MODULE 8 – GLOBAL WARMING

I. LEARNING OUTCOMES:

1.) Explain how greenhouse effect affects climate change.

2.) Cite some ways of mitigating the effects of global warming.

II. CONCEPTS:
A. GREENHOUSE EFFECT

 The greenhouse effect is a natural process that warms the Earth’s surface. When the
Sun’s energy reaches the Earth’s atmosphere, some of it is reflected back to space
and the rest is absorbed and re-radiated by greenhouse gases.
 Greenhouse gases include water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide,
ozone and some artificial chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
 The absorbed energy warms the atmosphere and the surface of the Earth. This
process maintains the Earth’s temperature at around 33 degrees Celsius warmer
than it would otherwise be, allowing life on Earth to exist.

B. ENHANCED GREENHOUSE EFFECT

 The problem we now face is that human activities, particularly burning fossil fuels
(coal, oil and natural gas), agriculture and land clearing, are increasing the
concentrations of greenhouse gases. This is the enhanced greenhouse effect, which
is contributing to warming of the Earth.
1. Solar radiation reaches the Earth's atmosphere, some of this is reflected back into
space.
2. The rest of the sun's energy is absorbed by the land and the oceans, heating the
Earth.
3. Heat radiates from Earth towards space.
4. Some of this heat is trapped by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, keeping the
Earth warm enough to sustain life.
5. Human activities such as burning fossil fuels, agriculture and land clearing are
increasing the amount of greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere.
6. This is trapping extra heat and causing the Earth's temperature to rise.

C. WHAT IS GLOBAL WARMING?

 Global warming is the slow increase in the average temperature of the earth’s
atmosphere because an increased amount of the energy (heat) striking the earth
from the sun is being trapped in the atmosphere and not radiated out into space.

 The Earth’s atmosphere has always acted like a greenhouse to capture the sun’s
heat, ensuring that the earth has enjoyed temperatures that permitted the
emergence of life forms, including humans.

 Without our atmospheric greenhouse, the earth would be very cold. Global
warming, however, is the equivalent of a greenhouse with high efficiency reflective
glass installed the wrong way around.

 The problem now is too much heat is being trapped in our atmosphere. So much
heat is being kept inside the Earth that its temperature is going up faster than at any
previous time in history.

D. HOW DOES GLOBAL WARMING DRIVE CLIMATE CHANGE?

 Heat is energy and when you add energy to any system, changes occur. Because all
systems in the global climate system are connected, adding heat energy causes the
global climate as a whole to change.

 Much of the world is covered with ocean which heats up. When the ocean heats up,
more water evaporates into clouds, where storms like hurricanes and typhoons are
forming, the result is more energy-intensive storms. A warmer atmosphere makes
glaciers and mountain snow peaks, the Polar ice cap and the great ice shield jutting
off of Antarctica melt, raising sea levels.

 Changes in temperature change the great patterns of wind that bring the monsoons
in Asia and rain and snow around the world, making drought and unpredictable
weather more common. This is why scientists have stopped focusing just on global
warming and now focus on the larger topic of climate change.
E. WHAT CAUSES GLOBAL WARMING?

 There are three positions on global warming: (1) that global warming is not occurring
and so neither is climate change; (2) that global warming and climate change are
occurring, but these are natural, cyclic events unrelated to human activity; and (3)
that global warming is occurring as a result primarily of human activity and so
climate change is also the result of human activity.

 The claim that nothing is happening is very hard to defend in the face or masses of
visual, land-based and satellite data that clearly shows rising average sea and land
temperatures and shrinking ice masses.

 The claim that the observed global warming is natural or at least not the result of
human carbon emissions focuses on data that shows that world temperatures and
atmospheric CO2 levels have been equally high or higher in the past. They also point
to the well understood effects of solar activity on the amount of radiation striking
the earth and the fact that in recent times the sun has been particularly active.

 As for the position that global warming and climate change result from human
activity, scientists attribute current atmospheric warming to human activities that
have increased the amount of carbon containing gases in the upper atmosphere and
to increased amounts of tiny particles in the lower atmosphere.

 Scientists date the beginning of the current warming trend to the end of the 18th or
beginning of the 19th century when coal first came into common use.

 This warming trend has accelerated as we have increased our use of fossil fuels to
include gasoline, diesel, kerosene and natural gas, as well as the petrochemicals
(plastics, pharmaceuticals, fertilizers) we now make from oil.

 Scientists attribute the current warming trend to the use of fossil fuels because using
them releases into the atmosphere stores of carbon that were sequestered (buried)
millions of years ago.

 The planet is warming from North Pole to South Pole. Since 1906, the global
average surface temperature has increased by more than 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit
(0.9 degrees Celsius) even more in sensitive polar regions. And the impacts of rising
temperatures aren’t waiting for some far-flung future, the effects of global
 warming are appearing right now. The heat is melting glaciers and sea ice, shifting
precipitation patterns and setting animals on the move.

 Many people think of global warming and climate change as synonyms, but
scientists prefer to use “climate change” when describing the complex shifts now
affecting our planet’s weather and climate systems. Climate change encompasses
not only rising average temperatures but also extreme weather events, shifting
wildlife populations and habitats, rising seas and a range of other impacts. All of
these changes are emerging as humans continue to add heat-trapping greenhouse
gases to the atmosphere.

F. SCIENTISTS ALREADY HAVE DOCUMENTED THESE IMPACTS OF

CLIMATE CHANGE:

 Ice is melting worldwide, especially at the Earth’s poles. This includes mountain
glaciers, ice sheets covering West Antarctica and Greenland and Arctic sea ice.
Much of this melting ice contributes to sea-level rise. Global sea levels are rising
0.13 inches (3.2 millimeters) a year and the rise is occurring at a faster rate in
recent years.

 Rising temperatures are affecting wildlife and their habitats. Vanishing ice has
challenged species such as the Adélie penguin in Antarctica, where some
populations on the western peninsula have collapsed by 90 percent or more.

 As temperatures change, many species are on the move. Some butterflies, foxes,
and alpine plants have migrated farther north or to higher, cooler areas.

 Precipitation (rain and snowfall) has increased across the globe. Yet some regions
are experiencing more severe drought, increasing the risk of wildfires, lost crops,
and drinking water shortages.

 Some species, including mosquitoes, ticks, jellyfish, and crop pests are
thriving. Booming populations of bark beetles that feed on spruce and pine trees,
for example, have devastated millions of forested acres in the U.S.

Other effects could take place later this century, if warming continues.
These include:

 Sea levels are expected to rise between 10 and 32 inches (26 and 82 centimeters)
or higher by the end of the century.
 Hurricanes and other storms are likely to become stronger. Floods and droughts
will become more common.
 Less freshwater will be available, since glaciers store about three-quarters of the
world's freshwater.
 Some diseases will spread, such as mosquito-borne malaria (and the 2016
resurgence of the Zika virus).
 Ecosystems will continue to change. Some species will move farther north or
become more successful; others, such as polar bears, won’t be able to adapt and
could become extinct.

G. OZONE DEPLETION

 Global warming is caused primarily by putting too much carbon dioxide into the
atmosphere when coal, oil, and natural gas are burned to generate electricity or to
run our cars.
 Carbon dioxide spreads around the planet like a blanket and is one of the main gases
responsible for the absorption of infrared radiation (felt as heat), which comprises
the bulk of solar energy.
 Ozone depletion occurs when chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) and halons, gases formerly
found in aerosol spray cans and refrigerants are released into the atmosphere.

H. HOW OZONE WORKS

 The sun emits electromagnetic radiation at different wavelengths, meaning energy

at different intensities. The atmosphere acts like a multi-layer shield that protects
the Earth from dangerous solar radiation.
 Ozone is found in two different parts of our atmosphere. Ground level or “bad”
ozone is a human health irritant and component of smog. It is found in the
troposphere and has nothing to do with the "ozone hole."

 High level or “good” ozone occurs in the stratosphere and accounts for the vast
majority of atmospheric ozone.
 The stratospheric ozone layer absorbs ultraviolet (UV) radiation, preventing
dangerous UV rays from hitting Earth's surface and harming living organisms. UV
rays cannot be seen or felt, but they are very powerful and change the chemical
structure of molecules.

 UV radiation plays a small role in global warming because its quantity is not enough
to cause the excess heat trapped in the atmosphere. UV radiation represents a small
percentage of the energy from the sun, and is not highly absorbed or scattered in
the atmosphere especially when compared with other wavelengths, like infrared.
But, ozone depletion is also concerning because it directly impacts the health of
humans and other living organisms.
I. THE OZONE HOLE

 The term ozone hole refers to the depletion of the protective ozone layer in the
stratosphere over Earth's polar regions. People, plants and animals living under the
ozone hole are harmed by the solar radiation now reaching the Earth's surface
where it causes health problems, from eye damage to skin cancer.

 Stratospheric ozone is constantly produced by the action of the sun's ultraviolet

radiation on oxygen molecules (known as photochemical reactions). Although ozone
is created primarily at tropical latitudes, large-scale air circulation patterns in the
lower stratosphere move ozone toward the poles, where its concentration builds up.
 In addition to this global motion, strong winter polar vortices are also important to
concentrating ozone at the poles. During the continuously dark polar winter, the air
inside the polar vortices becomes extremely cold, a necessary condition for polar
stratospheric cloud formation.

 Polar stratospheric clouds create the conditions for drastic ozone destruction,
providing a surface for chlorine to change into ozone-destroying form. They
generally last until the sun comes up in the spring.
 In the 1980s, scientists discovered that the ozone layer was thinning in the lower
stratosphere, with particularly dramatic ozone loss known as the "ozone hole" in the
Antarctic spring (September and October).

 Scientists also discovered that the thinning in the ozone layer was caused
by increasing concentrations of ozone-depleting chemicals like chlorofluorocarbons
or CFCs (compounds with chlorine and/or fluorine attached to carbon) and to a
lesser extent halons (similar compounds with bromine or iodine). These chemicals
can remain in the atmosphere for decades to over a century.
 At the poles, CFCs attach to ice particles in clouds. When the sun comes out again in
the polar spring, the ice particles melt, releasing the ozone-depleting molecules from
the ice particle surfaces.

J. DOES GLOBAL WARMING HAVE AN IMPACT ON THE STRATOSPHERIC

OZONE LAYER?

 Since the 1960s, there has been a trend of increasing warming of the lower
atmosphere and a cooling of the upper atmosphere. This warming-cooling dynamic
creates conditions that lead to ozone loss.
  Observations show that as greenhouse gases increase and result in heating in the
lower atmosphere (troposphere), a cooling is occurring in the upper
atmosphere (stratosphere). Largely because heat from Earth's surface that normally
would convey through the troposphere and stratosphere, and eventually escape to
space, is now being trapped (or confined to the troposphere).

 The increasing temperatures at the Earth's surface and decreasing temperatures in

higher parts of the atmosphere can be partly explained using the blanket analogy.
 Carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases rise into the atmosphere and spread
around the globe, like a blanket wrapping the Earth. This blanket warms the surface
of the Earth and protects it from the cold air above it.

 The increased concentrations of heat-trapping gases make the blanket

uncomfortably thicker. Wrapped now in a thicker blanket, Earth’s surface warms up,
heats the blanket itself, and traps more heat in the lower atmosphere.
 The increasing temperatures at the Earth's surface and decreasing temperatures in
higher parts of the atmosphere can be partly explained using the blanket analogy.
The blanket also prevents heat from moving from the lower atmosphere to the
stratosphere, cooling down the stratosphere as a result.

 In other words, heat-trapping gases contribute to creating the cooling conditions in

the atmosphere that lead to ozone depletion. Greenhouse gases absorb heat at
relatively low altitudes and warm the surface but they have the opposite effect in
higher altitudes because they prevent heat from rising.

 In a cooler stratosphere, ozone loss creates a cooling effect that results in further
ozone depletion. UV radiation releases heat into the stratosphere when it reacts
with ozone. With less ozone there is less heat released, amplifying the cooling in the
lower stratosphere and enhancing the formation of ozone-depleting polar
stratospheric clouds, especially near the South Pole.

III. REFERENCES:
A. BOOKS

Lee, Sergio J. and Anes, Myrna L.; Environmental Science, C & E Publishing Inc., 2 nd
Edition, 2010
Arsenio, Romulo S.; and Valencia, Lourdes M.; Ecological Crisis: Our Responsibility, C & E
Publishing, Inc.; 2010
Ordonez II, Jose A., Environmental Biology: Philippine Setting, National Bookstore, 2002
 B. INTERNET SOURCES:

https://www.environment.gov.au/climate-change/climate-science-data/climate-
science/greenhouse-effect#:~:text=The%20greenhouse%20effect%20is%20a,re-
radiated%20by%20greenhouse%20gase

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/global-warming-effectsV

https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/ozone-hole-and-global-warming