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Global warming, the phenomenon of increasing average air temperatures near the surface of Earth over the past one to two centuries. Climate scientists have since the mid-20th century gathered detailed observations of various weather phenomena (such as temperatures, precipitation, and storms) and related influences on climate (such as ocean currents and the atmosphere’s chemical composition). These data show that Earth’s climate has changed over almost every conceivable timescale since the beginning of geologic time and that the influence of human activities since at least the beginning of the Industrial Revolution has been deeply woven into the very fabric of climate change.
Many climate scientists agree that significant societal, economic, and ecological damage would result if global average temperatures rose by over 2 °C (3.6 °F) in such a short time. Such damage would include increased extinction of many plant and animal species, shifts in patterns of agriculture, and rising sea levels. By 2015 all but a few national governments had instituted carbon reduction plans as part of the Paris Agreement, a treaty designed to help countries keep global warming to 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) above preindustrial levels to avoid the worst of the predicted effects. Authors of a special report published by the IPCC in 2018 noted that should carbon emissions continue at their present rate, the increase in average near-surface air temperatures would reach 1.5 °C sometime between 2030 and 2052. Past IPCC assessments reported that the global average sea level rose by some 19–21 cm (7.5–8.3 inches) between 1901 and 2010 and that sea levels rose faster in the second half of the 20th century than in the first half. It also predicted, again depending on a wide range of scenarios, that the global average sea level would rise 26–77 cm (10.2–30.3 inches) relative to the 1986–2005 average by 2100 for global warming of 1.5 °C, an average of 10 cm (3.9 inches) less than what would be expected if warming rose to 2 °C (3.6 °F) above preindustrial levels.
The scenarios referred to above depend mainly on future concentrations of certain trace gases, called greenhouse gases, that have been injected into the lower atmosphere in increasing amounts through the burning of fossil fuels for industry, transportation, and residential uses. Modern global warming results from an increase in the magnitude of the so-called greenhouse effect, a warming of Earth’s surface and lower atmosphere caused by water vapour, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides, and other greenhouse gases. In 2014, the IPCC reported that concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides in the atmosphere surpassed those found in ice cores dating back 800,000 years.
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The greenhouse effect on Earth. Earth’s atmosphere and surface reflect some incoming sunlight, but the surface absorbs most, which is warmed. Infrared (IR) radiation is then emitted from the surface. Some IR radiation escapes to space, but some are absorbed by the atmosphere’s greenhouse gases (especially water vapour, carbon dioxide, and methane) and reradiated in all directions, some to space and some back toward the surface, where it further warms the surface and the lower atmosphere.
Of all these gases, carbon dioxide is the most important, both for its role in the greenhouse effect and for its role in the human economy. an estimate shows that at the beginning of the industrial age in the mid-18th century, carbon dioxide concentrations in the atmosphere were roughly 280 parts per million (ppm). By the middle of 2018 they had risen to 406 ppm, and, if fossil fuels continue to be burned at current rates, they are projected to reach 550 ppm by the mid-21st century—essentially, a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations in 300 years.
A vigorous debate is in progress over the extent and seriousness of rising surface temperatures, the effects of past and future warming on human life, and the need for action to reduce future warming and deal with its consequences. This article summarises the scientific background and public policy debate related to the subject of global warming. It considers the causes of rising near-surface air temperatures, the influencing factors, the process of climate research and forecasting, the possible ecological and social effects of rising temperatures, and the public policy developments since the mid-20th century. For a detailed description of Earth’s climate, its processes, and the responses of living things to its changing nature, see climate. For additional background on how Earth’s climate has changed throughout geologic time, see more on climatic variation and change. For a full description of Earth’s gaseous envelope, within which climate change and global warming occur, read more about the atmosphere.
SOURCE; Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.