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1296 | Sahara | precipitation from global warming will make the world much greener | Sahara The Sahara ( الصحراء الكبرى , , ` the Greatest Desert ' ) is the largest hot desert and the third largest desert in the world after Antarctica and the Arctic . Its area of 9200000 km2 is comparable to the area of the United States . The desert comprises much of North Africa , excluding the fertile region on the Mediterranean Sea coast , the Atlas Mountains of the Maghreb , and the Nile Valley in Egypt and Sudan . It stretches from the Red Sea in the east and the Mediterranean in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the west , where the landscape gradually changes from desert to coastal plains . To the south , it is bounded by the Sahel , a belt of semi-arid tropical savanna around the Niger River valley and the Sudan Region of Sub-Saharan Africa . The Sahara can be divided into several regions including : the western Sahara , the central Ahaggar Mountains , the Tibesti Mountains , the Aïr Mountains , the Ténéré desert , and the Libyan Desert . The name ` Sahara ' is derived from ( , pronounced -LSB- / / ˈSaHa : ra : -RSB- ) , the plural of the Arabic word for `` desert '' . |
1138 | 2014–16_El_Niño_event | Stress from unusually warm ocean water heated by man-made climate change and the natural El Niño climate pattern caused the die-off. | 2014–16 El Niño event The 2014 -- 16 El Niño was a warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that resulted in unusually warm waters developing between the coast of South America and the International Date Line . These unusually warm waters influenced the world 's weather in a number of ways , which in turn significantly affected various parts of the world . These included drought conditions in Venezuela , Australia and a number of Pacific islands while significant flooding was also recorded . During the event more tropical cyclones than normal occurred within the Pacific Ocean , while fewer than normal occurred in the Atlantic Ocean . |
554 | Uruguay | The heaviest precipitation events will become more frequent and more extreme. | Uruguay Uruguay ( -LSB- ˈjʊərəɡwaɪ -RSB- -LSB- uɾuˈɣwai̯ -RSB- ) , officially the Oriental Republic of Uruguay ( República Oriental del Uruguay ) , is a sovereign State in the southeastern region of South America . It borders Argentina to its west and Brazil to its north and east , with the Río de la Plata ( River of Silver ) to the south and the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast . Uruguay is home to an estimated 3.42 million people , of whom 1.8 million live in the metropolitan area of its capital and largest city , Montevideo . With an area of approximately 176000 km2 , Uruguay is geographically the second-smallest nation in South America , only larger in size than Suriname . Uruguay was inhabited by the Charrúa people for approximately 4000 years before the Portuguese established Colonia del Sacramento , one of the oldest European settlements in the region , in 1680 . Montevideo was founded as a military stronghold by the Spanish in the early 18th century , signifying the competing claims over the region . Uruguay won its independence between 1811 and 1828 , following a four-way struggle between Spain , Portugal , Argentina and Brazil . It remained subject to foreign influence and intervention throughout the 19th century , with the military playing a recurring role in domestic politics until the late 20th century . Modern Uruguay is a democratic constitutional republic , with a president who serves as both head of state and head of government . Uruguay is ranked first in Latin America in democracy , peace , lack of corruption , e-government , and is first in South America when it comes to press freedom , size of the middle class and prosperity . On a per-capita basis , Uruguay contributes more troops to United Nations peace-keeping missions than any other country . It ranks second in the region on economic freedom , income equality , per-capita income and inflows of FDI . Uruguay is the third-best country on the continent in terms of HDI , GDP growth , innovation and infrastructure . It is regarded as a high-income country ( top group ) by the UN . Uruguay is also the third-best ranked in the world in e-Participation . Uruguay is an important global exporter of combed wool , rice , soybeans , frozen beef , malt and milk . Nearly 95 % of Uruguay 's electricity comes from renewable energy , mostly hydroelectric facilities and wind parks . The Economist named Uruguay `` country of the year '' in 2013 , acknowledging the innovative policy of legalizing the production , sale and consumption of cannabis . Same-sex marriage and abortion are also legal , leading Uruguay to be regarded as one of the most progressive nations in the world , and one of the most socially developed , outstanding regionally , and ranking highly on global measures of personal rights , tolerance , and inclusion issues . |
1867 | Texaco | Connie Mack "is protecting Chevron oil from a multi-billion dollar lawsuit over pollution of rivers and rainforests." | Texaco Texaco , Inc. ( `` The Texas Company '' ) is an American oil subsidiary of Chevron Corporation . Its flagship product is its fuel `` Texaco with Techron '' . It also owns the Havoline motor oil brand . Texaco was an independent company until its refining operations merged into Chevron Corporation in 2001 , at which time most of its station franchises were divested to the Shell Oil Company . It began as the Texas Fuel Company , founded in 1901 in Beaumont , Texas , by Joseph S. Cullinan , Thomas J. Donoghue , Walter Benona Sharp , and Arnold Schlaet upon the discovery of oil at Spindletop . For many years , Texaco was the only company selling gasoline under the same brand name in all 50 US states , as well as Canada , making it the most truly national brand among its competitors . It was also one of the Seven Sisters which dominated the global petroleum industry from the mid-1940s to the 1970s . Its current logo features a white star in a red circle ( a reference to the lone star of Texas ) , leading to the long-running advertising jingles `` You can trust your car to the man who wears the star '' and `` Star of the American Road . '' The company was headquartered in Harrison , New York , near White Plains , prior to the merger with Chevron . Texaco gasoline comes with Techron , an additive developed by Chevron , as of 2005 , replacing the previous CleanSystem3 . The Texaco brand is strong in the U.S. , Latin America and West Africa . It has a presence in Europe as well ; for example , it is a well-known retail brand in the UK , with around 1,100 Texaco-branded service stations . |
1734 | James_Hansen | Jim Hansen had several possible scenarios; his mid-level scenario B was right. | James Hansen James Edward Hansen ( born 29 March 1941 ) is an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University . He is best known for his research in climatology , his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming , and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change . In recent years he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of climate change , on a few occasions leading to his arrest . In 2000 , Hansen advanced an alternative view of global warming over the last 100 years , arguing that during that time frame the negative forcing via aerosols and the positive forcing via largely balanced each other out , and that the 0.74 ± 0.18 ° C net rise in average global temperatures could mostly be explained by greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide , such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons . However , even then he wrote `` the future balance of forcings is likely to shift toward dominance of CO2 over aerosols '' |
3082 | IPCC_Second_Assessment_Report | "However, a single scientist, Dr. Ben Santer of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, rewrote the draft at the IPCC's request, deleting all five statements, replacing them with a single statement to the effect that a human influence on global climate was now discernible, and making some 200 consequential amendments. | IPCC Second Assessment Report The Second Assessment Report ( SAR ) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , published in 1996 , is an assessment of the then available scientific and socio-economic information on climate change . It was superseded by the Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) in 2001 . |
1020 | Conservation_biology | "The global reef crisis does not necessarily mean extinction for coral species. | Conservation biology Conservation biology is the management of nature and of Earth 's biodiversity with the aim of protecting species , their habitats , and ecosystems from excessive rates of extinction and the erosion of biotic interactions . It is an interdisciplinary subject drawing on natural and social sciences , and the practice of natural resource management . The conservation ethic is based on the findings of conservation biology . |
2157 | Carbon_dioxide_in_Earth's_atmosphere | CO2 increase is natural, not human-caused | Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere Carbon dioxide is an important trace gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Currently it constitutes about 0.041 % ( equal to 410 parts per million ; ppm ) by volume of the atmosphere . Despite its relatively small concentration is a potent greenhouse gas and plays a vital role in regulating Earth 's surface temperature through radiative forcing and the greenhouse effect . Reconstructions show that concentrations of in the atmosphere have varied , ranging from as high as 7,000 ppm during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago to as low as 180 ppm during the Quaternary glaciation of the last two million years . Carbon dioxide is an integral part of the carbon cycle , a biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged between the Earth 's oceans , soil , rocks and the biosphere . Plants and other photoautotrophs use solar energy to produce carbohydrate from atmospheric carbon dioxide and water by photosynthesis . Almost all other organisms depend on carbohydrate derived from photosynthesis as their primary source of energy and carbon compounds . The current episode of global warming is attributed to increasing emissions of and other greenhouse gases into Earth 's atmosphere . The global annual mean concentration of in the atmosphere has increased by more than 40 % since the start of the Industrial Revolution , from 280 ppm , the level it had for the last 10,000 years leading up to the mid-18th century , to 399 ppm as of 2015 . The present concentration is the highest in at least the past 800,000 years and likely the highest in the past 20 million years . The increase has been caused by anthropogenic sources , particularly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation . The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013 . It is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year and accelerating . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes , which contributes to ocean acidification . |
932 | Sea_level_rise | The most vulnerable parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet could raise the sea level by 10 to 15 feet, inundating many of the world's coastal cities, though most scientists think that would take well over a century, or perhaps longer. | Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems . |
502 | West_Coast_of_the_United_States | But abnormal temperature spikes in February and earlier this month have left it vulnerable to winds, which have pushed the ice further away from the coast than at any time since satellite records began in the 1970s." | West Coast of the United States The West Coast or Pacific Coast is the coastline along which the contiguous Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean . As a region , this term most often refers to the coastal states of California , Oregon and Washington . More specifically , it refers to an area defined on the east by the Cascade Range , Sierra Nevada and Mojave Desert , and on the west by the Pacific Ocean . The U.S. Census groups the five states of California , Oregon , Washington , Alaska , and Hawaii together as the Pacific States division . |
745 | Carbon_dioxide_in_Earth's_atmosphere | The past shows that climate change is normal, that warmer times and more atmospheric carbon dioxide have driven biodiversity and that cold times kill." | Carbon dioxide in Earth's atmosphere Carbon dioxide is an important trace gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Currently it constitutes about 0.041 % ( equal to 410 parts per million ; ppm ) by volume of the atmosphere . Despite its relatively small concentration is a potent greenhouse gas and plays a vital role in regulating Earth 's surface temperature through radiative forcing and the greenhouse effect . Reconstructions show that concentrations of in the atmosphere have varied , ranging from as high as 7,000 ppm during the Cambrian period about 500 million years ago to as low as 180 ppm during the Quaternary glaciation of the last two million years . Carbon dioxide is an integral part of the carbon cycle , a biogeochemical cycle in which carbon is exchanged between the Earth 's oceans , soil , rocks and the biosphere . Plants and other photoautotrophs use solar energy to produce carbohydrate from atmospheric carbon dioxide and water by photosynthesis . Almost all other organisms depend on carbohydrate derived from photosynthesis as their primary source of energy and carbon compounds . The current episode of global warming is attributed to increasing emissions of and other greenhouse gases into Earth 's atmosphere . The global annual mean concentration of in the atmosphere has increased by more than 40 % since the start of the Industrial Revolution , from 280 ppm , the level it had for the last 10,000 years leading up to the mid-18th century , to 399 ppm as of 2015 . The present concentration is the highest in at least the past 800,000 years and likely the highest in the past 20 million years . The increase has been caused by anthropogenic sources , particularly the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation . The daily average concentration of atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory first exceeded 400 ppm on 10 May 2013 . It is currently rising at a rate of approximately 2 ppm/year and accelerating . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the released by humans into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes , which contributes to ocean acidification . |
814 | Little_Ice_Age | Global Ocean Circulation Appears To Be Collapsing Due To A Warming Planet | Little Ice Age The Little Ice Age ( LIA ) was a period of cooling that occurred after the Medieval Warm Period . Although it was not a true ice age , the term was introduced into scientific literature by François E. Matthes in 1939 . It has been conventionally defined as a period extending from the 16th to the 19th centuries , but some experts prefer an alternative timespan from about 1300 to about 1850 . Climatologists and historians working with local records no longer expect to agree on either the start or end dates of the period , which varied according to local conditions . The NASA Earth Observatory notes three particularly cold intervals : one beginning about 1650 , another about 1770 , and the last in 1850 , all separated by intervals of slight warming . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Third Assessment Report considered the timing and areas affected by the Little Ice Age suggested largely-independent regional climate changes rather than a globally-synchronous increased glaciation . At most , there was modest cooling of the Northern Hemisphere during the period . Several causes have been proposed : cyclical lows in solar radiation , heightened volcanic activity , changes in the ocean circulation , variations in Earth 's orbit and axial tilt ( orbital forcing ) , inherent variability in global climate , and decreases in the human population . |
2773 | Divergence_problem | Tree-ring proxy reconstructions are reliable before 1960, tracking closely with the instrumental record and other independent proxies. | Divergence problem The divergence problem is an anomaly from the field of dendroclimatology , the study of past climate through observations of old trees , primarily the properties of their annual growth rings . It is the disagreement between the temperatures measured by the thermometers ( instrumental temperatures ) and the temperatures reconstructed from the latewood densities or , in some cases , widths of tree rings in the far northern forests . While the thermometer records indicate a substantial late 20th century warming trend , many tree rings from such sites do not display a corresponding change in their maximum latewood density . In some studies this issue has also been found with tree ring width . A temperature trend extracted from tree rings alone would not show any substantial warming since the 1950s . The temperature graphs calculated in these two ways thus `` diverge '' from one another , which is the origin of the term . |
1028 | Alf_Ramsey | A second coat of paint has much less of an effect, while adding a third or fourth coat has almost no impact at all." | Alf Ramsey Sir Alfred Ernest `` Alf '' Ramsey ( 22 January 1920 -- 28 April 1999 ) was an English football player and manager who , as manager of the England national football team from 1963 to 1974 , guided England to victory in the 1966 FIFA World Cup . Knighted in 1967 in recognition of England 's World Cup win , Ramsey also managed England to third place in the 1968 European Championship and the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup and the 1972 European Championship respectively . As a player , Ramsey was a defender and a member of England 's 1950 World Cup squad . He is , , the only person to have been inducted into the English Football Hall of Fame twice , both as manager and player . Ramsey was born and raised in Dagenham , which was then a quiet Essex village . He showed sporting promise from an early age and , after serving in the British Army during the Second World War , embarked on a football career , primarily as a right-back for Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur . He was generally considered a rather slow , but accomplished player with a tremendous grasp of the tactical side of the game . Nicknamed `` The General '' , he was part of the Tottenham side that won the English League championship in the 1950 -- 51 season ; he also played for England 32 times between 1948 and 1953 , captaining the side three times and scoring three goals from penalty kicks . England games in which Ramsey played include the shock 1 -- 0 defeat to the United States at the 1950 World Cup and the `` Match of the Century '' against Hungary three years later . Ramsey retired from playing in 1955 to become the manager of Ipswich Town , then in the third tier of English football . Ipswich rose through the divisions over the next six years , winning the Third Division South in 1956 -- 57 and the Second Division in 1960 -- 61 . In the 1961 -- 62 season , Ipswich 's first campaign in the top division , Ramsey 's team defied expectations to become champions of England at the first attempt . Ramsey took charge of the England team a year later . In a distinct break with common practice of the day , he used a narrow formation that led to his England side being dubbed `` The Wingless Wonders '' . England 's World Cup victory at Wembley in 1966 made Ramsey a national hero , though he had his critics , both at the time and since . He lost the England job acrimoniously , following the team 's failure to qualify for the 1974 World Cup . After briefly managing Birmingham City during the 1977 -- 78 season , then acting in an advisory role at the Greek club Panathinaikos in 1979 -- 80 , Ramsey retired to Ipswich , where he led a somewhat reclusive life over the next two decades . He died in Ipswich in 1999 , aged 79 . Soon after his death , a statue of Ramsey was built outside Ipswich 's home ground at Portman Road , and a neighbouring street was named after him . A stand at Portman Road was named after Ramsey in 2012 . A second statue of Ramsey was dedicated at the reconstructed Wembley Stadium in 2009 , in the players ' tunnel . Ramsey was an inaugural inductee into the English Football Hall of Fame in 2002 , in recognition of his achievements as a manager ; he was admitted again , as a player , in 2010 . He remains widely regarded as one of British football 's all-time great managers . |
3066 | Minimum_wage | The claim that 2.2 conventional jobs are destroyed for every new job created in the alternative energy industry is based on a study which relies on incorrect numbers, cherrypicked dates, faulty theory, flawed methodology, and is disproven by real-world examples. | Minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers must legally pay their workers . Equivalently , it is the price floor below which workers may not sell their labor . Although minimum wage laws are in effect in many jurisdictions , differences of opinion exist about the benefits and drawbacks of a minimum wage . Supporters of the minimum wage say it increases the standard of living of workers , reduces poverty , reduces inequality , and boosts morale . In contrast , opponents of the minimum wage say it increases poverty , increases unemployment ( particularly among unskilled or inexperienced workers ) and is damaging to businesses , because excessively high minimum wages require businesses to raise the prices of their product or service to accommodate the extra expense of paying a higher wage . |
2839 | Ice_sheet | Ice mass loss is occuring at an accelerated rate in Greenland, Antarctica and globally from inland glaciers. | Ice sheet An ice sheet is a mass of glacier ice that covers surrounding terrain and is greater than 50000 km2 , thus also known as continental glacier . The only current ice sheets are in Antarctica and Greenland ; during the last glacial period at Last Glacial Maximum ( LGM ) the Laurentide ice sheet covered much of North America , the Weichselian ice sheet covered northern Europe and the Patagonian Ice Sheet covered southern South America . Ice sheets are bigger than ice shelves or alpine glaciers . Masses of ice covering less than 50,000 km2 are termed an ice cap . An ice cap will typically feed a series of glaciers around its periphery . Although the surface is cold , the base of an ice sheet is generally warmer due to geothermal heat . In places , melting occurs and the melt-water lubricates the ice sheet so that it flows more rapidly . This process produces fast-flowing channels in the ice sheet -- these are ice streams . The present-day polar ice sheets are relatively young in geological terms . The Antarctic Ice Sheet first formed as a small ice cap ( maybe several ) in the early Oligocene , but retreating and advancing many times until the Pliocene , when it came to occupy almost all of Antarctica . The Greenland ice sheet did not develop at all until the late Pliocene , but apparently developed very rapidly with the first continental glaciation . This had the unusual effect of allowing fossils of plants that once grew on present-day Greenland to be much better preserved than with the slowly forming Antarctic ice sheet . |
1243 | Murmansk | by that I mean the central Arctic will be ice-free. | Murmansk Murmansk ( -LSB- Му́рманск , p = ˈmurmənsk -RSB- -LSB- Incubator : Wp/sjd / Мурман ланнҍ , Мурман ланнҍ -RSB- Murmánska Muurman ) is a port city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast , Russia , located in the extreme northwest part of Russia , on the Kola Bay , an inlet of the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula , close to Russia 's borders with Norway and Finland . The city is named for the Murman Coast ; Murman is an older Russian term for Norwegians . Despite its extremely-northern latitude of 68 ° 58 'N ( just 2 ° north of the Arctic Circle at approximately 66 ° 33 ` N ) , Murmansk is in many ways similar to other Russian cities of its size at far-lower latitudes , with highway and railway access to the rest of Europe , and the northernmost trolleybus system on Earth . This is in stark contrast to the isolation of other major Arctic maritime cities such as Dikson , Krasnoyarsk Krai ( 73 ° 30 ` N ) in the far-north of Siberia on the shores of the Kara Sea or Iqaluit , Nunavut in Canada on Baffin Island 's Frobisher Bay off the Labrador Sea ( actually further south at 63 ° 44 ` N ) . While still having long , harsh winters , Murmansk enjoys somewhat warmer temperatures , relatively speaking , than other regions at similarly high latitudes due to the moderating effects of the Gulf Stream on the Barents Sea . Although Murmansk 's population is in decline -- 299,148 ( 2014 est. ) ; -- it remains by far the largest city north of the Arctic Circle and is a major port on the Arctic Ocean . |
1245 | Sea_ice | There will still be about a million square kilometres of ice in the Arctic in summer | Sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes . Because ice is less dense than water , it floats on the ocean 's surface ( as does fresh water ice , which has an even lower density ) . Sea ice covers about 7 % of the Earth 's surface and about 12 % of the world 's oceans . Much of the world 's sea ice is enclosed within the polar ice packs in the Earth 's polar regions : the Arctic ice pack of the Arctic Ocean and the Antarctic ice pack of the Southern Ocean . Polar packs undergo a significant yearly cycling in surface extent , a natural process upon which depends the Arctic ecology , including the ocean 's ecosystems . Due to the action of winds , currents and temperature fluctuations , sea ice is very dynamic , leading to a wide variety of ice types and features . Sea ice may be contrasted with icebergs , which are chunks of ice shelves or glaciers that calve into the ocean . Depending on location , sea ice expanses may also incorporate icebergs . |
2030 | Global_warming_controversy | Opponents of climate action are getting twice as much airtime as proponents of climate action. | Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming . |
2422 | Moon | As of today,JAXA shows that we have more ice than any time on this date for the past 8 years of Aqua satellite measurement for this AMSRE dataset." | Moon The Moon is an astronomical body that orbits planet Earth , being Earth 's only permanent natural satellite . It is the fifth-largest natural satellite in the Solar System , and the largest among planetary satellites relative to the size of the planet that it orbits ( its primary ) . Following Jupiter 's satellite Io , the Moon is second-densest satellite among those whose densities are known . The average distance of the Moon from the Earth is 384400 km , or 1.28 light-seconds . The Moon is thought to have formed about 4.51 billion years ago , not long after Earth . There are several hypotheses for its origin ; the most widely accepted explanation is that the Moon formed from the debris left over after a giant impact between Earth and a Mars-sized body called Theia . The Moon is in synchronous rotation with Earth , always showing the same face , with its near side marked by dark volcanic maria that fill the spaces between the bright ancient crustal highlands and the prominent impact craters . It is the second-brightest regularly visible celestial object in Earth 's sky , after the Sun , as measured by illuminance on Earth 's surface . Its surface is actually dark , although compared to the night sky it appears very bright , with a reflectance just slightly higher than that of worn asphalt . Its prominence in the sky and its regular cycle of phases have made the Moon an important cultural influence since ancient times on language , calendars , art , and mythology . The Moon 's gravitational influence produces the ocean tides , body tides , and the slight lengthening of the day . The Moon 's current orbital distance is about thirty times the diameter of Earth , with its apparent size in the sky almost the same as that of the Sun , resulting in the Moon covering the Sun nearly precisely in total solar eclipse . This matching of apparent visual size will not continue in the far future . The Moon 's linear distance from Earth is currently increasing at a rate of 3.82 ± per year , but this rate is not constant . The Soviet Union 's Luna programme was the first to reach the Moon with uncrewed spacecraft in 1959 ; the United States ' NASA Apollo program achieved the only crewed missions to date , beginning with the first crewed lunar orbiting mission by Apollo 8 in 1968 , and six crewed lunar landings between 1969 and 1972 , with the first being Apollo 11 . These missions returned over 380 kg of lunar rocks , which have been used to develop a geological understanding of the Moon 's origin , the formation of its internal structure , and its subsequent history . Since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972 , the Moon has been visited only by uncrewed spacecraft . |
828 | New_York_Harbor_Storm-Surge_Barrier | Famine, economic collapse, a sun that cooks us: What climate change could wreak — sooner than you think. | New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier The New York Harbor Storm-Surge Barrier is a proposed flood barrier system to protect New York-New Jersey harbor estuary shores from storm surges . The proposed system would consist of one barrier located across the mouth of Lower New York Bay between Sandy Hook ( N.J. ) and Far Rockaway ( N.Y. ) and second on the upper East River to provide a ring of protection to most of the bi-state region . To address the problem of sea-level rise , smaller scale projects to increase seawall heights or otherwise raise vulnerable coastlines would be necessary . Thus a storm-surge barrier system combined with coastline adjustments would form a two-tiered , or bifurcated , strategy to protect the region . The barrier system could also be extended eastward , filling in the gaps between barrier islands , to protect the various communities lining the south shore of Long Island . The proposal was developed in the wake of Hurricane Sandy by the New York/New Jersey Metropolitan Storm Surge Working Group , composed of prominent entrepreneurs , civic leaders , social scientists , oceanographers , marine ecologists , meteorologists , engineers , architects , economists , attorneys and media experts . The group is chaired by Malcolm Bowman , a professor of physical oceanography at the State University of New York at Stony Brook . Within the barrier system lies crucial infrastructure such a sthe seaports and maritime facilities ; ground level and underground transportation terminals ; three major international airports ; subway and roadway tunnels ; hospitals ; communication centers ; the industrial complex of northern New Jersey ; as well as the millions of residents at risk in New York City and coastal New Jersey north of Sandy Hook . |
2539 | Greenhouse_gas | "[T]he influence of so-called greenhouse gases on near-surface temperature - is not yet absolutely proven. | Greenhouse gas A greenhouse gas ( abbrev . GHG ) is a gas in an atmosphere that absorbs and emits radiation within the thermal infrared range . This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect . The primary greenhouse gases in Earth 's atmosphere are water vapor , carbon dioxide , methane , nitrous oxide , and ozone . Without greenhouse gases , the average temperature of Earth 's surface would be about -18 ° C , rather than the present average of 15 ° C . In the Solar System , the atmospheres of Venus , Mars and Titan also contain gases that cause a greenhouse effect . Human activities since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution ( taken as the year 1750 ) have produced a 40 % increase in the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide , from 280 ppm in 1750 to 406 ppm in early 2017 . This increase has occurred despite the uptake of a large portion of the emissions by various natural `` sinks '' involved in the carbon cycle . Anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions ( i.e. , emissions produced by human activities ) come from combustion of fossil fuels , principally coal , oil , and natural gas , along with deforestation , soil erosion and animal agriculture . It has been estimated that if greenhouse gas emissions continue at the present rate , Earth 's surface temperature could exceed historical values as early as 2047 , with potentially harmful effects on ecosystems , biodiversity and the livelihoods of people worldwide . Recent estimates suggest that on the current emissions trajectory the Earth could pass a threshold of 2 ° C global warming , which the United Nations ' IPCC designated as the upper limit to avoid `` dangerous '' global warming , by 2036 . |
2948 | Solar_activity_and_climate | Various independent measurements of solar activity all confirm the sun has shown a slight cooling trend since 1978. | Solar activity and climate Solar irradiance variation has been a main driver of climate change over geologic time , but its role in the recent warming has been found to be insignificant . |
1922 | United_States_Department_of_Homeland_Security | More money is dedicated within the Department of Homeland Security to climate change than what's spent combating "Islamist terrorists radicalizing over the Internet in the United States of America." | United States Department of Homeland Security The United States Department of Homeland Security ( DHS ) is a cabinet department of the United States federal government with responsibilities in public security , roughly comparable to the interior or home ministries of other countries . Its stated missions involve anti-terrorism , border security , immigration and customs , cyber security , and disaster prevention and management . It was created in response to the September 11 attacks . In fiscal year 2017 , it was allocated a net discretionary budget of $ 40.6 billion . With more than 240,000 employees , DHS is the third largest Cabinet department , after the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs . Homeland security policy is coordinated at the White House by the Homeland Security Council . Other agencies with significant homeland security responsibilities include the Departments of Health and Human Services , Justice , and Energy . __ TOC __ |
1188 | Marshall_Islands | Policy makers who want to help the residents of the Marshall Islands today should look at improving the islands' resilience | Marshall Islands The Marshall Islands , officially the Republic of the Marshall Islands ( Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ ) , Pronunciations : * English : Republic of the Marshall Islands -LSB- ˈmɑrʃəl_ˈaɪləndz -RSB- * Marshallese : Aolepān Aorōkin M̧ajeļ ( -LSB- iconhahawweweylyeyPyayn_hahawwowohrhohKhuyn_mhhahahJyehlh -RSB- ) is an island country located near the equator in the Pacific Ocean , slightly west of the International Date Line . Geographically , the country is part of the larger island group of Micronesia . The country 's population of 53,158 people ( at the 2011 Census ) is spread out over 29 coral atolls , comprising 1,156 individual islands and islets . The islands share maritime boundaries with the Federated States of Micronesia to the west , Wake Island to the north , Wake Island is claimed as a territory of the Marshall Islands , but is also claimed as an unorganized , unincorporated territory of the United States , with de facto control vested in the Office of Insular Affairs ( and all military defenses managed by the United States military ) . Kiribati to the southeast , and Nauru to the south . About 27,797 of the islanders ( at the 2011 Census ) live on Majuro , which contains the capital . Micronesian colonists gradually settled the Marshall Islands during the 2nd millennium BC , with inter-island navigation made possible using traditional stick charts . Islands in the archipelago were first explored by Europeans in the 1520s , with Spanish explorer Alonso de Salazar sighting an atoll in August 1526 . Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed . The islands derive their name from British explorer John Marshall , who visited in 1788 . The islands were historically known by the inhabitants as `` jolet jen Anij '' ( Gifts from God ) . The European powers recognized Spanish sovereignty over the islands in 1874 . They had been part of the Spanish East Indies formally since 1528 . Later , Spain sold the islands to the German Empire in 1884 , and they became part of German New Guinea in 1885 . In World War I the Empire of Japan occupied the Marshall Islands , which in 1919 the League of Nations combined with other former German territories to form the South Pacific Mandate . In World War II , the United States conquered the islands in the Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign . Along with other Pacific Islands , the Marshall Islands were then consolidated into the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands governed by the US . Self-government was achieved in 1979 , and full sovereignty in 1986 , under a Compact of Free Association with the United States . Marshall Islands has been a United Nations member state since 1991 . Politically , the Marshall Islands is a presidential republic in free association with the United States , with the US providing defense , subsidies , and access to U.S. based agencies such as the FCC and the USPS . With few natural resources , the islands ' wealth is based on a service economy , as well as some fishing and agriculture ; aid from the United States represents a large percentage of the islands ' gross domestic product . The country uses the United States dollar as its currency . The majority of the citizens of the Marshall Islands are of Marshallese descent , though there are small numbers of immigrants from the United States , China , Philippines , and other Pacific islands . The two official languages are Marshallese , which is a member of the Malayo-Polynesian languages , and English . Almost the entire population of the islands practises some religion , with three-quarters of the country either following the United Church of Christ -- Congregational in the Marshall Islands ( UCCCMI ) or the Assemblies of God . |
1389 | Global_warming | If global warming caused the 2014 Queensland heat wave, why wasn't it as severe as the 1972 Queensland heat wave?" | Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned . |
880 | Hockey_stick_controversy | The peer-reviewed study by two scientists and a veteran statistician looked at the global average temperature datasets[…] | Hockey stick controversy In the hockey stick controversy , the data and methods used in reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years have been disputed . Reconstructions have consistently shown that the rise in the instrumental temperature record of the past 150 years is not matched in earlier centuries , and the name `` hockey stick graph '' was coined for figures showing a long-term decline followed by an abrupt rise in temperatures . These graphs were publicised to explain the scientific findings of climatology , and in addition to scientific debate over the reconstructions , they have been the topic of political dispute . The issue is part of the global warming controversy and has been one focus of political responses to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . The use of proxy indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed from the 1990s onwards , and found indications that recent warming was exceptional . The reconstruction introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large-scale reconstructions , and its findings were disputed by Patrick Michaels at the United States House Committee on Science . In 1998 , Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 . In ( MBH99 ) the methodology was extended back to 1000 . The term hockey stick was coined by the climatologist Jerry D. Mahlman , to describe the pattern this showed , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' , followed by a sharp increase corresponding to the `` blade '' . A version of this graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , along with four other reconstructions supporting the same conclusion . The graph was publicised , and became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th-century warmth was exceptional . Those disputing the graph included Pat Michaels , the George C. Marshall Institute and Fred Singer . A paper by Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas claiming greater medieval warmth was used by the Bush administration chief of staff Philip Cooney to justify altering the first Environmental Protection Agency Report on the Environment . The paper was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy , but on July 28 , Republican Jim Inhofe spoke in the Senate citing it to claim `` that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people '' . Later in 2003 , a paper by Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick disputing the data used in MBH98 paper was publicised by the George C. Marshall Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute . In 2004 , Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 , McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal component analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . The analysis therein was subsequently disputed by published papers , including and , which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . In June 2005 , Rep. Joe Barton launched what Sherwood Boehlert , chairman of the House Science Committee , called a `` misguided and illegitimate investigation '' into the data , methods and personal information of Mann , Bradley and Hughes . At Boehlert 's request , a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council was set up , which reported in 2006 , supporting Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . Barton and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield requested Edward Wegman to set up a team of statisticians to investigate , and they supported McIntyre and McKitrick 's view that there were statistical failings , although they did not quantify whether there was any significant effect . They also produced an extensive network analysis which has been discredited by expert opinion and found to have issues of plagiarism . Arguments against the MBH studies were reintroduced as part of the Climatic Research Unit email controversy , but dismissed by eight independent investigations . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , have supported the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Over a dozen subsequent reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions . |
2565 | The_Great_Global_Warming_Swindle | Human kind has little or nothing to do with the recent temperature changes. | The Great Global Warming Swindle The Great Global Warming Swindle is a polemical documentary film that suggests that the scientific opinion on climate change is influenced by funding and political factors , and questions whether scientific consensus on global warming exists . The program was formally criticised by Ofcom , the UK broadcasting regulatory agency , which upheld complaints of misrepresentation made by David King . The film , made by British television producer Martin Durkin , presents scientists , economists , politicians , writers , and others who dispute the scientific consensus regarding anthropogenic global warming . The programme 's publicity materials assert that man-made global warming is `` a lie '' and `` the biggest scam of modern times . '' Its original working title was `` Apocalypse my arse '' , but the title The Great Global Warming Swindle was later adopted as an allusion to the 1980 mockumentary The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle about British punk band the Sex Pistols . The UK 's Channel 4 premiered the documentary on 8 March 2007 . The channel described the film as `` a polemic that drew together the well-documented views of a number of respected scientists to reach the same conclusions . This is a controversial film but we feel that it is important that all sides of the debate are aired . '' According to Hamish Mykura , Channel 4 's head of documentaries , the film was commissioned `` to present the viewpoint of the small minority of scientists who do not believe global warming is caused by anthropogenic production of carbon dioxide . '' Although the documentary was welcomed by global warming sceptics , it was criticised by scientific organisations and individual scientists ( including one of the scientists interviewed in the film and one whose research was used to support the film 's claims ) . The film 's critics argued that it had misused and fabricated data , relied on out-of-date research , employed misleading arguments , and misrepresented the position of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change . Later broadcasts corrected three errors in the original film . |
762 | Human_impact_on_marine_life | 'But even if an organism isn't directly harmed by acidification it may be affected indirectly through changes in its habitat or changes in the food web.' | Human impact on marine life Human activities affect marine life and marine habitats through overfishing, habitat loss, the introduction of invasive species, ocean pollution, ocean acidification and ocean warming. These impact marine ecosystems and food webs and may result in consequences as yet unrecognised for the biodiversity and continuation of marine life forms.According to the IPCC (2019), since 1950 "many marine species across various groups have undergone shifts in geographical range and seasonal activities in response to ocean warming, sea ice change and biogeochemical changes, such as oxygen loss, to their habitats."It has been estimated only 13% of the ocean area remains as wilderness, mostly in open ocean areas rather than along the coast. |
2488 | Attribution_of_recent_climate_change | However, it is unable to explain the long term warming trend over the past few decades. | Attribution of recent climate change Attribution of recent climate change is the effort to scientifically ascertain mechanisms responsible for recent climate changes on Earth , commonly known as ` global warming ' . The effort has focused on changes observed during the period of instrumental temperature record , when records are most reliable ; particularly in the last 50 years , when human activity has grown fastest and observations of the troposphere have become available . The dominant mechanisms are anthropogenic , i.e. , the result of human activity . They are : increasing atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases global changes to land surface , such as deforestation increasing atmospheric concentrations of aerosols . There are also natural mechanisms for variation including climate oscillations , changes in solar activity , and volcanic activity . According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , it is `` extremely likely '' that human influence was the dominant cause of global warming between 1951 and 2010 . The IPCC defines `` extremely likely '' as indicating a probability of 95 to 100 % , based on an expert assessment of all the available evidence . Multiple lines of evidence support attribution of recent climate change to human activities : A basic physical understanding of the climate system : greenhouse gas concentrations have increased and their warming properties are well-established . Historical estimates of past climate changes suggest that the recent changes in global surface temperature are unusual . Computer-based climate models are unable to replicate the observed warming unless human greenhouse gas emissions are included . Natural forces alone ( such as solar and volcanic activity ) can not explain the observed warming . The IPCC 's attribution of recent global warming to human activities is a view shared by the scientific community , and is also supported by 196 other scientific organizations worldwide ( see also : scientific opinion on climate change ) . |
649 | Marcus_Davis | "Houlton has been exploring this possibility for years. | Marcus Davis Marcus Paul Davis ( born August 24 , 1973 ) , is a retired American professional mixed martial artist and former professional boxer who is perhaps best known for competing in the UFC . A professional MMA competitor from 2003 until 2014 , Davis also competed for Bellator MMA , the MFC , the Cage Fury Fighting Championships , and was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter 2 . |
2429 | Scientific_consensus_on_climate_change | With 32 years of rapidly increasing global temperatures and only a minor increase in global CO2 emissions, followed by 33 years of slowly cooling global temperatures with rapid increases in global CO2 emissions, it was deceitful for the IPCC to make any claim that CO2 emissions were primarily responsible for observed 20th century global warming." | Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors. |
528 | Earth | Our evolving dynamic planet has survived[…] mass extinctions | Earth Earth ( from Eorðe -LSB- Γαῖα , Gaia -RSB- Terra ) , otherwise known as the World or the Globe , is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life . It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets . According to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence , Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago . Earth 's gravity interacts with other objects in space , especially the Sun and the Moon , Earth 's only natural satellite . During one orbit around the Sun , Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times ; thus , an Earth year is about 365.26 days long . Earth 's axis of rotation is tilted , producing seasonal variations on the planet 's surface . The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides , stabilizes the Earth 's orientation on its axis , and gradually slows its rotation . Earth 's lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years . About 71 % of Earth 's surface is covered with water , mostly by its oceans . The remaining 29 % is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes , rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere . The majority of Earth 's polar regions are covered in ice , including the Antarctic ice sheet and the sea ice of the Arctic ice pack . Earth 's interior remains active with a solid iron inner core , a liquid outer core that generates the Earth 's magnetic field , and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics . Within the first billion years of Earth 's history , life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earth 's atmosphere and surface , leading to the proliferation of aerobic and anaerobic organisms . Some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago . Since then , the combination of Earth 's distance from the Sun , physical properties , and geological history have allowed life to evolve and thrive . In the history of the Earth , biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion , occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events . Over 99 % of all species that ever lived on Earth are extinct . Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely ; most species have not been described . Over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival . Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures ; politically , the world has about 200 sovereign states . |
71 | Sun | Cold weather to grip world as solar minimum to deepen, NASA says | Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System . It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma , with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process . It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth . Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth , and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth , accounting for about 99.86 % of the total mass of the Solar System . About three quarters of the Sun 's mass consists of hydrogen ( ~ 73 % ) ; the rest is mostly helium ( ~ 25 % ) , with much smaller quantities of heavier elements , including oxygen , carbon , neon , and iron . The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star ( G2V ) based on its spectral class . As such , it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf . It formed approximately 4.6 billionAll numbers in this article are short scale . One billion is 109 , or 1,000,000,000 . years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud . Most of this matter gathered in the center , whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System . The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core . It is thought that almost all stars form by this process . The Sun is roughly middle-aged ; it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years , and will remain fairly stable for more than another five billion years . After hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point at which it is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium , the core of the Sun will experience a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand to eventually become a red giant . It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury and Venus , and render Earth uninhabitable . The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times , and the Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity . The synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of the solar calendar , which is the predominant calendar in use today . |
932 | West_Antarctic_Ice_Sheet | The most vulnerable parts of the West Antarctic ice sheet could raise the sea level by 10 to 15 feet, inundating many of the world's coastal cities, though most scientists think that would take well over a century, or perhaps longer. | West Antarctic Ice Sheet The Western Antarctic Ice Sheet ( WAIS ) is the segment of the continental ice sheet that covers West ( or Lesser ) Antarctica , the portion of Antarctica on the side of the Transantarctic Mountains which lies in the Western Hemisphere . The WAIS is classified as a marine-based ice sheet , meaning that its bed lies well below sea level and its edges flow into floating ice shelves . The WAIS is bounded by the Ross Ice Shelf , the Ronne Ice Shelf , and outlet glaciers that drain into the Amundsen Sea . It is estimated that the volume of the Antarctic ice sheet is about 25.4 million km3 ( 6.1 million cu mi ) , and the WAIS contains just under 10 % of this , or 2.2 million km3 ( 530,000 cu mi ) . The weight of the ice has caused the underlying rock to sink by between 0.5 and 1 kilometres ( 0.31 -- 0.62 mi ) in a process known as isostatic depression . Under the force of its own weight , the ice sheet deforms and flows . The interior ice flows slowly over rough bedrock . In some circumstances , ice can flow faster in ice streams , separated by slow-flowing ice ridges . The inter-stream ridges are frozen to the bed while the bed beneath the ice streams consists of water-saturated sediments . Many of these sediments were deposited before the ice sheet occupied the region , when much of West Antarctica was covered by the ocean . The rapid ice-stream flow is a non-linear process still not fully understood ; streams can start and stop for unclear reasons . When ice reaches the coast , it either calves or continues to flow outward onto the water . The result is a large , floating ice shelf affixed to the continent . |
1576 | Global_warming | Solar cycles cause global warming. | Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned . |
2650 | Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change | The decline in tree-ring growth is openly discussed in papers and IPCC reports. | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations , set up at the request of member governments , dedicated to the task of providing the world with an objective , scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts . It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations , the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) , and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 43/53 . Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP . The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , which is the main international treaty on climate change . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic -LSB- i.e. , human-induced -RSB- interference with the climate system '' . IPCC reports cover `` the scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' The IPCC does not carry out its own original research , nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself . The IPCC bases its assessment on the published literature , which includes peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources . Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute ( on a voluntary basis , without payment from the IPCC ) to writing and reviewing reports , which are then reviewed by governments . IPCC reports contain a `` Summary for Policymakers '' , which is subject to line-by-line approval by delegates from all participating governments . Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries . The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change , producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments . The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in equal parts , between the IPCC and Al Gore . |
214 | Media_coverage_of_global_warming | A recent essay in Scientific American argued that scientists "tend to underestimate the severity of threats and the rapidity with which they might unfold" and said one of the reasons was "the perceived need for consensus." | Media coverage of global warming Media coverage of climate change has had effects on public opinion on climate change, as it mediates the scientific opinion on climate change that the global temperature has increased in recent decades and that the trend is mainly caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases. Almost all scientific bodies of national or international standing agree with this view, although a few organisations hold non-committal positions. Climate change communication research frequently studies the effectiveness of that media. Some researchers and journalists believe that media coverage of political issues is adequate and fair, while a few feel that it is biased. However, most studies on media coverage of the topic are neither recent nor concerned with coverage of environmental issues. Moreover, they are only rarely concerned specifically with the question of bias.Despite recent trends in increased coverage on climate change, media coverage is not constant, and researchers wonder if the current increase in attention will be sustained. |
2201 | Scientific_consensus_on_climate_change | That humans are causing global warming is the position of the Academies of Science from 80 countries plus many scientific organizations that study climate science. | Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors. |
982 | Physical_impacts_of_climate_change | Not everyone is convinced that the evidence is in that climate change is responsible for extreme swings between drought and deluge. | Physical impacts of climate change This article is about the physical impacts of climate change . For some of these physical impacts , their effect on social and economic systems are also described . This article refers to reports produced by the IPCC . In their usage , `` climate change '' refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties , and that persists for extended periods , typically decades or longer ( IPCC , 2007d :30 ) . The climate change referred to may be due to natural causes and/or the result of human activity . |
1376 | Climate_of_India | Also, it is increasingly clear that the planet was significantly warmer than today several times during the past 10,000 years. | Climate of India The climate of India comprises a wide range of weather conditions across a vast geographic scale and varied topography , making generalisations difficult . Based on the Köppen system , India hosts six major climatic subtypes , ranging from arid desert in the west , alpine tundra and glaciers in the north , and humid tropical regions supporting rainforests in the southwest and the island territories . Many regions have starkly different microclimates . The nation has four seasons : winter ( December , January and February ) , summer ( March , April and May ) , a monsoon rainy season ( June to September ) , and a post-monsoon period ( October to November ) . India 's geography and geology are climatically pivotal : the Thar Desert in the northwest and the Himalayas in the north work in tandem to effect a culturally and economically important monsoonal regime . As Earth 's highest and most massive mountain range , the Himalayas bar the influx of frigid katabatic winds from the icy Tibetan Plateau and northerly Central Asia . Most of North India is thus kept warm or is only mildly chilly or cold during winter ; the same thermal dam keeps most regions in India hot in summer . Though the Tropic of Cancer -- the boundary between the tropics and subtropics -- passes through the middle of India , the bulk of the country can be regarded as climatically tropical . As in much of the tropics , monsoonal and other weather patterns in India can be wildly unstable : epochal droughts , floods , cyclones , and other natural disasters are sporadic , but have displaced or ended millions of human lives . There is one scientific opinion which states that in South Asia such climatic events are likely to change in unpredictability , frequency , and severity . Ongoing and future vegetative changes and current sea level rises and the attendant inundation of India 's low-lying coastal areas are other impacts , current or predicted , that are attributable to global warming . |
1557 | Climate_change_(general_concept) | Climate change is because of Pacific Decadal Oscillation. | Climate change (general concept) Climate variability includes all the variations in the climate that last longer than individual weather events, whereas the term climate change only refers to those variations that persist for a longer period of time, typically decades or more. In the time since the industrial revolution the climate has increasingly been affected by human activities that are causing global warming and climate change.The climate system receives nearly all of its energy from the sun. The climate system also radiates energy to outer space. The balance of incoming and outgoing energy, and the passage of the energy through the climate system, determines Earth\'s energy budget. When the incoming energy is greater than the outgoing energy, earth\'s energy budget is positive and the climate system is warming. If more energy goes out, the energy budget is negative and earth experiences cooling.\nThe energy moving through Earth\'s climate system finds expression in weather, varying on geographic scales and time. Long-term averages and variability of weather in a region constitute the region\'s climate. Such changes can be the result of "internal variability", when natural processes inherent to the various parts of the climate system alter the distribution of energy. Examples include variability in ocean basins such as the Pacific decadal oscillation and Atlantic multidecadal oscillation. Climate variability can also result from external forcing, when events outside of the climate system\'s components nonetheless produce changes within the system. Examples include changes in solar output and volcanism.\nClimate variability has consequences for sea level changes, plant life, and mass extinctions; it also affects human societies. |
916 | Pine_Island_Glacier | The acceleration is making some scientists fear that Antarctica's ice sheet may have entered the early stages of an unstoppable disintegration. | Pine Island Glacier Pine Island Glacier ( PIG ) is a large ice stream glacier , and the fastest melting glacier in Antarctica , responsible for about 25 % of Antarctica 's ice loss . The glacier ice streams flow west-northwest along the south side of the Hudson Mountains into Pine Island Bay , Amundsen Sea , Antarctica . It was mapped by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) from surveys and United States Navy ( USN ) air photos , 1960 -- 66 , and named by the Advisory Committee on Antarctic Names ( US-ACAN ) in association with Pine Island Bay . The area drained by Pine Island Glacier comprises about 10 % of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet . Satellite measurements have shown that the Pine Island Glacier Basin has a greater net contribution of ice to the sea than any other ice drainage basin in the world and this has increased due to recent acceleration of the ice stream . The ice stream is extremely remote , with the nearest continually occupied research station at Rothera , nearly 1300 km away . The area is not claimed by any nations and the Antarctic Treaty prohibits any new claims while it is in force . |
2822 | February_8 | Klaus-Martin Schulte examined all papers published from 2004 to February 2007. | February 8 |
2438 | Global_warming | Greenhouse gases have been the main contributor of warming since 1970. | Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned . |
1449 | Environmental_impact_of_aviation | 43% of CO2 from commercial aviation was linked to passenger movement in narrowbody aircraft, followed by widebody jets (33%), and regional aircraft (5%). | Environmental impact of aviation The environmental impact of aviation occurs because aircraft engines emit heat , noise , particulates and gases which contribute to climate change and global dimming . Among others airplanes emit particles and gases such as carbon dioxide , water vapor , hydrocarbons , carbon monoxide , nitrogen oxides , sulfur oxides , lead and black carbon which interact among themselves and with the atmosphere . Despite emission reductions from automobiles and more fuel-efficient and less polluting turbofan and turboprop engines , the rapid growth of air travel in recent years contributes to an increase in total pollution attributable to aviation . From 1992 to 2005 , passenger kilometers increased 5.2 % per year . And in the European Union , greenhouse gas emissions from aviation increased by 87 % between 1990 and 2006 . Comprehensive research shows that despite anticipated efficiency innovations to airframes , engines , aerodynamics and flight operations , there is no end in sight -- even many decades out -- to rapid growth in CO2 emissions from air travel and air freight , due to projected continual growth in air travel . This is because international aviation emissions have escaped international regulation up to the ICAO triennial conference in October 2016 agreed on the CORSIA offset scheme , and because of the lack of taxes on aviation fuel worldwide , lower fares become more frequent than otherwise which gives a competitive advantage over other transportation modes . Unless market constraints are put in place this growth in aviation 's emissions will result in the sector 's emissions amounting to all or nearly all of the annual global emissions budget by mid-century , if climate change is to be held to a temperature increase of 2 ° C or less . There is an ongoing debate about possible taxation of air travel and the inclusion of aviation in an emissions trading scheme , with a view to ensuring that the total external costs of aviation are taken into account . |
2424 | Climate_change_in_the_Arctic | Consequently, the total amount of Arctic sea ice in 2008 and 2009 are the lowest on record. | Climate change in the Arctic The effects of global warming in the Arctic , or climate change in the Arctic include rising temperatures , loss of sea ice , and melting of the Greenland ice sheet with a related cold temperature anomaly , observed in recent years . Potential methane release from the region , especially through the thawing of permafrost and methane clathrates , is also a concern . The Arctic warms twice as fast compared to the rest of the world . The pronounced warming signal , the amplified response of the Arctic to global warming , it is often seen as a leading indicator of global warming . The melting of Greenland 's ice sheet is linked to polar amplification . According to a study published in 2016 , about 0.5 ◦ C of the warming in the Arctic has been attributed to reductions in sulfate aerosols in Europe since 1980 . |
2500 | An_Inconvenient_Truth | Believers think the warming is man-made, while the skeptics believe the warming is natural and contributions from man are minimal and certainly not potentially catastrophic à la Al Gore.' | An Inconvenient Truth An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 American documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore 's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that , by his own estimate made in the film , he has given more than a thousand times . The idea to document his efforts came from producer Laurie David , who saw his presentation at a town-hall meeting on global warming , which coincided with the opening of The Day After Tomorrow . Laurie David was so inspired by Gore 's slide show that she , with producer Lawrence Bender , met with Guggenheim to adapt the presentation into a film . Premiering at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival and opening in New York City and Los Angeles on May 24 , 2006 , the documentary was a critical and box office success , winning two Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature and Best Original Song . The film grossed $ 24 million in the U.S. and $ 26 million at the international box office , becoming the tenth highest grossing documentary film to date in the United States . Since the film 's release , An Inconvenient Truth has been credited for raising international public awareness of global warming and reenergizing the environmental movement . The documentary has also been included in science curricula in schools around the world , which has spurred some controversy . A sequel to the film , titled An Inconvenient Sequel : Truth to Power , will be released on July 28 , 2017 . |
412 | Global_warming | From 1970 until 1998 there was a warming period that raised temperatures by about 0.7 F that helped spawn the global warming alarmist movement. | Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned . |
1013 | 2014–16_El_Niño_event | Global sea level rise surged between November 2014 and February 2016, with the El Niño event helping the oceans rise by 15mm. | 2014–16 El Niño event The 2014 -- 16 El Niño was a warming of the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean that resulted in unusually warm waters developing between the coast of South America and the International Date Line . These unusually warm waters influenced the world 's weather in a number of ways , which in turn significantly affected various parts of the world . These included drought conditions in Venezuela , Australia and a number of Pacific islands while significant flooding was also recorded . During the event more tropical cyclones than normal occurred within the Pacific Ocean , while fewer than normal occurred in the Atlantic Ocean . |
1421 | Thaumasia_quadrangle | The melting in the polar ice caps and in high altitude plains can lead to the dangerous release of methane gas | Thaumasia quadrangle The Thaumasia quadrangle is one of a series of 30 quadrangle maps of Mars used by the United States Geological Survey ( USGS ) Astrogeology Research Program . The Thaumasia quadrangle is also referred to as MC-25 ( Mars Chart-25 ) . The name comes from Thaumas , the god of the clouds and celestial apparitions . The Thaumasia quadrangle covers the area from 60 ° to 120 ° west longitude and 30 ° to 65 ° south latitude on Mars . The Thaumasia quadrangle contains many different regions or parts of many regions : Solis Planum , Icaria Planum , , Aonia Planum , Bosporus Planum , and Thaumasia Planum . One of the first major networks of stream channels , called Warrego Valles , were discovered here by early orbiters . Another sign of water is the presence of gullies carved into steep slopes . |
1065 | Physical_impacts_of_climate_change | However, this is exactly what climate scientists have predicted for California since at least the 1980s: protracted periods of warm, dry conditions punctuated by intense wet spells, with more rain and less snow, causing both drought and floods. | Physical impacts of climate change This article is about the physical impacts of climate change . For some of these physical impacts , their effect on social and economic systems are also described . This article refers to reports produced by the IPCC . In their usage , `` climate change '' refers to a change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean and/or variability of its properties , and that persists for extended periods , typically decades or longer ( IPCC , 2007d :30 ) . The climate change referred to may be due to natural causes and/or the result of human activity . |
165 | Hurricane_Sandy | When the Emergency Leaders for Climate Action approached the Federal Government in April they were drawing on decades of data showing that fire conditions are getting worse. | Hurricane Sandy Hurricane Sandy ( unofficially referred to as `` Superstorm Sandy '' ) was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane of the 2012 Atlantic hurricane season , and the second-costliest hurricane in United States history . Classified as the eighteenth named storm , tenth hurricane and second major hurricane of the year , Sandy was a Category 3 storm at its peak intensity when it made landfall in Cuba . While it was a Category 2 storm off the coast of the Northeastern United States , the storm became the largest Atlantic hurricane on record ( as measured by diameter , with winds spanning 1100 mi ) . Estimates as of 2015 assessed damage to have been about $ 75 billion ( 2012 USD ) , a total surpassed only by Hurricane Katrina . At least 233 people were killed along the path of the storm in eight countries . Sandy developed from a tropical wave in the western Caribbean Sea on October 22 , quickly strengthened , and was upgraded to Tropical Storm Sandy six hours later . Sandy moved slowly northward toward the Greater Antilles and gradually intensified . On October 24 , Sandy became a hurricane , made landfall near Kingston , Jamaica , re-emerged a few hours later into the Caribbean Sea and strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane . On October 25 , Sandy hit Cuba as a Category 3 hurricane , then weakened to a Category 1 hurricane . Early on October 26 , Sandy moved through the Bahamas . On October 27 , Sandy briefly weakened to a tropical storm and then restrengthened to a Category 1 hurricane . Early on October 29 , Sandy curved west-northwest ( the `` left turn '' or `` left hook '' ) and then moved ashore near Brigantine , New Jersey , just to the northeast of Atlantic City , as a post-tropical cyclone with hurricane-force winds . In Jamaica , winds left 70 % of residents without electricity , blew roofs off buildings , killed one , and caused about $ 100 million ( 2012 USD ) in damage . Sandy 's outer bands brought flooding to Haiti , killing at least 54 , causing food shortages , and leaving about 200,000 homeless ; the hurricane also caused two deaths in the Dominican Republic . In Puerto Rico , one man was swept away by a swollen river . In Cuba , there was extensive coastal flooding and wind damage inland , destroying some 15,000 homes , killing 11 , and causing $ 2 billion ( 2012 USD ) in damage . Sandy caused two deaths and damage estimated at $ 700 million ( 2012 USD ) in The Bahamas . In the United States , Hurricane Sandy affected 24 states , including the entire eastern seaboard from Florida to Maine and west across the Appalachian Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin , with particularly severe damage in New Jersey and New York . Its storm surge hit New York City on October 29 , flooding streets , tunnels and subway lines and cutting power in and around the city . Damage in the United States amounted to $ 71.4 billion ( 2013 USD ) . In Canada , two were killed in Ontario and an estimated $ 100 million ( 2012 CAD ) in damage was caused throughout Ontario and Quebec . |
2678 | Ocean_acidification | Measurements of carbon isotopes and falling oxygen in the atmosphere show that rising carbon dioxide is due to the burning of fossil fuels and cannot be coming from the ocean. | Ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Seawater is slightly basic ( meaning pH > 7 ) , and the process in question is a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions ( pH < 7 ) . Ocean alkalinity is not changed by the process , or may increase over long time periods due to carbonate dissolution . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes . To achieve chemical equilibrium , some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid . Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion , thus increasing ocean acidity ( H + ion concentration ) . Between 1751 and 1996 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 , representing an increase of almost 35 % in H + ion concentration in the world 's oceans . Earth System Models project that within the last decade ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean . Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of potentially harmful consequences for marine organisms , such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms , and causing coral bleaching . By increasing the presence of free hydrogen ions , each molecule of carbonic acid that forms in the oceans ultimately results in the conversion of two carbonate ions into bicarbonate ions . This net decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available makes it more difficult for marine calcifying organisms , such as coral and some plankton , to form biogenic calcium carbonate , and such structures become vulnerable to dissolution . Ongoing acidification of the oceans threatens food chains connected with the oceans . As members of the InterAcademy Panel , 105 science academies have issued a statement on ocean acidification recommending that by 2050 , global emissions be reduced by at least 50 % compared to the 1990 level . While ongoing ocean acidification is anthropogenic in origin , it has occurred previously in Earth 's history . The most notable example is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , which occurred approximately 56 million years ago . For reasons that are currently uncertain , massive amounts of carbon entered the ocean and atmosphere , and led to the dissolution of carbonate sediments in all ocean basins . Ocean acidification has been called the `` evil twin of global warming '' and `` the other problem '' . |
2857 | Liquid | Weather is chaotic because air is light, it has low friction and viscosity, it expands strongly when in contact with hot surfaces and it conducts heat poorly. | Liquid A liquid is a nearly incompressible fluid that conforms to the shape of its container but retains a ( nearly ) constant volume independent of pressure . As such , it is one of the four fundamental states of matter ( the others being solid , gas , and plasma ) , and is the only state with a definite volume but no fixed shape . A liquid is made up of tiny vibrating particles of matter , such as atoms , held together by intermolecular bonds . Water is , by far , the most common liquid on Earth . Like a gas , a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container . Most liquids resist compression , although others can be compressed . Unlike a gas , a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container , and maintains a fairly constant density . A distinctive property of the liquid state is surface tension , leading to wetting phenomena . The density of a liquid is usually close to that of a solid , and much higher than in a gas . Therefore , liquid and solid are both termed condensed matter . On the other hand , as liquids and gases share the ability to flow , they are both called fluids . Although liquid water is abundant on Earth , this state of matter is actually the least common in the known universe , because liquids require a relatively narrow temperature/pressure range to exist . Most known matter in the universe is in gaseous form ( with traces of detectable solid matter ) as interstellar clouds or in plasma form within stars . |
910 | Technological_and_industrial_history_of_China | The cement, iron and steel, and petroleum refining industries could see their production cut by 21% 19%, and 11% respectively." | Technological and industrial history of China The technological and industrial history of China is extremely varied , and extensive . China 's industrial sector has shown great progress using most of its technology from the 1950s . |
628 | Geology_of_Scotland | as continents rise after the overlying ice has melted | Geology of Scotland The geology of Scotland is unusually varied for a country of its size , with a large number of differing geological features . There are three main geographical sub-divisions : the Highlands and Islands is a diverse area which lies to the north and west of the Highland Boundary Fault ; the Central Lowlands is a rift valley mainly comprising Paleozoic formations ; and the Southern Uplands , which lie south of the Southern Uplands Fault , are largely composed of Silurian deposits . The existing bedrock includes very ancient Archean gneiss , metamorphic beds interspersed with granite intrusions created during the Caledonian mountain building period ( the Caledonian orogeny ) , commercially important coal , oil and iron bearing carboniferous deposits and the remains of substantial Paleogene volcanoes . During their formation , tectonic movements created climatic conditions ranging from polar to desert to tropical and a resultant diversity of fossil remains . Scotland has also had a role to play in many significant discoveries such as plate tectonics and the development of theories about the formation of rocks and was the home of important figures in the development of the science including James Hutton ( the `` father of modern geology '' ) , Hugh Miller and Archibald Geikie . Various locations such as ` Hutton 's Unconformity ' at Siccar Point in Berwickshire and the Moine Thrust in the north west were also important in the development of geological science . |
67 | Earth | Fifty-five thousand years ago the whole world was 2°C warmer than it is today[...] | Earth Earth ( from Eorðe -LSB- Γαῖα , Gaia -RSB- Terra ) , otherwise known as the World or the Globe , is the third planet from the Sun and the only object in the Universe known to harbor life . It is the densest planet in the Solar System and the largest of the four terrestrial planets . According to radiometric dating and other sources of evidence , Earth formed about 4.54 billion years ago . Earth 's gravity interacts with other objects in space , especially the Sun and the Moon , Earth 's only natural satellite . During one orbit around the Sun , Earth rotates about its axis over 365 times ; thus , an Earth year is about 365.26 days long . Earth 's axis of rotation is tilted , producing seasonal variations on the planet 's surface . The gravitational interaction between the Earth and Moon causes ocean tides , stabilizes the Earth 's orientation on its axis , and gradually slows its rotation . Earth 's lithosphere is divided into several rigid tectonic plates that migrate across the surface over periods of many millions of years . About 71 % of Earth 's surface is covered with water , mostly by its oceans . The remaining 29 % is land consisting of continents and islands that together have many lakes , rivers and other sources of water that contribute to the hydrosphere . The majority of Earth 's polar regions are covered in ice , including the Antarctic ice sheet and the sea ice of the Arctic ice pack . Earth 's interior remains active with a solid iron inner core , a liquid outer core that generates the Earth 's magnetic field , and a convecting mantle that drives plate tectonics . Within the first billion years of Earth 's history , life appeared in the oceans and began to affect the Earth 's atmosphere and surface , leading to the proliferation of aerobic and anaerobic organisms . Some geological evidence indicates that life may have arisen as much as 4.1 billion years ago . Since then , the combination of Earth 's distance from the Sun , physical properties , and geological history have allowed life to evolve and thrive . In the history of the Earth , biodiversity has gone through long periods of expansion , occasionally punctuated by mass extinction events . Over 99 % of all species that ever lived on Earth are extinct . Estimates of the number of species on Earth today vary widely ; most species have not been described . Over 7.4 billion humans live on Earth and depend on its biosphere and minerals for their survival . Humans have developed diverse societies and cultures ; politically , the world has about 200 sovereign states . |
487 | Scientific_consensus_on_climate_change | "It's horrifying that we'd lose our biodiversity to avert climate change. | Scientific consensus on climate change There is currently a strong scientific consensus that the Earth is warming and that this warming is mainly caused by human activities. This consensus is supported by various studies of scientists' opinions and by position statements of scientific organizations, many of which explicitly agree with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) synthesis reports. Nearly all actively publishing climate scientists (97–98%) support the consensus on anthropogenic climate change, and the remaining 2% of contrarian studies either cannot be replicated or contain errors. |
1953 | Michael_Gove | Scotland's climate targets are toughest in the world | Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove ( -LSB- ` goʊv -RSB- born 26 August 1967 ) is a British Conservative politician , who was Secretary of State for Education from 2010-14 and Secretary of State for Justice from 2015-16 . He has been the Member of Parliament ( MP ) for Surrey Heath since 2005 . He is also an author and a columnist for The Times . |
1692 | Ocean_acidification | The oceans are warming and moreover are becoming more acidic, threatening the food chain. | Ocean acidification Ocean acidification is the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth 's oceans , caused by the uptake of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere . Seawater is slightly basic ( meaning pH > 7 ) , and the process in question is a shift towards pH-neutral conditions rather than a transition to acidic conditions ( pH < 7 ) . Ocean alkalinity is not changed by the process , or may increase over long time periods due to carbonate dissolution . An estimated 30 -- 40 % of the carbon dioxide from human activity released into the atmosphere dissolves into oceans , rivers and lakes . To achieve chemical equilibrium , some of it reacts with the water to form carbonic acid . Some of these extra carbonic acid molecules react with a water molecule to give a bicarbonate ion and a hydronium ion , thus increasing ocean acidity ( H + ion concentration ) . Between 1751 and 1996 surface ocean pH is estimated to have decreased from approximately 8.25 to 8.14 , representing an increase of almost 35 % in H + ion concentration in the world 's oceans . Earth System Models project that within the last decade ocean acidity exceeded historical analogues and in combination with other ocean biogeochemical changes could undermine the functioning of marine ecosystems and disrupt the provision of many goods and services associated with the ocean . Increasing acidity is thought to have a range of potentially harmful consequences for marine organisms , such as depressing metabolic rates and immune responses in some organisms , and causing coral bleaching . By increasing the presence of free hydrogen ions , each molecule of carbonic acid that forms in the oceans ultimately results in the conversion of two carbonate ions into bicarbonate ions . This net decrease in the amount of carbonate ions available makes it more difficult for marine calcifying organisms , such as coral and some plankton , to form biogenic calcium carbonate , and such structures become vulnerable to dissolution . Ongoing acidification of the oceans threatens food chains connected with the oceans . As members of the InterAcademy Panel , 105 science academies have issued a statement on ocean acidification recommending that by 2050 , global emissions be reduced by at least 50 % compared to the 1990 level . While ongoing ocean acidification is anthropogenic in origin , it has occurred previously in Earth 's history . The most notable example is the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum ( PETM ) , which occurred approximately 56 million years ago . For reasons that are currently uncertain , massive amounts of carbon entered the ocean and atmosphere , and led to the dissolution of carbonate sediments in all ocean basins . Ocean acidification has been called the `` evil twin of global warming '' and `` the other problem '' . |
3005 | Intergovernmental_Panel_on_Climate_Change | About 60% of the warming observed from 1970 to 2000 was very likely caused by the above natural 60-year climatic cycle during its warming phase" (Loehle and Scafetta) | Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) is a scientific and intergovernmental body under the auspices of the United Nations , set up at the request of member governments , dedicated to the task of providing the world with an objective , scientific view of climate change and its political and economic impacts . It was first established in 1988 by two United Nations organizations , the World Meteorological Organization ( WMO ) and the United Nations Environment Programme ( UNEP ) , and later endorsed by the United Nations General Assembly through Resolution 43/53 . Membership of the IPCC is open to all members of the WMO and UNEP . The IPCC produces reports that support the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , which is the main international treaty on climate change . The ultimate objective of the UNFCCC is to `` stabilize greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic -LSB- i.e. , human-induced -RSB- interference with the climate system '' . IPCC reports cover `` the scientific , technical and socio-economic information relevant to understanding the scientific basis of risk of human-induced climate change , its potential impacts and options for adaptation and mitigation . '' The IPCC does not carry out its own original research , nor does it do the work of monitoring climate or related phenomena itself . The IPCC bases its assessment on the published literature , which includes peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed sources . Thousands of scientists and other experts contribute ( on a voluntary basis , without payment from the IPCC ) to writing and reviewing reports , which are then reviewed by governments . IPCC reports contain a `` Summary for Policymakers '' , which is subject to line-by-line approval by delegates from all participating governments . Typically this involves the governments of more than 120 countries . The IPCC provides an internationally accepted authority on climate change , producing reports which have the agreement of leading climate scientists and the consensus of participating governments . The 2007 Nobel Peace Prize was shared , in equal parts , between the IPCC and Al Gore . |
3074 | IPCC_Fourth_Assessment_Report | Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), in which the likely range is given as 2.0°C to 4.5°C, with a best estimate of 3.0°C" (Pat Michaels) | IPCC Fourth Assessment Report Climate Change 2007 , the Fourth Assessment Report ( AR4 ) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) , is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific , technical and socio-economic information concerning climate change , its potential effects , and options for adaptation and mitigation . The report is the largest and most detailed summary of the climate change situation ever undertaken , produced by thousands of authors , editors , and reviewers from dozens of countries , citing over 6,000 peer-reviewed scientific studies . It supersedes the Third Assessment Report ( 2001 ) , and is superseded by the Fifth Assessment Report . The headline findings of the report were : `` warming of the climate system is unequivocal '' , and `` most of the observed increase in global average temperatures since the mid-20th century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations . '' |
1598 | Climate_change_adaptation | Adapting to global warming is cheaper than preventing it. | Climate change adaptation Climate change adaptation is a response to global warming and climate change , that seeks to reduce the vulnerability of social and biological systems to relatively sudden change and thus offset the effects of global warming . Even if emissions are stabilized relatively soon , global warming and its effects will last many years , and adaptation will be necessary to the resulting changes in climate . Adaptation is especially important in developing countries since those countries are predicted to bear the brunt of the effects of global warming . That is , the capacity and potential for humans to adapt ( called adaptive capacity ) is unevenly distributed across different regions and populations , and developing countries generally have less capacity to adapt ( Schneider et al. , 2007 ) . Furthermore , the degree of adaptation correlates to the situational focus on environmental issues . Therefore , adaptation requires the situational assessment of sensitivity and vulnerability to environmental impacts . Adaptive capacity is closely linked to social and economic development ( IPCC , 2007 ) . The economic costs of adaptation to climate change are likely to cost billions of dollars annually for the next several decades , though the amount of money needed is unknown . Donor countries promised an annual $ 100 billion by 2020 through the Green Climate Fund for developing countries to adapt to climate change . However , while the fund was set up during COP16 in Cancún , concrete pledges by developed countries have not been forthcoming . The adaptation challenge grows with the magnitude and the rate of climate change . Another response to climate change , known as climate change mitigation ( Verbruggen , 2007 ) is to reduce greenhouse gas ( GHG ) emissions and/or enhance the removal of these gases from the atmosphere ( through carbon sinks ) . Even the most effective reductions in emissions , however , would not prevent further climate change impacts , making the need for adaptation unavoidable ( Klein et al. , 2007 ) . In a literature assessment , Klein et al. ( 2007 ) assessed options for adaptation . They concluded , with very high confidence , that in the absence of mitigation efforts , the effects of climate change would reach such a magnitude as to make adaptation impossible for some natural ecosystems . Others are concerned that climate adaptation programs might interfere with the existing development programs and thus lead to unintended consequences for vulnerable groups . For human systems , the economic and social costs of unmitigated climate change would be very high . |
692 | Global_warming_controversy | "We indicated 23 years ago — in our 1994 Nature article — that climate models had the atmosphere's sensitivity to CO2 much too high," Christy said in a statement. | Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming . |
258 | Ice_age | But the period has caused a headache for climate scientists because clearly there was no upswell in carbon dioxide that could account for such swift warming. | Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist . |
1049 | 2010s | So far this month, there have been nearly 5,000 daily record highs set or tied, compared to just 42 daily record lows. | 2010s |
1785 | Global_warming | Global surface temperatures have continued to rise steadily beneath short-term natural cooling effects, and the rise in global heat content has not slowed at all. | Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned . |
534 | Avoiding_Dangerous_Climate_Change_(2005_conference) | Domino-effect of climate events could move Earth into a 'hothouse' state | Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change (2005 conference) In 2005, an international conference titled Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change: A Scientific Symposium on Stabilisation of Greenhouse Gases examined the link between atmospheric greenhouse gas concentration and global warming and its effects. The conference name was derived from Article 2 of the charter for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change The conference explored the possible impacts at different levels of greenhouse gas emissions and how the climate might be stabilized at a desired level. The conference took place under the United Kingdom's presidency of the G8, with the participation of around 200 "internationally renowned" scientists from 30 countries. It was chaired by Dennis Tirpak and hosted by the Hadley Centre for Climate Prediction and Research in Exeter, from 1 February to 3 February. The conference was one of many meetings leading up to the 2015 Paris Agreement, at which the international community agreed to limit global warming to no more than 2C in order to have a 50-50 chance of avoiding dangerous climate change. However, a 2018 published study points at a threshold at which temperatures could rise to 4 or 5 degrees through self-reinforcing feedbacks in the climate system, suggesting it is below the 2 degree temperature target. |
1055 | Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy | They do not make a definitive attribution statement, but the data are consistent with and strongly suggestive of human-driven warming as a root cause of the oxygen decline.'" | Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas . The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . '' Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations . |
2275 | Daniel_Bryan | […] Constant 24-7 media coverage of every significant storm worldwide just makes it seem that way." | Daniel Bryan Bryan Lloyd Danielson ( born May 22 , 1981 ) is an American retired professional wrestler currently signed to WWE under the ring name Daniel Bryan , where he is the on-screen general manager of SmackDown . In WWE , Bryan held the WWE ChampionshipDanielson 's first two reigns were as WWE Champion . His final reign was as WWE World Heavyweight Champion . three times and WWE 's World Heavyweight Championship once , in addition to being a one-time United States Champion , a one-time Intercontinental Champion , and a one time WWE Tag Team Champion as part of Team Hell No ( with Kane ) . He was also the 2011 SmackDown Money in the Bank winner and the 2013 Superstar of the Year Slammy Award winner . He is the 26th Triple Crown Champion and the 6th Grand Slam Champion in WWE history and headlined several major pay-per-view events , including SummerSlam in 2013 and WrestleMania XXX . Danielson was previously signed to the WWE , then known as the WWF , for an 18-month period from 2000 -- 2001 . Prior to joining WWE for his second stint in 2009 , Danielson wrestled for various companies internationally using both his real name and the ring name ( and later nickname ) `` American Dragon '' . He wrestled for Ring of Honor ( ROH ) from 2002 to 2009 , being recognized as a `` Founding Father '' of the promotion , where he was a one-time ROH World Champion , as well the final Pure Wrestling Champion ( unifying the Pure title with the World title ) . He was the first winner of ROH 's annual Survival of the Fittest tournament in 2004 . Danielson also wrestled extensively in Japan , winning the GHC Junior Heavyweight Championship in Pro Wrestling Noah and the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Tag Team Championship ( with Curry Man ) in New Japan Pro-Wrestling ( NJPW ) . Between WWE , ROH , and Japanese promotions , he held eleven total championships . Danielson also won numerous titles on the independent circuit , including two PWG World Championships , the FIP Heavyweight Championship , and the wXw World Heavyweight Championship . In 2016 , at age 34 , Danielson retired from professional wrestling due to medical issues ( including seizures ) arising from multiple concussions and a brain lesion . Later that year in July , he was named the General Manager of SmackDown following the return of the WWE brand extension . |
1707 | Carbon_cycle | CO2 is increasing rapidly, and is reaching levels not seen on the earth for millions of years. | Carbon cycle The carbon cycle is the biogeochemical cycle by which carbon is exchanged among the biosphere , pedosphere , geosphere , hydrosphere , and atmosphere of the Earth . Carbon is the main component of biological compounds as well as a major component of many minerals such as limestone . Along with the nitrogen cycle and the water cycle , the carbon cycle comprises a sequence of events that are key to make Earth capable of sustaining life . It describes the movement of carbon as it is recycled and reused throughout the biosphere , as well as long-term processes of carbon sequestration to and release from carbon sinks . The global carbon budget is the balance of the exchanges ( incomes and losses ) of carbon between the carbon reservoirs or between one specific loop ( e.g. , atmosphere and biosphere ) of the carbon cycle . An examination of the carbon budget of a pool or reservoir can provide information about whether the pool or reservoir is functioning as a source or sink for carbon dioxide . The carbon cycle was initially discovered by Joseph Priestley and Antoine Lavoisier , and popularized by Humphry Davy . |
1604 | Carbon_dioxide | CO2 increase is natural, not human-caused. | Carbon dioxide Carbon dioxide ( chemical formula ) is a colorless gas with a density about 60 % higher than that of air ( 1.225 g/L ) that is odorless at normally encountered concentrations . Carbon dioxide consists of a carbon atom covalently double bonded to two oxygen atoms . It occurs naturally in Earth 's atmosphere as a trace gas at a concentration of about 0.04 percent ( 400 ppm ) by volume . Natural sources include volcanoes , hot springs and geysers , and it is freed from carbonate rocks by dissolution in water and acids . Because carbon dioxide is soluble in water , it occurs naturally in groundwater , rivers and lakes , ice caps , glaciers and seawater . It is present in deposits of petroleum and natural gas . As the source of available carbon in the carbon cycle , atmospheric carbon dioxide is the primary carbon source for life on Earth and its concentration in Earth 's pre-industrial atmosphere since late in the Precambrian has been regulated by photosynthetic organisms and geological phenomena . Plants , algae and cyanobacteria use light energy to photosynthesize carbohydrate from carbon dioxide and water , with oxygen produced as a waste product . Carbon dioxide is produced by all aerobic organisms when they metabolize carbohydrates and lipids to produce energy by respiration . It is returned to water via the gills of fish and to the air via the lungs of air-breathing land animals , including humans . Carbon dioxide is produced during the processes of decay of organic materials and the fermentation of sugars in bread , beer and winemaking . It is produced by combustion of wood and other organic materials and fossil fuels such as coal , peat , petroleum and natural gas . It is a versatile industrial material , used , for example , as an inert gas in welding and fire extinguishers , as a pressurizing gas in air guns and oil recovery , as a chemical feedstock and in liquid form as a solvent in decaffeination of coffee and supercritical drying . It is added to drinking water and carbonated beverages including beer and sparkling wine to add effervescence . The frozen solid form of , known as `` dry ice '' is used as a refrigerant and as an abrasive in dry-ice blasting . Carbon dioxide is the most significant long-lived greenhouse gas in Earth 's atmosphere . Since the Industrial Revolution anthropogenic emissions - primarily from use of fossil fuels and deforestation - have rapidly increased its concentration in the atmosphere , leading to global warming . Carbon dioxide also causes ocean acidification because it dissolves in water to form carbonic acid . |
598 | Global_warming_controversy | If ECS is as low as the Energy Balance literature suggests, it means that the climate models we have been using for decades run too hot and need to be revised. | Global warming controversy The global warming controversy concerns the public debate over whether global warming is occurring , how much has occurred in modern times , what has caused it , what its effects will be , whether any action should be taken to curb it , and if so what that action should be . In the scientific literature , there is a strong consensus that global surface temperatures have increased in recent decades and that the trend is caused by human-induced emissions of greenhouse gases . No scientific body of national or international standing disagrees with this view , though a few organizations with members in extractive industries hold non-committal positions . Disputes over the key scientific facts of global warming are more prevalent in the media than in the scientific literature , where such issues are treated as resolved , and such disputes are more prevalent in the United States than globally . Political and popular debate concerning the existence and cause of climate change includes the reasons for the increase seen in the instrumental temperature record , whether the warming trend exceeds normal climatic variations , and whether human activities have contributed significantly to it . Scientists have resolved these questions decisively in favour of the view that the current warming trend exists and is ongoing , that human activity is the cause , and that it is without precedent in at least 2000 years . Public disputes that also reflect scientific debate include estimates of how responsive the climate system might be to any given level of greenhouse gases ( climate sensitivity ) , how global climate change will play out at local and regional scales , and what the consequences of global warming will be . Global warming remains an issue of widespread political debate , often split along party political lines , especially in the United States . Many of the issues that are settled within the scientific community , such as human responsibility for global warming , remain the subject of politically or economically motivated attempts to downplay , dismiss or deny them -- an ideological phenomenon categorised by academics and scientists as climate change denial . The sources of funding for those involved with climate science -- both supporting and opposing mainstream scientific positions -- have been questioned by both sides . There are debates about the best policy responses to the science , their cost-effectiveness and their urgency . Climate scientists , especially in the United States , have reported official and oil-industry pressure to censor or suppress their work and hide scientific data , with directives not to discuss the subject in public communications . Legal cases regarding global warming , its effects , and measures to reduce it have reached American courts . The fossil fuels lobby has been identified as overtly or covertly supporting efforts to undermine or discredit the scientific consensus on global warming . |
404 | Global_cooling | Actual weather records over the past 100 years show no correlation between rising carbon dioxide levels and local temperatures. | Global cooling Global cooling was a conjecture during the 1970s of imminent cooling of the Earth 's surface and atmosphere culminating in a period of extensive glaciation . This hypothesis had little support in the scientific community , but gained temporary popular attention due to a combination of a slight downward trend of temperatures from the 1940s to the early 1970s and press reports that did not accurately reflect the full scope of the scientific climate literature , which showed a larger and faster-growing body of literature projecting future warming due to greenhouse gas emissions . The current scientific opinion on climate change is that the Earth has not durably cooled , but underwent global warming throughout the 20th century . |
434 | Global_Energy_and_Water_Exchanges | It's also a sufficiently long period to include several cycles of climate variability. | Global Energy and Water Exchanges The Global Energy and Water cycle Exchanges project (abbreviated GEWEX, formerly named the Global Energy and Water Cycle Experiment from 1990 to 2012) is an international research project and a core project of the World Climate Research Programme (WCRP). In the beginning, the project intended to observe, comprehend and model the Earth's water cycle. The experiment also observes how much energy the Earth receives, studies how much of that energy reaches surfaces of the Earth and how that energy is transformed. Sunlight's energy evaporates water to produce clouds and rain, and dries out land masses after rain. Rain that falls on land becomes the water budget which can be used by people for agricultural and other processes. GEWEX is a collaboration of researchers worldwide to find better ways of studying the water cycle and how it transforms energy through the atmosphere. If the Earth's climates were identical from year to year, then people could predict when, where and what crops to plant. However, instability created by solar variation, weather trends, and chaotic events creates weather that is unpredictable on seasonal scales. Through weather patterns such as droughts and higher rainfall these cycles impact ecosystems and human activities. GEWEX is designed to collect a much greater amount of data, and see if better models of that data can forecast weather and climate change into the future. |
666 | Polar_bear | while it's true that studies in some regions show polar bears are lighter in weight than they were in the 1980s, there is no evidence that more individuals are starving to death or becoming too thin to reproduce because of less summer ice. | Polar bear The polar bear ( ursus #Latin maritimus #Latin ) is a carnivorous bear whose native range lies largely within the Arctic Circle , encompassing the Arctic Ocean , its surrounding seas and surrounding land masses . It is a large bear , approximately the same size as the omnivorous Kodiak bear ( Ursus arctos middendorffi ) . A boar ( adult male ) weighs around 350 -- , while a sow ( adult female ) is about half that size . Although it is the sister species of the brown bear , it has evolved to occupy a narrower ecological niche , with many body characteristics adapted for cold temperatures , for moving across snow , ice and open water , and for hunting seals , which make up most of its diet . Although most polar bears are born on land , they spend most of their time on the sea ice . Their scientific name means `` maritime bear '' and derives from this fact . Polar bears hunt their preferred food of seals from the edge of sea ice , often living off fat reserves when no sea ice is present . Because of their dependence on the sea ice , polar bears are classified as marine mammals ; an alternative basis for classification as marine mammals is that they depend on the ocean as their main food source . Because of expected habitat loss caused by climate change , the polar bear is classified as a vulnerable species , and at least three of the nineteen polar bear subpopulations are currently in decline . For decades , large-scale hunting raised international concern for the future of the species , but populations rebounded after controls and quotas began to take effect . For thousands of years , the polar bear has been a key figure in the material , spiritual , and cultural life of circumpolar peoples , and polar bears remain important in their cultures . |
586 | Sun | The sun was so intense, it took the mercury up to in excess of 120°F as it topped out at 122.4 °F (50.2°C). | Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System . It is a nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma , with internal convective motion that generates a magnetic field via a dynamo process . It is by far the most important source of energy for life on Earth . Its diameter is about 109 times that of Earth , and its mass is about 330,000 times that of Earth , accounting for about 99.86 % of the total mass of the Solar System . About three quarters of the Sun 's mass consists of hydrogen ( ~ 73 % ) ; the rest is mostly helium ( ~ 25 % ) , with much smaller quantities of heavier elements , including oxygen , carbon , neon , and iron . The Sun is a G-type main-sequence star ( G2V ) based on its spectral class . As such , it is informally referred to as a yellow dwarf . It formed approximately 4.6 billionAll numbers in this article are short scale . One billion is 109 , or 1,000,000,000 . years ago from the gravitational collapse of matter within a region of a large molecular cloud . Most of this matter gathered in the center , whereas the rest flattened into an orbiting disk that became the Solar System . The central mass became so hot and dense that it eventually initiated nuclear fusion in its core . It is thought that almost all stars form by this process . The Sun is roughly middle-aged ; it has not changed dramatically for more than four billion years , and will remain fairly stable for more than another five billion years . After hydrogen fusion in its core has diminished to the point at which it is no longer in hydrostatic equilibrium , the core of the Sun will experience a marked increase in density and temperature while its outer layers expand to eventually become a red giant . It is calculated that the Sun will become sufficiently large to engulf the current orbits of Mercury and Venus , and render Earth uninhabitable . The enormous effect of the Sun on Earth has been recognized since prehistoric times , and the Sun has been regarded by some cultures as a deity . The synodic rotation of Earth and its orbit around the Sun are the basis of the solar calendar , which is the predominant calendar in use today . |
2912 | Amundsen–Scott_South_Pole_Station | temperature under the ice is fixed at -2C. Thus elevated winter air temperatures | Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station The Amundsen -- Scott South Pole Station is a United States scientific research station at the South Pole , the southernmost place on the Earth . The station is located on the high plateau of Antarctica at an elevation of 2,835 metres ( 9,301 feet ) above sea level and is administered by the Division of Polar Programs within the National Science Foundation under the United States Antarctic Program ( USAP ) . The original Amundsen -- Scott Station was built by Navy Seabees for the Federal government of the United States during November 1956 , as a part of its commitment to the scientific goals of the International Geophysical Year ( IGY ) , an international effort lasting from January 1957 through June 1958 , to study , among other things , the geophysics of the polar regions of Earth . Before November 1956 , there was no permanent human structure at the South Pole , and very little human presence in the interior of Antarctica at all . The few scientific stations in Antarctica were located on and near its seacoast . The station has been continuously occupied since it was built . The Amundsen -- Scott Station has been rebuilt , demolished , expanded , and upgraded several times since 1956 . Since the Amundsen -- Scott Station is located at the South Pole , it is at the only place on the land surface of the Earth where the Sun is continuously up for six months and then continuously down for six months . ( The only other such place is at the North Pole , on the sea ice in the middle of the Arctic Ocean . ) Thus , during each year , this station experiences one extremely long `` day '' and one extremely long `` night '' . During the six-month `` day '' , the angle of elevation of the Sun above the horizon varies continuously . The Sun rises on the September equinox , reaches its maximum angle above the horizon on the summer solstice in the Southern Hemisphere , around December 20 , and sets on the March equinox . During the six-month `` night '' , it gets extremely cold at the South Pole , with air temperatures sometimes dropping below -73 ° C . This is also the time of the year when blizzards , sometimes with gale-force winds , strike the Amundsen -- Scott Station . The continuous period of darkness and dry atmosphere make the station an excellent place from which to make astronomical observations , although the Moon is up for two weeks of every 27.3 days . The number of scientific researchers and members of the support staff housed at the Amundsen -- Scott Station has always varied seasonally , with a peak population of about 200 in the summer operational season from October to February . In recent years the winter-time population has been around 50 people . |
2982 | Retreat_of_glaciers_since_1850 | Statistical analysis of the rate of warming over different periods find that warming from 1970 to 2001 is greater than the warming from both 1860 to 1880 and 1910 to 1940. | Retreat of glaciers since 1850 The retreat of glaciers since 1850 affects the availability of fresh water for irrigation and domestic use , mountain recreation , animals and plants that depend on glacier-melt , and , in the longer term , the level of the oceans . Studied by glaciologists , the temporal coincidence of glacier retreat with the measured increase of atmospheric greenhouse gases is often cited as an evidentiary underpinning of global warming . Mid-latitude mountain ranges such as the Himalayas , Alps , Rocky Mountains , Cascade Range , and the southern Andes , as well as isolated tropical summits such as Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa , are showing some of the largest proportionate glacial losses . Glacier mass balance is the key determinant of the health of a glacier . If the amount of frozen precipitation in the accumulation zone exceeds the quantity of glacial ice lost due to melting or in the ablation zone a glacier will advance ; if the accumulation is less than the ablation , the glacier will retreat . Glaciers in retreat will have negative mass balances , and if they do not find an equilibrium between accumulation and ablation , will eventually disappear . The Little Ice Age was a period from about 1550 to 1850 when the world experienced relatively cooler temperatures compared to the present . Subsequently , until about 1940 , glaciers around the world retreated as the climate warmed substantially . Glacial retreat slowed and even reversed temporarily , in many cases , between 1950 and 1980 as global temperatures cooled slightly . Since 1980 , a significant global warming has led to glacier retreat becoming increasingly rapid and ubiquitous , so much so that some glaciers have disappeared altogether , and the existences of many of the remaining glaciers are threatened . In locations such as the Andes of South America and Himalayas in Asia , the demise of glaciers in these regions has the potential to affect water supplies in those areas . The retreat of mountain glaciers , notably in western North America , Asia , the Alps and tropical and subtropical regions of South America , Africa and Indonesia , provide evidence for the rise in global temperatures since the late 19th century . The acceleration of the rate of retreat since 1995 of key outlet glaciers of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets may foreshadow a rise in sea level , which would affect coastal regions . |
1247 | Arctic_sea_ice_decline | People tend to think of an ice-free Arctic in summer in terms of it merely being a symbol of global change. | Arctic sea ice decline Arctic sea ice decline is the sea ice loss observed in recent decades in the Arctic Ocean . The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fourth Assessment Report states that greenhouse gas forcing is largely , but not wholly , responsible for the decline in Arctic sea ice extent . A study from 2011 suggested that internal variability enhanced the greenhouse gas forced sea ice decline over the last decades . A study from 2007 found the decline to be `` faster than forecasted '' by model simulations . The IPCC Fifth Assessment Report concluded with high confidence that sea ice continues to decrease in extent , and that there is robust evidence for the downward trend in Arctic summer sea ice extent since 1979 . It has been established that the region is at its warmest for at least 40,000 years and the Arctic-wide melt season has lengthened at a rate of 5 days per decade ( from 1979 to 2013 ) , dominated by a later autumn freezeup . Sea ice changes have been identified as a mechanism for polar amplification . |
1882 | Austin,_Texas | Every four minutes, another American home or business goes solar. | Austin, Texas Austin ( -LSB- audio = En-us-Austin . ogaˈɒstᵻn , _ ˈɔː - -RSB- ) is the capital of the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Travis County , although portions extend into Hays and Williamson counties . It is the city in the U.S. and the in Texas . It is the fastest growing large city in the United States and the second most populous capital city after Phoenix , Arizona . As of the U.S. Census Bureau 's July 1 , 2015 estimate , Austin has a population of 931,830 . Located in in the foothills of Texas Hill Country , the city is home to numerous lakes , rivers , and waterways including Lady Bird Lake , Barton Springs , McKinney Falls , the Colorado River , Lake Travis , and Lake Walter E. Long . It is the cultural and economic center of the metropolitan area , which had an estimated population of 2,056,405 as of July 1 , 2016 . In the 1830s , pioneers began to settle the area in central Austin along the Colorado River . In 1839 , the site was officially chosen to replace Houston as the new capital of the Republic of Texas and was incorporated under the name `` Waterloo . '' Shortly thereafter , the name was changed to `` Austin '' in honor of Stephen F. Austin , the `` Father of Texas '' and the republic 's first secretary of state . The city subsequently grew throughout the 19th century and became a center for government and education with the construction of the Texas State Capitol and the University of Texas at Austin . After a lull in growth from the Great Depression , Austin resumed its development into a major city and , by the 1980s , it emerged as a center for technology and business . A number of Fortune 500 companies have headquarters or regional offices in Austin , including Amazon.com , Apple Inc. , Cisco , eBay , Google , IBM , Intel , Oracle Corporation , Texas Instruments , 3M , and Whole Foods Market . Dell 's worldwide headquarters is located in nearby Round Rock , a suburb of Austin . Residents of Austin are known as Austinites . They include a diverse mix of government employees , college students , musicians , high-tech workers , blue-collar workers , and a vibrant LGBT community . The city 's official slogan promotes Austin as `` The Live Music Capital of the World , '' a reference to the many musicians and live music venues within the city , as well as the long-running PBS TV concert series Austin City Limits . The city also adopted `` Silicon Hills '' as a nickname in the 1990s due to a rapid influx of technology and development companies . In recent years , some Austinites have also adopted the unofficial slogan `` Keep Austin Weird , '' which refers to the desire to protect small , unique , and local businesses from being overrun by large corporations . In the late 19th century , Austin was known as the `` City of the Violet Crown '' because of the colorful glow of light across the hills just after sunset . Even today , many Austin businesses use the term `` Violet Crown '' in their name . Austin is known as a `` clean-air city '' for its stringent no-smoking ordinances that apply to all public places and buildings , including restaurants and bars . The FBI ranked Austin as the second-safest major city in the U.S. for the year 2012 . U.S. News & World Report named Austin the best place to live in the U.S. in 2017 . |
1656 | Carbon_sequestration | The natural cycle adds and removes CO2 to keep a balance; humans add extra CO2 without removing any. | Carbon sequestration Carbon sequestration is the process involved in carbon capture and the long-term storage of atmospheric carbon dioxide . Carbon sequestration involves long-term storage of carbon dioxide or other forms of carbon to mitigate or defer global warming . It has been proposed as a way to slow the atmospheric and marine accumulation of greenhouse gases , which are released by burning fossil fuels . Carbon dioxide is naturally captured from the atmosphere through biological , chemical , and physical processes . Artificial processes have been devised to produce similar effects , including large-scale , artificial capture and sequestration of industrially produced using subsurface saline aquifers , reservoirs , ocean water , aging oil fields , or other carbon sinks . |
1451 | Ice_age | The planet's average surface temperature has risen about 1.62 degrees Fahrenheit (0.9 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century, a change driven largely by increased carbon dioxide and other human-made emissions into the atmosphere. | Ice age An ice age is a period of long-term reduction in the temperature of Earth 's surface and atmosphere , resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers . Within a long-term ice age , individual pulses of cold climate are termed `` glacial periods '' ( or alternatively `` glacials '' or `` glaciations '' or colloquially as `` ice age '' ) , and intermittent warm periods are called `` interglacials '' . In the terminology of glaciology , ice age implies the presence of extensive ice sheets in both northern and southern hemispheres . By this definition , we are in an interglacial period -- the Holocene -- of the ice age . The ice age began 2.6 million years ago at the start of the Pleistocene epoch , because the Greenland , Arctic , and Antarctic ice sheets still exist . |
1638 | Global_warming | Worry about global warming impacts in the next 100 years, not an ice age in over 10,000 years. | Global warming Global warming , also referred to as climate change , is the observed century-scale rise in the average temperature of the Earth 's climate system and its related effects . Multiple lines of scientific evidence show that the climate system is warming . Many of the observed changes since the 1950s are unprecedented in the instrumental temperature record which extends back to the mid 19th century , and in paleoclimate proxy records over thousands of years . In 2013 , the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) Fifth Assessment Report concluded that `` It is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century . '' The largest human influence has been emission of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide , methane and nitrous oxide . Climate model projections summarized in the report indicated that during the 21st century the global surface temperature is likely to rise a further 0.3 to for their lowest emissions scenario and 2.6 to for the highest emissions scenario . These findings have been recognized by the national science academies of the major industrialized nations and are not disputed by any scientific body of national or international standing . Future climate change and associated impacts will differ from region to region around the globe . Anticipated effects include warming global temperature , rising sea levels , changing precipitation , and expansion of deserts in the subtropics . Warming is expected to be greater over land than over the oceans and greatest in the Arctic , with the continuing retreat of glaciers , permafrost and sea ice . Other likely changes include more frequent extreme weather events including heat waves , droughts , heavy rainfall with floods and heavy snowfall ; ocean acidification ; and species extinctions due to shifting temperature regimes . Effects significant to humans include the threat to food security from decreasing crop yields and the abandonment of populated areas due to rising sea levels . Because the climate system has a large `` inertia '' and greenhouse gases will stay in the atmosphere for a long time , many of these effects will not only exist for decades or centuries , but will persist for tens of thousands of years . Possible societal responses to global warming include mitigation by emissions reduction , adaptation to its effects , building systems resilient to its effects , and possible future climate engineering . Most countries are parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change ( UNFCCC ) , whose ultimate objective is to prevent dangerous anthropogenic climate change . Parties to the UNFCCC have agreed that deep cuts in emissions are required and that global warming should be limited to well below 2.0 C-change relative to pre-industrial levels , with efforts made to limit warming to 1.5 C-change . Public reactions to global warming and concern about its effects are also increasing . A global 2015 Pew Research Center report showed a median of 54 % consider it `` a very serious problem '' . There are significant regional differences , with Americans and Chinese ( whose economies are responsible for the greatest annual CO2 emissions ) among the least concerned . |
1360 | Hysterectomy | In fact, the trend, while not statistically significant, is downward." | Hysterectomy Hysterectomy ( from Greek ὑστέρα , hystera , `` uterus '' + ἐκτομή , ektomḗ , `` a cutting out of '' ) is the surgical removal of the uterus . It may also involve removal of the cervix , ovaries , fallopian tubes and other surrounding structures . Usually performed by a gynecologist , hysterectomy may be total ( removing the body , fundus , and cervix of the uterus ; often called `` complete '' ) or partial ( removal of the uterine body while leaving the cervix intact ; also called `` supracervical '' ) . It is the most commonly performed gynecological surgical procedure . In 2003 , over 600,000 hysterectomies were performed in the United States alone , of which over 90 % were performed for benign conditions . Such rates being highest in the industrialized world has led to the major controversy that hysterectomies are being largely performed for unwarranted and unnecessary reasons . Removal of the uterus renders the patient unable to bear children ( as does removal of ovaries and fallopian tubes ) and has surgical risks as well as long-term effects , so the surgery is normally recommended when other treatment options are not available or have failed . It is expected that the frequency of hysterectomies for non-malignant indications will fall as there are good alternatives in many cases . Oophorectomy ( removal of ovaries ) is frequently done together with hysterectomy to decrease the risk of ovarian cancer . However , recent studies have shown that prophylactic oophorectomy without an urgent medical indication decreases a woman 's long-term survival rates substantially and has other serious adverse effects . This effect is not limited to pre-menopausal women ; even women who have already entered menopause were shown to have experienced a decrease in long-term survivability post-oophorectomy . |
1789 | Tipping_points_in_the_climate_system | CO2 limits won't cool the planet, but they can make the difference between continued accelerating global warming to catastrophic levels vs. slowing and eventually stopping the warming at hopefully safe levels. | Tipping points in the climate system A tipping point in the climate system is a threshold that, when exceeded, can lead to large changes in the state of the system. Potential tipping points have been identified in the physical climate system, in impacted ecosystems, and sometimes in both. For instance, feedback from the global carbon cycle is a driver for the transition between glacial and interglacial periods, with orbital forcing providing the initial trigger. Earth's geologic temperature record includes many more examples of geologically rapid transitions between different climate states.Climate tipping points are of particular interest in reference to concerns about global warming in the modern era. Possible tipping point behaviour has been identified for the global mean surface temperature by studying self-reinforcing feedbacks and the past behavior of Earth's climate system. Self-reinforcing feedbacks in the carbon cycle and planetary reflectivity could trigger a cascading set of tipping points that lead the world into a hothouse climate state.Large-scale components of the Earth system that may pass a tipping point have been referred to as tipping elements. Tipping elements are found in the Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets, possibly causing tens of meters of sea level rise. These tipping points are not always abrupt. For example, at some level of temperature rise the melt of a large part of the Greenland ice sheet and/or West Antarctic Ice Sheet will become inevitable; but the ice sheet itself may persist for many centuries. Some tipping elements, like the collapse of ecosystems, are irreversible. |
1260 | Tropical_savanna_climate | The contrast in precipitation between wet and dry regions and between wet and dry seasons will increase, although there may be regional exceptions. | Tropical savanna climate Tropical savanna climate or tropical wet and dry climate is a type of climate that corresponds to the Köppen climate classification categories `` Aw '' and `` As '' . Tropical savanna climates have monthly mean temperatures above 18 ° C in every month of the year and typically a pronounced dry season , with the driest month having precipitation less than 60 mm and also less than 100 -- -LSB- total annual precipitation -LCB- mm -RCB- / 25 -RSB- of precipitation . This latter fact is in direct contrast to a tropical monsoon climate , whose driest month sees less than 60 mm of precipitation but has more than 100 -- -LSB- total annual precipitation -LCB- mm -RCB- / 25 -RSB- of precipitation . In essence , a tropical savanna climate tends to either see less rainfall than a tropical monsoon climate or have more pronounced dry seasons . There are generally four types of tropical savanna climate : 1 . Distinct wet and dry seasons of relatively equal duration . Most of the region 's annual rainfall is experienced during the wet season and very little precipitation falls during the dry season . 2 . A lengthy dry season and a relatively short wet season . This version features seven or more dry season months and five or less wet season months . There are variations within this version : On one extreme , the region receives just enough precipitation during the short wet season to preclude it from a semi-arid climate classification . This drier variation of the tropical savanna climate is typically found adjacent to regions with semi-arid climates . On the other extreme , the climate features a lengthy dry season followed by a short but extremely rainy wet season . However , regions with this variation of the climate do not experience enough rainfall during the wet season to qualify as a tropical monsoon climate . 3 . A lengthy wet season and a relatively short dry season . This version features seven or more wet season months and five or less dry season months . This version 's precipitation pattern is similar to precipitation patterns observed in some tropical monsoon climates , but does not experience enough rainfall during the wet season to be classified as such . 4 . A dry season with a noticeable amount of rainfall followed by a rainy wet season . In essence , this version mimics the precipitation patterns more commonly found in a tropical monsoon climate , but do not receive enough precipitation during either the dry season or the year to be classified as such . |
2656 | Hockey_stick_controversy | The divergence of tree-ring proxies from temperatures after 1960 is openly discussed in the peer-reviewed literature and the last two IPCC assessment reports. | Hockey stick controversy In the hockey stick controversy , the data and methods used in reconstructions of the temperature record of the past 1000 years have been disputed . Reconstructions have consistently shown that the rise in the instrumental temperature record of the past 150 years is not matched in earlier centuries , and the name `` hockey stick graph '' was coined for figures showing a long-term decline followed by an abrupt rise in temperatures . These graphs were publicised to explain the scientific findings of climatology , and in addition to scientific debate over the reconstructions , they have been the topic of political dispute . The issue is part of the global warming controversy and has been one focus of political responses to reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change ( IPCC ) . Arguments over the reconstructions have been taken up by fossil fuel industry funded lobbying groups attempting to cast doubt on climate science . The use of proxy indicators to get quantitative estimates of the temperature record of past centuries was developed from the 1990s onwards , and found indications that recent warming was exceptional . The reconstruction introduced the `` Composite Plus Scaling '' ( CPS ) method used by most later large-scale reconstructions , and its findings were disputed by Patrick Michaels at the United States House Committee on Science . In 1998 , Michael E. Mann , Raymond S. Bradley and Malcolm K. Hughes developed new statistical techniques to produce ( MBH98 ) , the first eigenvector-based climate field reconstruction ( CFR ) . This showed global patterns of annual surface temperature , and included a graph of average hemispheric temperatures back to 1400 . In ( MBH99 ) the methodology was extended back to 1000 . The term hockey stick was coined by the climatologist Jerry D. Mahlman , to describe the pattern this showed , envisaging a graph that is relatively flat to 1900 as forming an ice hockey stick 's `` shaft '' , followed by a sharp increase corresponding to the `` blade '' . A version of this graph was featured prominently in the 2001 IPCC Third Assessment Report ( TAR ) , along with four other reconstructions supporting the same conclusion . The graph was publicised , and became a focus of dispute for those opposed to the strengthening scientific consensus that late 20th-century warmth was exceptional . Those disputing the graph included Pat Michaels , the George C. Marshall Institute and Fred Singer . A paper by Willie Soon and Sallie Baliunas claiming greater medieval warmth was used by the Bush administration chief of staff Philip Cooney to justify altering the first Environmental Protection Agency Report on the Environment . The paper was quickly dismissed by scientists in the Soon and Baliunas controversy , but on July 28 , Republican Jim Inhofe spoke in the Senate citing it to claim `` that man-made global warming is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people '' . Later in 2003 , a paper by Steve McIntyre and Ross McKitrick disputing the data used in MBH98 paper was publicised by the George C. Marshall Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute . In 2004 , Hans von Storch published criticism of the statistical techniques as tending to underplay variations in earlier parts of the graph , though this was disputed and he later accepted that the effect was very small . In 2005 , McIntyre and McKitrick published criticisms of the principal component analysis methodology as used in MBH98 and MBH99 . The analysis therein was subsequently disputed by published papers , including and , which pointed to errors in the McIntyre and McKitrick methodology . In June 2005 , Rep. Joe Barton launched what Sherwood Boehlert , chairman of the House Science Committee , called a `` misguided and illegitimate investigation '' into the data , methods and personal information of Mann , Bradley and Hughes . At Boehlert 's request , a panel of scientists convened by the National Research Council was set up , which reported in 2006 , supporting Mann 's findings with some qualifications , including agreeing that there were some statistical failings but these had little effect on the result . Barton and U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield requested Edward Wegman to set up a team of statisticians to investigate , and they supported McIntyre and McKitrick 's view that there were statistical failings , although they did not quantify whether there was any significant effect . They also produced an extensive network analysis which has been discredited by expert opinion and found to have issues of plagiarism . Arguments against the MBH studies were reintroduced as part of the Climatic Research Unit email controversy , but dismissed by eight independent investigations . More than two dozen reconstructions , using various statistical methods and combinations of proxy records , have supported the broad consensus shown in the original 1998 hockey-stick graph , with variations in how flat the pre-20th century `` shaft '' appears . The 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report cited 14 reconstructions , 10 of which covered 1,000 years or longer , to support its strengthened conclusion that it was likely that Northern Hemisphere temperatures during the 20th century were the highest in at least the past 1,300 years . Over a dozen subsequent reconstructions , including Mann et al. 2008 and , have supported these general conclusions . |
1447 | Airline | Flights departing airports in the United States and its territories emitted about one-quarter (24%) of global passenger transport-related CO2, two-thirds of which came from domestic flights. | Airline An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight . Airlines utilize aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements . Generally , airline companies are recognized with an air operating certificate or license issued by a governmental aviation body . Airlines vary in size , from small domestic airlines to full-service international airlines . Airline services can be categorized as being intercontinental , domestic , regional , or international , and may be operated as scheduled services or charters . The largest airline currently is American Airlines Group . |
2959 | Climate_change_and_agriculture | Even if the warming were as big as the IPCC imagines, it would not be as dangerous as Mr. Brown suggests. | Climate change and agriculture -RSB- Climate change and agriculture are interrelated processes , both of which take place on a global scale . Climate change affects agriculture in a number of ways , including through changes in average temperatures , rainfall , and climate extremes ( e.g. , heat waves ) ; changes in pests and diseases ; changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and ground-level ozone concentrations ; changes in the nutritional quality of some foods ; and changes in sea level . Climate change is already affecting agriculture , with effects unevenly distributed across the world . Future climate change will likely negatively affect crop production in low latitude countries , while effects in northern latitudes may be positive or negative . Climate change will probably increase the risk of food insecurity for some vulnerable groups , such as the poor . Agriculture contributes to climate change by ( 1 ) anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases ( GHGs ) , and ( 2 ) by the conversion of non-agricultural land ( e.g. , forests ) into agricultural land . Agriculture , forestry and land-use change contributed around 20 to 25 % to global annual emissions in 2010 . There are a range of policies that can reduce the risk of negative climate change impacts on agriculture , and to reduce GHG emissions from the agriculture sector . |
903 | Hydroponics | Growers regularly pump CO2 into greenhouses, raising levels to three times that of the natural environment, to produce stronger, greener, healthier plants." | Hydroponics Hydroponics is a subset of hydroculture , the method of growing plants without soil , using mineral nutrient solutions in a water solvent . Terrestrial plants may be grown with only their roots exposed to the mineral solution , or the roots may be supported by an inert medium , such as perlite or gravel . The nutrients in hydroponics can be from fish waste , duck manure , or chemical fertilizer . |
237 | James_Hansen | However the warming trend is slower than most climate models have forecast | James Hansen James Edward Hansen ( born 29 March 1941 ) is an American adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences at Columbia University . He is best known for his research in climatology , his 1988 Congressional testimony on climate change that helped raise broad awareness of global warming , and his advocacy of action to avoid dangerous climate change . In recent years he has become a climate activist to mitigate the effects of climate change , on a few occasions leading to his arrest . In 2000 , Hansen advanced an alternative view of global warming over the last 100 years , arguing that during that time frame the negative forcing via aerosols and the positive forcing via largely balanced each other out , and that the 0.74 ± 0.18 ° C net rise in average global temperatures could mostly be explained by greenhouse gases other than carbon dioxide , such as methane and chlorofluorocarbons . However , even then he wrote `` the future balance of forcings is likely to shift toward dominance of CO2 over aerosols '' |
665 | Ringed_seal | many scientists were surprised when other researchers subsequently found that ringed and bearded seals (the primary prey of polar bears) north of the Bering Strait especially thrived with a longer open-water season, which is particularly conducive to fishing | Ringed seal The ringed seal ( Pusa hispida or Phoca hispida ) , also known as the jar seal and as netsik or nattiq by the Inuit , is an earless seal ( family : Phocidae ) inhabiting the Arctic and sub-Arctic regions . The ringed seal is a relatively small seal , rarely greater than 1.5 m in length , with a distinctive patterning of dark spots surrounded by light grey rings , hence its common name . It is the most abundant and wide-ranging ice seal in the Northern Hemisphere : ranging throughout the Arctic Ocean , into the Bering Sea and Okhotsk Sea as far south as the northern coast of Japan in the Pacific , and throughout the North Atlantic coasts of Greenland and Scandinavia as far south as Newfoundland , and include two freshwater subspecies in northern Europe . Ringed seals are one of the primary prey of polar bears and have long been a component of the diet of indigenous people of the Arctic . |
2649 | Climatic_Research_Unit_email_controversy | "Mike's Nature trick" has nothing to do with "hide the decline", instead refering to a technique by Michael Mann to plot instrumental temperature along with past reconstructions. | Climatic Research Unit email controversy The Climatic Research Unit email controversy ( also known as `` Climategate '' ) began in November 2009 with the hacking of a server at the Climatic Research Unit ( CRU ) at the University of East Anglia ( UEA ) by an external attacker , copying thousands of emails and computer files , the Climatic Research Unit documents , to various internet locations several weeks before the Copenhagen Summit on climate change . The story was first broken by climate change denialists with columnist James Delingpole popularising the term `` Climategate '' to describe the controversy . Several people considered climate change `` skeptics '' argued that the emails showed global warming was a scientific conspiracy , that scientists manipulated climate data and attempted to suppress critics . The CRU rejected this , saying the emails had been taken out of context and merely reflected an honest exchange of ideas . The mainstream media picked up the story as negotiations over climate change mitigation began in Copenhagen on 7 December 2009 . Because of the timing , scientists , policy makers and public relations experts said that the release of emails was a smear campaign intended to undermine the climate conference . In response to the controversy , the American Association for the Advancement of Science ( AAAS ) , the American Meteorological Society ( AMS ) and the Union of Concerned Scientists ( UCS ) released statements supporting the scientific consensus that the Earth 's mean surface temperature had been rising for decades , with the AAAS concluding , `` based on multiple lines of scientific evidence that global climate change caused by human activities is now underway ... it is a growing threat to society . '' Eight committees investigated the allegations and published reports , finding no evidence of fraud or scientific misconduct . However , the reports called on the scientists to avoid any such allegations in the future by taking steps to regain public confidence in their work , for example by opening up access to their supporting data , processing methods and software , and by promptly honouring freedom of information requests . The scientific consensus that global warming is occurring as a result of human activity remained unchanged throughout the investigations . |
430 | Sea_level_rise | "But there are plenty of studies that have come that show with respect to Antarctica that the total ice sheet, particularly that above land, is increasing, not decreasing. | Sea level rise A sea level rise is an increase in the volume of water in the world 's oceans , resulting in an increase in global mean sea level . Sea level rise is usually attributed to global climate change by thermal expansion of the water in the oceans and by melting of Ice sheets and glaciers on land . Melting of floating ice shelves or icebergs at sea raises sea levels only slightly . Sea level rise at specific locations may be more or less than the global average . Local factors might include tectonic effects , subsidence of the land , tides , currents , storms , etc. . Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries . Because of the slow inertia , long response time for parts of the climate system , it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 m for each degree Celsius of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years . IPCC Summary for Policymakers , AR5 , 2014 , indicated that the global mean sea level rise will continue during the 21st century , very likely at a faster rate than observed from 1971 to 2010 . Projected rates and amounts vary . A January 2017 NOAA report suggests a range of GMSL rise of 0.3 -- 2.5 m possible during the 21st century . Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems . |
2212 | Science | While there are uncertainties with climate models, they successfully reproduce the past and have made predictions that have been subsequently confirmed by observations. | Science Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe . Contemporary science is typically subdivided into the natural sciences , which study the material universe ; the social sciences , which study people and societies ; and the formal sciences , which study logic and mathematics . The formal sciences are often excluded as they do not depend on empirical observations . Disciplines which use science , like engineering and medicine , may also be considered to be applied sciences . From classical antiquity through the 19th century , science as a type of knowledge was more closely linked to philosophy than it is now , and in the Western world the term `` natural philosophy '' once encompassed fields of study that are today associated with science , such as astronomy , medicine , and physics . However , during the Islamic Golden Age foundations for the scientific method were laid by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics . While the classification of the material world by the ancient Indians and Greeks into air , earth , fire and water was more philosophical , medieval Middle Easterns used practical and experimental observation to classify materials . In the 17th and 18th centuries , scientists increasingly sought to formulate knowledge in terms of physical laws . Over the course of the 19th century , the word `` science '' became increasingly associated with the scientific method itself as a disciplined way to study the natural world . It was during this time that scientific disciplines such as biology , chemistry , and physics reached their modern shapes . That same time period also included the origin of the terms `` scientist '' and `` scientific community '' , the founding of scientific institutions , and the increasing significance of their interactions with society and other aspects of culture . |
1698 | 21st_century | Around 97% of climate experts agree that humans are causing global warming. | 21st century The 21st century is the current century of the Anno Domini era , in accordance with the Gregorian calendar . It began on January 1 , 2001 and will end on December 31 , 2100 . It is the first century of the 3rd millennium . It is distinct from the time span known as the 2000s , which began on January 1 , 2000 and will end on December 31 , 2099 . |
1067 | Podlaskie_Voivodeship | "In an old climate, … extremely warm years were less common and snowpack was more reliable … | Podlaskie Voivodeship This is an article about a present administrative unit of Poland . For historical units , see History of Podlaskie Voivodeship . Podlaskie Voivodeship or Podlasie Province ( Województwo podlaskie , -LSB- woje ` wuctfo-pod ` laskJe -RSB- ) is a voivodeship ( province ) in northeastern Poland . It borders on Masovian Voivodeship to the west , Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship to the northwest , Lublin Voivodeship to the south , the Belarusian Voblasts of Grodno and Brest to the east , the Lithuanian Counties of Alytus and Marijampolė to the northeast , and the Kaliningrad Oblast of Russia to the north . The capital of Podlasie Province is Białystok . The province was created on 1 January 1999 , pursuant to the Polish local government reforms adopted in 1998 , from the former Białystok and Łomża Voivodeships and the eastern half of the former Suwałki Voivodeship |
2907 | Cryosphere | Maximum warming occurs over the surface during winter while less surface warming is found in summer when heat is being used to melt sea ice. | Cryosphere The cryosphere ( from the Greek κρύος kryos , `` cold '' , `` frost '' or `` ice '' and σφαῖρα sphaira , `` globe , ball '' ) is those portions of Earth 's surface where water is in solid form , including sea ice , lake ice , river ice , snow cover , glaciers , ice caps , ice sheets , and frozen ground ( which includes permafrost ) . Thus , there is a wide overlap with the hydrosphere . The cryosphere is an integral part of the global climate system with important linkages and feedbacks generated through its influence on surface energy and moisture fluxes , clouds , precipitation , hydrology , atmospheric and oceanic circulation . Through these feedback processes , the cryosphere plays a significant role in the global climate and in climate model response to global changes . The term deglaciation describes the retreat of cryospheric features . Cryology is the study of cryospheres . |
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