Is Abrupt Cooling The Same As An Ice Age
The Hollywood blockbuster The Day After Tomorrow recently hammered home the potential impact of global warming, public awareness of dramatic predictions has been raised again but how do we know what's fact and what's fiction?
Abstractby its spectacular special effects, the movie The Day after tomorrow shook the World and made people sensitive to Global Warming phenomenon. Despite the undeniable quality of the film, we have to figure out what is plausible and what is definitely not. To do so, I will first describe what kind of elements maintain our specific atmosphere, then I will present how scientists explain1 the Global Warming phenomenon, its causes and its forecasts. It will be followed by a comparison between accumulated scientific …show more content…
In a warmer world, additional rain at middle and high latitudes, plus melt from glaciers, will add more fresh water to the oceans. This could affect currents, such as the Gulf Stream, that transport heat north from the tropics and might result in parts of North America and Europe becoming relatively cooler. Even if this were to occur, it would take many years or decades because oceans move heat and cold much more slowly than the atmosphere. (Some ocean changes, however, such as the periodic warming of Pacific Ocean waters known as El Niño, may affect regional weather patterns within …show more content…
Abrupt cooling does not mean the start of another Ice Age. The present orbit of the Earth and high concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere mean that a new Ice Age, with large ice sheets on northern hemisphere continents, is unlikely for thousands of years.
What is the difference between global warming and climate change?
Global warming refers to the gradual increase of the Earth's average surface temperature, due to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Climate change is a broader term that refers to long-term changes in climate, including average temperature and rainfall, as well as changes in the seasonal or geographic variability of temperature and rainfall.
Can global warming cause regional cooling?
As surprising as it sounds, yes, global warming can cause cooling in some parts of the world. Global warming can slow down ocean heat transport, causing cooling in some regions. Global warming is expected to cause an increase in rainfall at high latitudes. More rainfall, just like melting of northern hemisphere ice sheets, will make surface waters fresher and possibly reduce ocean heat transport. The northern Atlantic has already become less
Abstractby its spectacular special effects, the movie The Day after tomorrow shook the World and made people sensitive to Global Warming phenomenon. Despite the undeniable quality of the film, we have to figure out what is plausible and what is definitely not. To do so, I will first describe what kind of elements maintain our specific atmosphere, then I will present how scientists explain1 the Global Warming phenomenon, its causes and its forecasts. It will be followed by a comparison between accumulated scientific …show more content…
In a warmer world, additional rain at middle and high latitudes, plus melt from glaciers, will add more fresh water to the oceans. This could affect currents, such as the Gulf Stream, that transport heat north from the tropics and might result in parts of North America and Europe becoming relatively cooler. Even if this were to occur, it would take many years or decades because oceans move heat and cold much more slowly than the atmosphere. (Some ocean changes, however, such as the periodic warming of Pacific Ocean waters known as El Niño, may affect regional weather patterns within …show more content…
Abrupt cooling does not mean the start of another Ice Age. The present orbit of the Earth and high concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere mean that a new Ice Age, with large ice sheets on northern hemisphere continents, is unlikely for thousands of years.
What is the difference between global warming and climate change?
Global warming refers to the gradual increase of the Earth's average surface temperature, due to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Climate change is a broader term that refers to long-term changes in climate, including average temperature and rainfall, as well as changes in the seasonal or geographic variability of temperature and rainfall.
Can global warming cause regional cooling?
As surprising as it sounds, yes, global warming can cause cooling in some parts of the world. Global warming can slow down ocean heat transport, causing cooling in some regions. Global warming is expected to cause an increase in rainfall at high latitudes. More rainfall, just like melting of northern hemisphere ice sheets, will make surface waters fresher and possibly reduce ocean heat transport. The northern Atlantic has already become less