse. If we don't do something now, it will be worse.
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Comment by Jessicca
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That's why we must know and realise the wounds and try our best not to make the wound deeper, within our abilities.
Unfortunately, how many out there really listens?
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