1.

Regulators of the planet clime

The most important reason that determinates the clime of nowadays is the amount of heat that leaves and receives the earth. The heat gets out of the earth when the surface of the planet reaches heat after of being heated by the solar energy. The greenhouse gases of our atmosphere allow the lower atmosphere to absorb the heat that is reached by the earths surface, the biosphere keeps this heat. Without the greenhouse gases, the earth would be an iced world. In spite of this, there are more elements that determine the clime of the earth. They are latitude, altitude, place location, water masses, ocean currents and big forests.

1.1.

Altitude

The altitude respect the sea level affects in the highest or lowest heating of wind masses. The wind that is nearer of the earth surface is hottest, decreasing its temperature as we get higher. Each 100 meters, the temperature increases 6,4 C.

1.2.

The location

The situation of a place, on the coasts or inside the continents, will be a factor to remember at the moment of establishing the climate of this zone, knowing that the water get warm and get cool slower than the land, seas and oceans smooth the extreme temperatures both in winter and in summer, the sea is a thermal regulator. The relief is the different form that the terrestrial surface presents. The shape of the land has been formed principally by the displacement of the plates of the surface that form alterations of the earth surface. Another factor that helps the formation of different reliefs are the winds that produce erosion in them, which is tended to get in the same level. It spoils the highest parts of the mountain chains and tends to fill with the alluviums. Moreover, in the highest sectors there are major differences of temperatures
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that in the lowest sectors. Despite of this, lower sectors in general present major relative dampness. In conclusion, the distance respect the sea is an important factor. Places situated near the sea have a lower thermal oscillation and a higher relative dampness than places situated far away from the sea.

How ocean currents work

The marine currents are formed by the wind thrust on the sea. When the earth turns on itself, the marine currents twist and flow in the oceans in enormous circles called drafts. The hot currents move away from the equator, and the cold ones flow to it. The winds that blow on these currents provide the near coasts of hot or cold temperatures, thats why they affect the climate. The Gulf Stream, in the Atlantic Ocean, keeps the northwestern part of Europe hot in winter.

1.3.

Latitude

The latitude of a given location is the distance (expressed in degrees, minutes or seconds) between any point on earth and the equator. Latitude can be north or south, its determinated by the location of it and the distance of north and south, respectively, of Ecuador. The latitude determines the inclination with which the solar rays are projected onto a place of the earth, and the length of day and night. According to the latitude are determined the large climatic bands, the shape of the Earth determine them. The larger size of their extension in the equator allows a high heat in these zones permanently. They decrease progressively from the Tropics to the Poles that are subject to seasonal variations depending on the position of the Earth in its movement around the sun.

Map of the climatic bands

In other words, if the place is situated in a lower latitude, its nearest of equator and therefore, higher average temperatures are taken. As we move away from equator the temperatures are lower and the precipitations are present as showers.
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Image of the different latitudes in the earth

1.4.

The vegetation

Vegetation is also a climate factor. The abundance of it makes the zone hotter and makes this zone to have more precipitations.

2. Evidences of the climate change

2.1. Global warming

Almost the 70% of the solar energy that reaches the earth is returned to the space, but a part of the infrared energy is retained by the greenhouse gases and returns to the earth. As a result of the greenhouse effect the earth has kept the heat necessary to make possible the existence of life in our planet. If this effect didnt exist, the climatic fluctuations would be intolerable. However, a little variation of the balance of the global temperature can cause big problems. In this last century the earth has had an increase of 0,4 and 0,8 C in its temperatures. The global warming consists in the increase of the temperatures of the earth because of the fossil combustibles and other industrial process that cause an accumulation of gases that cause the greenhouse effect in the atmosphere. It s a problem that is affecting more to the humanity every day, intervening gradually in our life conditions. It threats us and there is no solution in a short time. The presences of changes in the clime and the climatic conditions that are known nowadays and that have presented big variations causing environment disasters that affect to the life in our planet. Some of these disasters are: tsunamis, hurricanes, summer excessively hot, floods registered in a lot of countries. Some punctual evidences of the global warming are: The temperature of the Antarctica has increased five times more than the global average in the last 50 years. According to the NASA, the cap of polar ice is melting about a 9 % per decade. The thickness of the Arctic ice has diminished 40 % from the decade of 1960. In the big hydrographic African elements of the Niger, the lake Chad and the Senegal, the total of the available water has decreased between the 40% and the 60%, and the desertification has get worse especially in the southern, north and western Africa.
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The temperatures of the Arctic air increased approximately 5C during the 20th century, 10 times more than the temperature of the world surface. In the Arctic Russian zone, the buildings are ruined because of the fact that the permafrost1 situated under their foundations has melted.

Almost all the glaciers of mountain of the not polar regions moved back during the 20th century. The total volume of the glaciers of Switzerland diminished approximately two thirds.

In Europe the butterflies, dragonflies, moths, beetles and other insects live now in higher altitudes, where previously it was doing too much cold to survive.

The scientists have observed changes induced at least in 420 physical processes and communities or biological species

Intense floods in estates of Texas, Montana and North Dakota during the summer of 2002 caused hurts for hundreds of million dollars.

Moreover, information of the year 2007 conclude that the six hottest years, information from the middle of the 19th century, are 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006. To be considered a climate it would has to hold this situation in a long term, in the year 2013 it has to continue. The IPCC2 affirms that more of the 50% of the variation temperatures are caused by the human being.

Permafrost: Cap of permanent ice in the superficial levels of the soil in very cold regions as the tundra. It can appear in areas as Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Tibet, Norway and in several islands of the south Atlantic Ocean as the Islands Georgias of the South and the Islands Sandwich of the South 2 IPCC: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Graphic of the CO2 concentration and the temperature change in the earth

The global emissions of greenhouse gases caused by human activities have increased, since the preindustrial age, in a 70% between 1970 and 2004.

Variations in earth with the human intervention and without it

The perforation of the Antarctic ice has recovered pieces of glacial ice which have hundreds of thousands of years. This ice contains air bubbles that preserve gases of the atmosphere of the time when the ice was formed. The measures of the levels of CO2 in the bubbles indicate that during most of last 160.000 years the atmospheric concentration has changed of approximately 200 ppm3 to approximately 300 ppm. The levels more elevated of CO2 are registered in the last interglacial important period, approximately 125.000 years ago (less than 300 ppm) and in the current air (387 ppm).
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Ppm: parts per milion

These levels of CO2 that indicate 387 ppm are the most elevated since 800.00 years ago, when the human specie hadnt evolved yet. Homo sapiens is present in the earth since 200.000 years ago.

Changes in the atmosphere

3. Climate changes in the past

The climate has not stopped changing along the history of the Earth. In occasions they have appeared as small thermal oscillations. However, our planet has had different periods, sometimes more than 300 millions of years of duration, from which temperatures had caused a cover of ice in very extensive continental zones. They are the periods known as glaciations. The last one of them finished only 10000 years ago. There have been periods with an average of 22 too. In thousand years ago, Europe enjoyed high temperatures. In that period, named "Medieval Hot Period", the agriculture was growing in places as Greenland, a toponym that in English ("Greenland", green land) evokes the past climate. However, the evidences indicate of clear form that the cap of ice of Greenland persists for million years and that during the "Mximo Medieval" some small zone of the coast could have been liberated. Ater of this period there was another one with lower temperatures, especially in the north European zones. Although it cannot be considered an age of ice as known one, it is known as the "small age of ice". Some experts indicate that this period continued from the 16th century until middle of the 19th century. The chronicles explain how the people were skating during the winter on the frozen waters of the river Thames of London and the channels and rivers of Holland. The frequencies of these climate changes can qualify in: From the formation of the Earth to the current importance (global cooling). Hundreds of millions years (tectonic activity). Thousands of years (changes in the orbit of the Earth: the Glaciations of the Quaternary). From hundreds to thousands of years (variations in the solar activity from the last glaciation to the industrial revolution). Decades to a few centuries (the current one due to the human activity).

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Specifically, we can find external and internal causes in all these climate changes: External causes: They are foreign reasons to the climatic system of the Earth. They are because of the solar radiation that comes to the terrestrial surface and, in consequence, concerns the global climate of the planet. The most important are: Changes in the solar activity: De solar activity modifications, for example the changes in the solar spots. They concern the own source of energy and its consequences reach to the Earth and to other bodies of the solar system. Changes in the terrestrial orbit: Milankovitch discovered that the terrestrial orbit was experiencing changes that could concern the climate as the eccentricity, obliquity and pressure.

Representations of the different changes in the terrestrial orbits.

Impacts of meteorites: As big are the meteorites as big is their effect on earth, when they strike to the earth they cause a dust cloud that doesnt allow the solar radiation to pass the atmosphere.

Internal causes:

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The internal reasons refer to the measure of the solar radiation that is absorbed by the earth. Changes in the albedo4: It is the fraction of the solar radiation reflected by a surface or an object, the average value of the albedo of our planet is 30 %.

Representation of variations of albedo.

Changes in the atmospheric composition: The increase of CO2 for diverse reasons for example, the intervention of organisms, volcanic activity, etc.

Albedo: the percentage of reflected radiation on any surface and the radiation incident thereon. Clear surfaces have higher albedo values than the dark ones.

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Composition of the atmosphere nowadays

Presence of aerosols: The aerosols are small particles suspended in the air that can have a natural origin or are caused because of the human action (increased in the last years).

Changes in the marine currents: If there werent marine currents between the "warm" waters of the equator and the "cold" waters of the poles, the temperature in both places would change.

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4. Causes of the climate change

A natural cape of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere keeps sufficiently warmed the planet to make possible the life in the Earth, it keeps us in a comfortable temperature of 15C nowadays. The emission of greenhouse gases caused by the human beings has made this cape denser, which has caught the heat and caused the global heating. The fossil fuels are the major reason of this emission of greenhouse gases. The medium temperature of the Earth seems to have been kept incredibly stable during the last 10.000 years, with a variation of less of 1C, which allowed the human civilization to prosper. But the prosperity of our civilization has caused all these changes in our clime. The "mantle" of greenhouse gases that is in a natural way in the troposfera, and it represents less 1 % of the atmosphere, recovers the vital function to regulate the climate of the planet. When the solar power, in the form of visible light hits with the Earth, it warms the surface. As Earth is colder than the Sun, it sends this energy to the space as infrared or thermal radiation. The greenhouse gases block the direct exit of this infrared radiation to the space. The "natural effect of greenhouse" is essential for the life as we know her. The problem that we have now is that, since the industrial revolution began 250 years ago approximately, our emission of greenhouse gases has made this mantle denser to a pace without precedents. It has caused the most spectacular change in the composition of the atmosphere for at least 650.000 years. Until we do big efforts to reduce our emission of gases. The reason why this "artificial" emission is a problem with so much importance is that, eventually, de Earth has to liberate energy with the same rate that receives it from the Sun. Because of a denser mantle of greenhouse gases helps to reduce the loss of energy to the space, the climatic regime must adjust somehow to restore the balance between the coming energy and its projection. The result is known as "intensified greenhouse effect". In conclusion, the most important factor of the climatic change is the human being. We have a culture based in the consumerism, which consists in waste
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as much natural resources as we can. We only think buying more and more products that we dont need, without thinking that we are warming our planet. We have a model of life based on contaminate the environment, we use our cars everyday and we waste electric energy with more frequency. We simply dont stop and think in all that surrounds us and how we are intervening with it. We should have more present the future of our descendants and change our mode of life, maybe it is so difficult and its easier continue our lives like now.

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5. Consequences and solutions

We are changing our planet everyday, we have to choose if we want to continue like now or we want to stop this behavior. If we dont stop the climate change we will suffer the consequences of it and we will regret of all our attitudes. The principal consequences in the clime of the global warming are: Emigrations The consequences of the climate change can be fatal for the population. According to well-known experts in the topic, the desertification and the floods provoked by the hurts to the environment will provoke that millions of people will have to leave their houses in the next years. In the year 2050, it is calculated that 200 million persons will be in this alarming situation. Janos Bogardi5 affirms that between 25 and 27 million migrations that take place nowadays might be a reason of these adverse effects provoked by the floods and the desertification.

The cyclical increase of temperatures The reason of the increase of the temperature is directly linked with the greenhouse effect. According to the scientific studies it is expected, that the cyclical increases of the temperatures, will go in increase, with all the consequences that imply the high temperatures. For example, the problems of health in children and elders, who are in the habit of being the most vulnerable in the warm days. The most unfavorable forecasts aim that between the year 2070 and 2100 the temperatures will rise up to 7 degrees in summer and 4 in winter.

The increase of the sea level The process is much simpler than it seems. When the surface warms up, the ice glaciers fuse, which generates an increase in the water quantity that comes to the oceans generating an increase in the seas. It supposes an important risk
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Janos Bogardi, director of the Enviroment Institute and Human Security of the ONU

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for all those areas that place below level of the sea. The scientists wait that in 90 years, the height of the levels of the sea increases approximately 20 meters. In Spain it will be one of the principal problems derived from the climate change in the coastal zones. It will cause losses of an important number of beaches, especially in Cantabrian and part of the low coastal zones will be flooded deltas of the Ebro, Llobregat, Sleeve of the Mar Menor, and Doana's coast.

Big storms The process in which the seas are becoming tropical, does the storms be more intense, as they used to be in the Carib. Nowadays, the big storms are given in any point of the planet. This happens because the water of the oceans is hotter. We only have to observe the quantity of cyclones, storms and hurricanes that day after day are present in the planet. It is estimated that in the last thirty years, the force of these natural phenomena has doubled.

Drought The problem of the drought, also can find its reason in the climate change. The decrease of the sweet water generates a terrible panorama for those that cultivate the lands and not only it. The food lack is the terrible one, but this possible reality its estimated that we will feel it in the next 100 years. Moreover, water will become more acid because of the CO2 contamination. Spain is the most arid country of Europe. According to the ONU, a third of its surface suffers a percentage very high of desertification and a 6% has already degenerated by a irreversible form.

Changes in the ecosystems The increase of the temperatures of the oceans as well as the deforestation is contributing in an important way to the disastrous and irreversible changes that are taking place in the habitat, and simultaneously, threatens to put in danger to a lot of species, which in a space of a few decades might become extinct. It seems that between 15 and 37 % of the species of the planet are going to become extinct, this fact will favor the increase of the expansion of invading
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species and pests. The natural ecosystems in risk by his special vulnerability will be the glaciers, the coral reefs and atolls, the swamps, the tropical and boreal forests, the polar and Alpine ecosystems and, the humid zones and meadows. The polar bear is an example of these changes in the ecosystems, the number of exemplars of this specie has gone down quickly in the last years. A crucial characteristic for the human success is the biodiversity, but the increasing loss of flora and fauna as consequence of the extinction in mass that threatens to our planet, puts in a serious danger to medium term the continuity of the human race in the Earth.

Diseases According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the PNUMA and the Meteorological World Organization (OMM), every year 150.000 persons die due to the climate change, overcoat due to the spread of epidemics. The IPCC is alerting of an increase and extension of the infectious diseases. In Spain it is necessary to wait for an increase in the mortality caused by the waves of hot in summer, which will be higher in intensity and duration in the next years.

Loss of resources The global warming will provoke a big reduction of the food production in our planet. Droughts and floods will destroy crops, animals and entire ecosystems. In the other hand, we are wasting the resources of our planet and the majority of them are limited.

Economic losses The climatic change will increase the socioeconomic costs of the hurts caused by floods, droughts, forest fires... Something already observed after the Katrina hurricane in New Orleans (USA). The report of the IPCC affirms that the least developed countries are the most vulnerable to the impact of the climate change. It is calculated that the economic losses associated with natural

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disasters have gone on from 131.000 million dollars in the decade 1970-1980 to 629.000 million dollars in the year 1990.

Although some environment problems dont have solutions, we can stop all these subjects that affect to it. We have to think in our future and in our planet, we are responsible of it and we cant do whatever we want with it. Some solutions to avoid the climate change are: Eliminate fossil fuels The first step is to stop using coal, oil and even natural gas. There is no doubt that oil is the lubricant of the global economy, especially for transportation, plastics production and power generation, but we can implant some alternative measures, such as plastics derived from plant products, biodiesel and wind power.

Improving infrastructures Of course, new building construction involves the use of large quantities of cement, a major source of greenhouse gas emissions, but buildings with a more efficient energy use (with better thermal insulation in cold countries or better ventilated in the tropics) can help to cut emissions.

Moving closer to the workplace Transportation is a major source of greenhouse gases. Measures as living closer to the workplace, work at home, go to places by walking, biking or using the public transport, would be very useful for reduction of all that gases.

Consume less Buying less means less pressure on natural resources and less use of fossil fuels used in some way in their production process. Another alternative is to practice the three RE: recycle, reuse, and reduce

Be efficient

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Do more with less, either accelerating less your vehicle (unless it is strictly necessary to do so) or turning off lights when you do not really need them. We can also use appliances that use less energy. Something as simple as opening the windows can save energy used by fans or air conditioners.

Eat better Cows are a major source of methane (a greenhouse gas more powerful than CO2), they consume more food than they produce, and they take billions of hectares that could be better used growing healthier food.

Do not cut more trees Every year millions of hectares are lost in forests. And it is estimated that the timber industry contributes annually to the atmosphere with 1,500 million tones of CO2 (something as 20% of all greenhouse gases emissions produced by humans).

Disconnect Believe it or not, much of the bill we pay for energy is related with the energy that our appliances consume when they are turned off (but not disconnected). Another measure is to use valuable energy saving bulbs.

Having only one child It is estimated that we are already 6,600 million people that live in this troubled world, and this situation is expected to rise to 9 billion people by mid-century. The Environment Programme of the United Nations calculate that every person needs 20 hectares to satisfy his needs. Obviously, the fewer people there are, the less pressure will be exerted on natural resources (and fewer greenhouse gases issue).

Replace fossil fuels Hybrid vehicles (that use biodiesel and electricity instead of gasoline) appear to be the best alternative in the short term to meet this purpose.

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There are other alternatives that technology allows us to have present, geoengineering is the branch of the science that study these solutions. However, they are radical solutions and maybe can make worse the situation. Among them we could try releasing sulphates (as do volcanic eruptions) to block sunlight, cover portions of our planet with reflective films sunlight (or failing to orbit million mirrors fulfilling the same function) and fertilize the oceans with iron and other nutrients to encourage plankton to absorb more carbon dioxide.

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