Global Warming is real - Research Paper Example

The resulting rise in sea level is causing tsunamis to occur and has also endangered the survival of many animal species on earth. The question that has, in recent years, attracted the attention of scientists all over the world is, if the global warming is on a rise, and if so, to what extent are humans responsible for that? As fossil fuels burn, the carbon they contain gets converted into a greenhouse gas, known as carbon dioxide (CO2). Such greenhouse gases as methane (CH4) and CO2 entrap the sun’s energy into the atmosphere.

There has recently been a tremendous emphasis on reduction of the fossil fuels use as they are thought to be the most fundamental cause of increase in global warming. In this paper, the question noted above has been answered with support of scientific studies to show that global warming is a real issue. According to the meteorites’ radioactive dating, it has been 4.6 billion years since the solar system of which earth forms a part has been found. Examination of the minerals preserved in earth and the scientific study of rocks has shown that earth has contained liquid water for 4.

3 billion years (Watson and Harrison). Since then, climate of earth has largely remained stable, with occasional freezing in certain areas that have always remained as such. It is the massive increase in the energy drawn from sun that has caused a tremendous increase in the earth’s temperature. According to an estimate, there has been a 30 per cent increase in the energy output on earth from sun since the start of the solar system (Gough). Part of the energy drawn from the sun is reflected and some is retained.

Some portion of the energy that gets absorbed in earth radiates back and escapes into the space. It is the energy absorbed minus energy radiated that decides the temperature of earth. Composition of the earth’s atmosphere also plays a decisive role in the increase of temperature. 99 per cent of the gases that atmosphere contains like oxygen and nitrogen are transparent towards the energy drawn from sun. Other gases like CO2 and water vapors tend to reduce the process of radiation of the energy from earth to the space.

Therefore, increase in the level of these gases obviously increases the temperature of earth and contributes to the global warming. Of the two gases, it is the CO2 that concerns scientists the most because the water vapors in atmosphere remain constant in amount as compared to the CO2. Now, if the CO2 level in the atmosphere is increasing, global warming is then indeed, a real issue! The biggest source of CO2 is the fossil fuels. In addition to that, decomposition of materials and burning of wood also causes a considerable increase in the content of CO2 in the atmosphere.

The rapid industrialization that has occurred in the recent centuries has caused a manifold increase in the CO2 level in the atmosphere. The reason why the resulting increase in the earth’s temperature is an issue is that this directly affects the ecosystem prevailing on earth. If the CO2 level continues to increase at the present rate, earth will soon become inhabitable for almost all species including humans, and life on earth will extinguish. The following text examines what recent studies have said about the CO2 levels in the atmosphere. (Deem) has shown the rate of annual increase in the C