Earth
has warmed by about 1ºF
over the past 100 years. But why? And how? Well, scientists are
not exactly sure. The Earth could be getting warmer on its own,
but many of the world's leading climate
scientists think that things people do are helping to make the Earth
warmer.
Scientists
are sure about the greenhouse
effect. They know that greenhouse
gases make the Earth warmer by trapping energy in the atmosphere.
Climate
is the long-term average of a region's weather
events lumped together. For example, it's possible that a winter
day in Buffalo, New York, could be sunny and mild, but the average
weather the climate tells us that Buffalo's winters
will mainly be cold and include snow and rain. Climate change represents
a change in these long-term weather patterns. They can become warmer
or colder. Annual amounts of rainfall or snowfall can increase or
decrease.
Global
warming refers to an average increase in the Earth's temperature,
which in turn causes changes in climate. A warmer Earth may lead
to changes in rainfall patterns, a rise in sea level, and a wide
range of impacts on plants, wildlife, and humans. When scientists
talk about the issue of climate change, their concern is about global
warming caused by human activities.
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