![]() Historical patterns of warming and cooling, like the Medieval Climate Anomaly and the Little Ice Age, did not occur at the same time across different regions. Thermometer records began to provide global coverage around 1850. Climate information for that period comes from climate proxies, such as trees and ice cores. There was little net warming between the 18th century and the mid-19th century. Since 1950, the number of cold days and nights has decreased, and the number of warm days and nights has increased. Surface temperatures are rising by about 0.2 ☌ per decade, with 2020 reaching a temperature of 1.2 ☌ above the pre-industrial era. The 2011–2020 decade warmed to an average 1.09 ☌ compared to the pre-industrial baseline (1850–1900). Multiple independent instrumental datasets show that the climate system is warming. Global surface temperature reconstruction over the last 2000 years using proxy data from tree rings, corals, and ice cores in blue. Various scientists, politicians and media now use the terms climate crisis or climate emergency to talk about climate change, and global heating instead of global warming. Climate change can also refer more broadly to both human-caused changes or natural changes throughout Earth's history. Since the 2000s, climate change has increased in usage. Global warming-used as early as 1975 -became the more popular term after NASA climate scientist James Hansen used it in his 1988 testimony in the U.S. Though the two terms are sometimes used interchangeably, scientifically, global warming refers only to increased surface warming, while climate change describes the totality of changes to Earth's climate system. In the 1980s, the terms global warming and climate change became more common. īefore the 1980s, when it was unclear whether the warming effect of increased greenhouse gases were stronger than the cooling effect of airborne particulates in air pollution, scientists used the term inadvertent climate modification to refer to human impacts on the climate. Limiting warming to 1.5 ☌ will require halving emissions by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050. ![]() However, with pledges made under the Agreement, global warming would still reach about 2.7 ☌ (4.9 ☏) by the end of the century. Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, nations collectively agreed to keep warming "well under 2 ☌". Additional warming will increase these impacts and can trigger tipping points, such as the melting of the Greenland ice sheet. Many climate change impacts are already felt at the current 1.2 ☌ (2.2 ☏) level of warming. Poorer countries are responsible for a small share of global emissions, yet they have the least ability to adapt and are most vulnerable to climate change. Communities may adapt to climate change through efforts like coastline protection or expanding access to air conditioning, but some impacts are unavoidable. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls climate change the greatest threat to global health in the 21st century. Human migration and conflict can also be a result. Ĭlimate change threatens people with food and water scarcity, increased flooding, extreme heat, more disease, and economic loss. These include ocean heating, ocean acidification and sea level rise. Even if efforts to minimise future warming are successful, some effects will continue for centuries. Rapid environmental change in mountains, coral reefs, and the Arctic is forcing many species to relocate or become extinct. Higher temperatures are also causing more intense storms, droughts, and other weather extremes. Increased warming in the Arctic has contributed to melting permafrost, glacial retreat and sea ice loss. Larger amounts of these gases trap more heat in Earth's lower atmosphere, causing global warming.ĭue to climate change, deserts are expanding, while heat waves and wildfires are becoming more common. ![]() Greenhouse gases absorb some of the heat that the Earth radiates after it warms from sunlight. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices increase greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. In common usage, climate change describes global warming-the ongoing increase in global average temperature-and its effects on Earth's climate system. Human activity has caused increased temperatures, with natural forces adding some variability. Change in average surface air temperature since the Industrial Revolution, plus drivers for that change.
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