Climate change is a contentious issue that has sparked debate around the world since the nineteenth century. Many reasons are driving the changes, and weather stations have been deployed across the planet and in space to help monitor the changes over time. Climate change has been recorded since 1880 and has shifted from year to year. The many weather stations supplied statistical data that was compared, and there is evidence of fluctuations where some years had warmer or cooler climates than others. The data show that the climate varies periodically, and that the differences are exacerbated by the eruption of volcanoes all over the world. Globally the climate trends show a rise in global warming which is an alarming situation.
The year to year fluctuations of the global climate are indicated by the increase or decrease of the temperatures recorded over the years. The comparison between 10 non-successive years have depicted that temperatures have increase and decreased 10 times. The average temperature rise over the years recorded in 0.0080C higher than the preceding year. Increase in temperature is a result of the continued pollution of the environment which includes the emission of ODS that accounts for about 92% of ozone layer depletion. When the ozone layer is depleted the atmosphere is unprotected from excessive heat from the sun that is trapped in the lower layer of the atmosphere by CFC gases therefore, temperatures will rise. There is also decrease in temperature which is caused by cooling of the stratosphere as a result of major volcanic occurrences. The stratospheric aerosols reflect away the incoming radiation as it tries to enter the troposphere leading to the strong cooling effect. The fluctuation in temperature is evidenced in the table below depicting a 60% increase in temperature and probability of 40% decrease over the years selected for the study.
Chosen year
Year1
Year2
Temp (oC) Year1
Temp (oC) Year2
1
1880
1881
13.75
13.8
2
1900
1901
13.9
13.84
3
1910
1911
13.67
13.66
4
1915
1916
13.91
13.7
5
1920
1921
13.81
13.87
6
1939
1940
14.03
14.05
7
1960
1961
13.99
14.08
8
1979
1980
14.09
14.18
9
1995
1996
14.38
14.3
10
2004
2005
14.49
14.63
The inter-annual variability of the global climate is a cause of concern that has been registered throughout the data. It is noted that the volcanoes affect the warming and cooling of the globe for a period of 4 years before the globe can return to normal. Eruptions of El Chicon and Mt. Pinatubo for instance produced massive amounts of sulphuric acid into the stratosphere. The anthropogenic sulphur released post-industrial era has increased over the years and together with volcanic eruptions, the levels are in surmountable. The acid dust from the eruptions absorbed huge quantities of radiation, heating up the stratosphere. The acidic dust also reacts with hydrogen peroxide in the atmosphere a reaction that releases heat as it entails combustion of the chemicals. The presence of sulphuric acid in the stratosphere reflects the incoming radiation leading to over cooling in 1982 to 1991 which are the years within which the eruptions occurred. The table below is an illustration of the inter-annual variations that have occurred before and after three successive years after an eruption.
Volcanic Eruption (Year)
Annual Global Temperature (oC)
Year before eruption
Year eruption occurred
Year after eruption
Two years after eruption
Three years after eruption
Pinatubo (1991)
14.38
14.35
14.13
14.14
14.24
Global temperature trends are being watched and the evidence collected from the global time series reveal that temperatures are rising over time. To affirm the rise in temperature over time the warming trend from 1905 to 2005 is recorded as 0.0640C increase per century. The increase in temperature has peaks and from the data acquired they seem to be around war periods such as in 1940s during the Second World War and in 2000s around the period of the war in Iraq. The increase in temperature is significantly high during these periods because there is massive release of CO2 from ammunitions that generally heats up the earth. The CO2 released from the war vessels interfered with the stratospheric layer such that it was worn out because the reaction of carbon depleted the layer. Nonetheless, CO2 cannot be used as a globally temperature predictor. This is because there is a cooling mirage after the Second World War which is propelled by massive industrial activities of the time. The information collected from weather stations indicate that the warmest years are 2001, 2005 and 1998 while coolest years are 1887, 1890, 1907, 1909 and 1917. From the global trends with respect to temperature increase the main concern is emission of CO2 which is the largest contributor of global warming today. The world should come together and forge ways to reduce or curb the emissions in order to combat global warming. The bar graph below shows that human activity which mostly consists of CO2 is the leading cause of global warming.
In conclusion, fluctuations in temperatures across the globe have been ongoing for centuries as registered from 1880 to 2005. There is solid and founded evidence that variations in temperature have occurred and more so because of volcanic eruptions which affect the weather for about 4 years. According to global trends in temperatures, the emission of CO2 especially during war periods had an immense influence on the increase of global temperatures. It is the duty of all nations across the globe to work on a solution to reduce and eventually eradicate CO2 emissions because they are the main cause of global warming.
