GRAN COLOMBIA HIGH SCHOOL

NAME:ANTTHONY MORETA

Curse: 3ro “B” CIeNCIAs

DATE: TUESDAY MARCH 7,2023

What is global warming?

Greenhouse gases have an increasing impact on the daily life of the entire world. We take a tour of science to explain
what exactly global warming causes climate change and what its consequences are.

he year 2020 was the hottest year in Spain, in Europe and worldwide since records exist and, on a global scale, the
first half of 2021 ended among the six warmest. Last August, Spain reached its all-time high with 47.4 ºC and Europe
with 48.8 ºC. This increase in temperatures could reach an increase of 2.2 degrees compared to pre-industrial levels
in 2040 and 3.8 in 2100, according to the analysis of a group of more than 80 scientists in the report Climate and
environmental change in the Mediterranean basin. , conducted by the Mediterranean Experts on Climate and
Environmental Change (MedECC) network.

Glaciers are melting at a rate never seen before, sea levels are rising due to melting ice, forests are drying up, and
fauna and flora are struggling to survive in a scenario of rapid and complex changes that often seriously impact
biodiversity. A general increase in temperatures, extreme weather events, heat waves and floods, crop failures,
climate migrants and a long list of consequences that put climate change at the forefront of the global agenda due to
its worldwide effects. Scientific evidence states that human industrial activity has caused most of the global warming
of the past century through the emission of greenhouse gases, which trap heat and whose levels are increasing.

In fact, for the first time since there are records, the conclusions of a recent study published last March have
challenged the estimates of climate evolution by revealing that the capacity of the largest forest in the world to
absorb carbon from the atmosphere is has reduced to such an extent that it could already be releasing more carbon
than it stores. But what exactly is global warming and how does it impact our planet and our daily lives? We take a
tour of science to explain all the aspects of this phenomenon that already permeates our day to day at all levels.

The greenhouse effect

The “greenhouse effect” is the warming that occurs when certain gases in Earth's atmosphere trap heat. These gases
let in light but keep in heat like the glass walls of a greenhouse.

First, sunlight shines on the Earth's surface, where it is absorbed, and then returns to the atmosphere as heat. In the
atmosphere, greenhouse gases trap some of this heat and the rest escapes into space. The more greenhouse gases,
the more heat is retained.

Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), the most dangerous and prevalent greenhouse gas, are the highest ever
recorded and are rising. Greenhouse gas levels are now so high mainly because humans have released them into the
air by burning fossil fuels. The gases absorb the sun's energy and keep the heat close to the Earth's surface, instead
of letting it escape into space. This heat capture is known as the greenhouse effect.

The other greenhouse gases are: methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and industrial gases, among which fluorinated
gases such as hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, chlorofluorocarbons, sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) and trifluoride
stand out. nitrogen (NF3).