CARBON COUNTER Issues ...Global Warming										Noticeboard
TOOL KIT										Noticeboard

Global Warming

What is Global warming?
It is the observed increase in the average temperature of the Earth's atmosphere and oceans in recent decades,
and its projected continuation.

Brown = hotter over last ten years

How hot are we?

Since the 1970s, the world has warmed by about 0.15 °C per decade, and 1998 was the warmest year on record. The evidence is mounting. 7 out of the 10 hottest years ever recorded have fallen in the last decade. The world is now warmer than at any time since the last Ice Age. Temperatures have risen faster in the last hundred years than ever before.
Nobody is arguing about whether the world is getting hotter, there is argument as to why...

2006 was declared the hottest in Britain since 1659 and the sixth warmest in global records. According to the UK's Climatic Research Unit this could be the crunch year for determining our attitude to global warming.

Why is it getting hotter?

Most scientists consider that global warming is caused by a blanket of greenhouse gases building up around the earth trapping heat from the sun. The earth is kept warm and able to support life by the solar energy from the sun. Energy arrives in the form of short wave radiation most of which passes through the atmosphere to warm the earth's surface. The earth must be able to return energy into space, in the form of infra-red radiation, at the same rate at which it absorbs energy in order not to overheat. 'Greenhouse gases' block this return. More on the Greenhouse Effect