Climate Change Midterm

In summing up the many topics discussed in the first half of Global Climate Change we first need to start with Earth's climate system. Earth is a heat engine, by this I mean that heat comes in the atmosphere of the Earth from the sun, this heat is then moved around creating weather and climate. Both light and heat hit the earth and processes like conduction, convection, and evaporation move heat around. 6% is reflected by the atmosphere, 20% is reflected by the clouds. The remaining heat is distributed around the earth some is absorbed by the land and ocean, around 51%, 7% is used in conduction and rising of air, more is absorbed by clouds and the atmosphere while the rest is radiated back into space. 

This is earth's heat engine at work, heat and light are absorbed into the system, redistributed, and sent back out into space. With heat entering Earth's system the greenhouse effect also occurs. This effect happens because some of the heat that enters the Earth's atmosphere is trapped inside the system by gasses in it. The heat that is trapped subsequently warm's the Earth like a greenhouse. 

The next important process the Earth has is the carbon cycle. The carbon cycle has both a slow and fast process. Life on earth, both plants and animals die, after they die their bodies decompose and become carbon inside the Earth. Plants and the carbon in the earth also play a part in putting carbon back in the environment through respiration and decomposition. Humans also put carbon back by burning fossil fuels for energy. Carbon also cycles through the ocean and atmosphere as CO2 dissolves in the ocean and creates carbonic acid and it then cycles back out into the atmosphere. This part of the process is slow as it takes a long time for the carbon to go into the earth and be taken back out. The fast process also works through life on earth but works much faster. It works through respiration, both plants, and animals breath in oxygen and eats either meat or plants. So as humans and animals breathe, we take in oxygen and respirate which is then taken in by plants and made back into O2. This process works very quickly as it doesn't take any time at all to breathe. 

Humans are the one factor of these processes that move carbon in an unnatural way and pollute the environment in the process. By taking carbon from the earth and putting it where it doesn't belong, humans create an imbalance of chemicals in the atmosphere and make processes like the greenhouse effect even more powerful. 

We know all this because we can see differences in the earth's natural variability. Naturally, the earth's temperature and climate vary due to the seasons. However, because of human interferences, these factors are increased by several times. Winters are colder and summers are hotter, while the natural fluctuations of these temperatures are ok the unnatural fluctuations can cause issues as it is becoming too hot and too cold. What's more,
is the rate of change that is occurring, humans are causing the climate to change in a large and quick way.