Climate change

All the discussions regarding the interaction among science, technology, and society will conclude with
a current controversial topic—climate change. It is current in a sense that is has been out under
international spotlight since the start of the 21st century. Data that have been accumulated are used by
scientists to determine if there really is a significant change in the earth’s climate. But what does climate
change mean? Doesn’t the climate always change?
Climate is not similar to weather which is constantly changing. Climate refers to
the long-term weather patterns changing. The term comes from the greek word
“klinein” meaning “to slope.” It evolved into “klima” connoting a zone or region of
the Earth as characterized by its atmospheric conditions.
Another consideration in explaining climate change is the interaction
between the sun and the Earth.
Earth’s Movement around the Sun
While the orbit remains an ellipse,
its position or orientation in space
changes over time. Due to the tilt of
the Earth, the whole area does not
receive an equal amount of sunlight.
The Earth spins around its own axis,
an imaginary line from the North Pole
to the South pole, which dips and
wobbles gradually. The Earth could
then be imagined like a spinning top or
trumpo and wobbling in its path about
the sun.
The elements in this interaction between the sun
and the earth are as follows:
➔ Aphelion
➔ Perihelion

➔ Earth’s Axial Tilt

➔ Precession

➔ Equinox

➔ Solstice

➔ Precession of the Equinoxes

 Aphelion
➔ refers to the point in the orbit of the earth farthest from the sun.
 Perihelion
is the point in the orbit of the earth closest to the sun.
 Earth’s Axial Tilt
is the inclination angle of the Earth’s rotational axis in relation
to a line perpendicular to its orbital plane.
 Precession
is the change of the orientation of the
rotational axis of the Earth.
 Equinox
refers to the time the sun at noon is directly over the equator. It happens
twice a year and causes an almost equal length of day and night.
 Solstice
happens when the sun at noon sits above the Tropic of Cancer or Tropic
of Capricorn. The summer solstice has the longer period of daylight in the
year and the winter solstice has the shortest period.
 Precession of the Equinoxes
refers to the motion of the equinoxes relative to the precession of
the Earth’s axis of rotation. It happens over thousands of years.
The center of the Earth’s orbital motion is the sun but the angle or orientation of the planet
around the sun makes all the difference. In discussing global warming or climate change,
it makes sense to start considering the orbit of the Earth.

Sunlight falling upon the Earth warms the planet. The amount of sunlight however is not
constant since the orientation of the earth to the sun changes.
 Milankovitch Parameters
There have been eras of climate change
in the past. Is it possible that the 21 st century
may introduce yet another dramatic set of
changes in our climate? Is there enough
information to answer the age old question of
“what will the weather be tomorrow?”
There is a growing body of data suggesting
that the climate not just the local day-to-day
weather, is changing all over the world. In
fact, since the end of the 20 th century, many
have asked if the Earth is headed for another
Ice Age. (Sparks and Hawkesworth, 2004)
This concern raises the question as to what causes such dramatic changes in the day-to-
day weather and climate. It was addressed as early as the 1930s by Slovak scientist and
meteorologist Milutin Milankovitch. His interest in the daily weather patterns led him to
investigate the deeper issues: Do weather and climate come ultimately from the sun so
that it is the sun and its relation to the Earth that accounts for the change in the climate?
Is it possible that as the distance of the sun to the Earth changes, the earth is affected
enough to cause climate change.
His contemporary scientists critiqued his work, saying that the effects of the change in the
radius of the Earth’s orbit, the change in the tilt of the spin of the Earth and the wobble in
the spin axis (now called the Milankovitch Parameters) while real, were so small that
they could not alter the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth enough to cause a
phenomenon like Ice Age. He discusses this more in his Milankovitch Cycles.
The Milankovitch cycles describe how
relatively slight changes in Earth's
movement affect the planet's climate. He
studied Earth's variations for the last 600,000
years and calculated the varying amounts of
solar radiation due to Earth's changing
orbital parameters.
Components of The cycle, There are three of
them: eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession.
According to the Milankovitch Theory,
these three cycles combine to affect the
amount of solar heat that's incident on the
Earth's surface and subsequently influences
climatic patterns.
Global Warming
The Milankovitch parameters seem
to be part of the cause of climate change
though, not the only cause. Some other
factor seems to be needed.
Today, as the world considers climate
change and its implications on food security
and national development, many nations
are taking a deeper look at the science
behind the issue.
 There are two opposing arguements on the
issue of whether or not this global warming is just
“natural.” one side states that it is nature, simply
acting according to its laws with no reference to
human beings and their actions, is the main
reason. For purveyors of this belief, global
warming will happen as naturally as the sun rises
and sets.

Meanwhile the other side maintains that global

warming is caused or greatly abutted by the
actions of human beings. It lays the blame on the
actions of humanity in the past, in the present
and for our futures to come.
 Greenhouse Gases
The so-called greenhouse
effect refers to how certain gases
in the atmosphere trap the heat
of the sun. As early as 1859,
British engineer John Tyndall
wrote:
As a dam built across a river
causes a local deepening of the
stream, so our atmosphere,
thrown across the terrestrial
infared rays, produces a local
heightening of the temperature at
the Earth’s surface.
 His words mean that the
atmosphere contains certain gases that
naturally capture the heat from the sun
and hold it in so that the temperature of
the Earth’s atmosphere becomes hotter
than it would be otherwise.
This mechanism is good for the
biosphere because without it, the
earth’s atmosphere would be like that of
Mars or Antartica-extremely cold. Life
can be sustained at planet earth due to
these gases and other elements.