Introduction

Global warming is the rise in the average temperature of Earth's

atmosphere and oceans since the late 19th century and its projected
continuation. Since the early 2th century
!uture climate change and associated impacts will vary from region to
region around the globe. "he e#ects of an increase in global temperature
include a rise in sea levels and a change in the amount and pattern of
precipitation$ as well a probable e%pansion of subtropical deserts.
&arming is e%pected to be strongest in the 'rctic and would be associated
with the continuing retreat of glaciers$ permafrost and sea ice. (ther li)ely
e#ects of the warming include a more fre*uent occurrence of e%treme
weather events including heat waves$ droughts and heavy rainfall$ ocean
acidi+cation and species e%tinctions due to shifting temperature regimes.
,any scientists believe that Global warming is a natural phenomenon and
it cannot be evaded. -ts e#ects are eminent$ but its causes can be
minimi.ed. "he temperature of our planet has been gradually increasing
since the -ce 'ge when there were no human processes that harmed the
environment. So our intervention has just accelerated the process by
many times. 'll we can do is try to reduce the pace of global warming so
as to buy ourselves enough time to +nd a solution to this problem.
&ith just a few more degrees on the global thermometer$ the sea level
increases and the world/s most developed and populated cities$ will be
submerged. "he biodiversity will be greatly a#ected. ,any endangered
species will go e%tinct. 0eople will migrate. "here/ll be scarcity of
resources. 'nd the increasing population will +nd it di1cult to live on the
now lesser land available. So in order to come up with a perfect solution
we need several years since many of the ideas are not well supported with
the present level of scienti+c and technological resources.
Some of the plans are as follows2
3oo) for another planet which will be habitable and +nd a way to relocate
the entire global population to this new planet.
!ind a way to live under water and do all the other things normally. 4 3i)e
the series 5Spongebob S*uarepants67
8uild an enormous ship that will accommodate everyone and live on it
until conditions on our home planet get better.43i)e the movie 5&all9E67
!ind a way to modify the e#ect of gravity so that we can ma)e everything
:oat in the air. 4li)e the series 5"he ;etsons67
!ind a way to control the overall temperature of the world.
'lmost all of the above seem impossible right now$ but it seemed stupid
to even thin) about stepping on the moon a few decades ago.
-n order to understand the e#ect of global warming let us consider a small
e%ample. -magine you are in an empty room with an air conditioner and
it/s remote. "he range of the '< is 1 to = degree <elsius. -ntially the '<
displays 1 degrees on its screen. 'fter an hour change it to 11 degrees.
'nd as each hour passes by go on increasing 1 degree. 's it reaches =
degrees you will barely reali.e that the temperature has increased. 8ut in
the same situation if you were to change the temperature from 1 to =
degree at an instant$ then the change would have been very noticeable.
Globally it ta)es decades to +nd a noticeable change in the overall
temperature> that too$ with properly calibrated instruments.
"he Earth's average surface temperature rose by .?@A.1B C< over the
period 19DE2F. "he rate of warming over the last half of that period
was almost double that for the period as a whole 4.1=A.= C< per
decade$ versus .?A.2 C< per decade7. "he urban heat island e#ect is
very small$ estimated to account for less than .2 C< of warming per
decade since 19. "emperatures in the lower troposphere have increased
between .1= and .22 C< 4.22 and .@ C!7 per decade since 19?9$
according to satellite temperature measurements. <limate pro%ies show
the temperature to have been relatively stable over the one or two
thousand years before 1BF$ with regionally varying :uctuations such as
the ,edieval &arm 0eriod and the 3ittle -ce 'ge.
"he warming that is evident in the instrumental temperature record is
consistent with a wide range of observations$ as documented by many
independent scienti+c groups. E%amples include sea level rise 4water
e%pands as it warms7$ widespread melting of snow and ice$ increased heat
content of the oceans$ increased humidity$ and the earlier timing of
spring events$ e.g.$ the :owering of plants. "he probability that these
changes could have occurred by chance is virtually .ero.
Gecent estimates by H'S''s Goddard -nstitute for Space Studies 4G-SS7
and the Hational <limatic Iata <enter show that 2F and 21 tied for
the planet's warmest year since reliable$ widespread instrumental
measurements became available in the late 19th century$ e%ceeding 199B
by a few hundredths of a degree. Estimates by the <limatic Gesearch Jnit
4<GJ7 show 2F as the second warmest year$ behind 199B with 2= and
21 tied for third warmest year$ however$ Kthe error estimate for
individual years ... is at least ten times larger than the di#erences
between these three years.K "he &orld ,eteorological (rgani.ation
4&,(7 statement on the status of the global climate in 21 e%plains
that$ K"he 21 nominal value of L.F= C< ran)s just ahead of those of
2F 4L.F2 C<7 and 199B 4L.F1 C<7$ although the di#erences between
the three years are not statistically signi+cant...KM=9N Every year from
19BD to 212 has seen world annual mean temperatures above the 19D19
199 average
H('' graph of Global 'nnual "emperature 'nomalies 19FE212$ showing
the El HiOo9Southern (scillation
"emperatures in 199B were unusually warm because global temperatures
are a#ected by the El HiOo9Southern (scillation 4EHS(7$ and the strongest
El HiOo in the past century occurred during that year.s Global temperature
is subject to short9term :uctuations that overlay long term trends and can
temporarily mas) them. "he relative stability in temperature from 22 to
29 is consistent with such an episode. 21 was also an El HiOo year.
(n the low swing of the oscillation$ 211 as a 3a HiOa year was cooler but
it was still the 11th warmest year since records began in 1BB. (f the 1=
warmest years since 1BB$ 11 were the years from 21 to 211. (ver the
more recent record$ 211 was the warmest 3a HiOa year in the period
from 19F to 211$ and was close to 199? which was not at the lowest
point of the cycle.
"emperature changes vary over the globe. Since 19?9$ land temperatures
have increased about twice as fast as ocean temperatures 4.2F C< per
decade against .1= C< per decade7. (cean temperatures increase more
slowly than land temperatures because of the larger e#ective heat
capacity of the oceans and because the ocean loses more heat by
evaporation. "he northern hemisphere is also naturally warmer than the
southern hemisphere mainly because of meridional heat transport in the
oceans which has a di#erential of about .9 petawatts northwards$ with an
additional contribution from the albedo di#erences between the polar
regions. Since the beginning of industriali.ation the inter9hemispheric
temperature di#erence has increased due to melting of sea ice and snow
in the Horth. 'verage arctic temperatures have been increasing at almost
twice the rate of the rest of the world in the past 1 years$ however
arctic temperatures are also highly variable. 'lthough more greenhouse
gases are emitted in the Horthern than Southern Pemisphere this does
not contribute to the di#erence in warming because the major greenhouse
gases persist long enough to mi% between hemispheres.
"he thermal inertia of the oceans and slow responses of other indirect
e#ects mean that climate can ta)e centuries or longer to adjust to
changes in forcing. <limate commitment studies indicate that even if
greenhouse gases were stabili.ed at 2 levels$ a further warming of
about .F C< 4.9 C!7 would still occur.