Global warming essay

The problem of the global warming is one of the most popular and serious problem in the world. Someone thinks that this problem is overstated, but I don’t think so, I totally agree with the statement that the global warming is a real problem of our time. In my essay I will try to explain my point of view. The results of the effect of temperature increasing will be seen not in the future. This fact is evident already now. Ice is thawing all over the world, especially at the poles of the Earth. Mountain glaciers, ice sheets, covering West Antarctica and Greenland, and Arctic sea ice are thawing. The results of temperature increasing appear constantly, and some of them are wonderful. In addition to rising of the oceans level, the raise of global temperatures will also lead to changes in the amount of precipitation. As a result, natural disasters such as floods, droughts, hurricanes, and others can happen more and more often; the harvests of agricultural crops will decrease and many species will disappear. Researcher Bill Fraser observed the decrease of the number of penguins in Antarctica. For last 30 years the number of penguins changed from 32 000 to 11 000 breeding pairs. Last century sea level rise has become faster. Some butterflies, foxes, and alpine plants have moved north, or higher, in a cool area.

On average the amount of rainfall on the Earth has increased. Bark beetles in Alaska grew rapidly thanks to the 20 warm years. Insects destroyed 4 million acres of trees. Other effects may occur later during this century, when the heating will continue. By the end of the century sea levels are expected to increase by 18 – 59 cm. Continuation of the thawing at the poles can add another 10 – 20 centimeters.

Hurricanes and other storms will become stronger. Natural processes, which depend on each other, can not occur synchronously. For example, plants may bloom earlier than pollinate insects become active. Floods and droughts will be predominant. Downpour in Ethiopia, where drought is already wide spread, can reduce by 10 percent over the next 50 years. Fresh water is less available. If the Quelccaya ice cap in Peru will continue to melt at its current speed, it will continue until 2100, and thousands of people remain without safe drinking water and a source of electricity. Some diseases will spread, such as malaria, carried by mosquitoes. There are some facts that prove the global warming.

The growth of temperatures

The temperature is documentary observed about 150 years. It is generally accepted that it began to increase approximately on 0.6 ° C during the last century, although till now there isn’t a clear methodology for determining this parameter, so there is no confidence in the adequacy of these one hundred years old. It is considered that warming dramatically has been starting since 1976, when hectic industrial activity and the maximum acceleration reached during the second part of the 90-ies began. But there is a discrepancy between surface and satellite observations.

Rising of sea levels

As a result of warming and melting glaciers in the Arctic, Antarctica and Greenland, the water level on the planet has risen by 10-20 cm, possibly more.

Melting glaciers

Global warming is considered to be a cause of melting glaciers. Very often global warming is confused with natural short-term processes on the Earth which are not studied. An excellent example is the El Ni̱o Рthis ocean-atmospheric phenomenon, connected with the transfer of huge masses of warm air at the same great distances. So it has led to numerous local natural disturbances in the winter of 2006, rather than global warming.

Facts and Numerals

One of the most visible process related to global warming, is melting glaciers.

During last fifty years temperature in the south-west of the Antarctic, the Antarctic Peninsula has increased by 2.5 ° C. In 2002 iceberg with area over 2500 km² broke from the Larsen glacier, area of which is about 3250 km² and a thickness over 200 meters, located on the Antarctic Peninsula; this fact actually means the destruction of the whole glacier. The process of destruction has taken just 35 days. Before this accident the glacier has remained stable during 10 thousand years from the end of the last glacial period. Over the millennia the glacier power has gradually decreased, but in the second part of the XX century, the rate of melting has increased substantially. Melting ice has led to appearing of a large numbers of new icebergs (over a thousand) in the Weddell Sea. Since the early 1970’s the temperature of permafrost soils in Western Siberia increased by 1.0 ° C, in Central Yakutia – by 1-1.5 ° C. In northern Alaska since the mid 1980’s e temperature of the upper layer of permafrost has increased by 3 ° C.

As we can see the global warming is a real problem and we mustn’t avoid it. We must protect our planet for our and future generations.