Engineering Science

GLOBAL WARMING
MUKESH KUMAR#, ADNAN ZUBAIR*, ASHWANI ANAND%, MD. IMRAN+
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Haldia Institute of Technology, [email protected]# , [email protected]* , [email protected]%, [email protected]+

Abstract
An environmental hazard, global warming has been causing great anxiety to man kind because the blanket of green house gases is becoming thicker due to the assimilation of carbon dioxide and other noxious gases in the atmosphere. Due to a rise in the global temperature, the earth surface is becoming warmer. The most alarming fact is that a slight increase in surface temperature say around 1c ,can adversely affect the world food production . As a result the wheat growing zones will be shifted from USSR and Canada to the north pole, that means from the fertile soils to poor soils. This is happening due to increase in the concentration of green house gases as a result of some human activities and also due to some natural causes. . Most national governments have signed and ratified the Kyoto Protocol aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, but there is ongoing political and public debate worldwide regarding what action should be taken to reduce or reverse future warming or to adapt to its expected consequences. In this presentation we have taken into account the various causes of global warming and steps required for its control, with an aim to spread awareness among the public.

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INTRODUCTION
Global warming is the increase in the average temperature of the Earth's near-surface air and oceans since the mid-twentieth century and its projected continuation. . In common usage, the term "global warming" refers to the warming in recent decades and implies a human influence The global average air temperature near the Earth's surface rose 0.74 0.18 C (1.33 averaged temperatures since the mid-twentieth century is very likely due to the observed increase in anthropogenic greenhouse gas concentrations via the greenhouse effect. Natural phenomena such as solar variation combined with volcanoes probably had a small warming effect from preindustrial times to 1950 and a small cooling effect from 1950 onward. Climate model projections summarized by the IPCC indicate that average global surface temperature will likely rise a further 1.1 to 6.4 C (2.0 to 11.5 F) during the twenty-first century. Although most studies focus on the period up to 2100, warming and sea level rise are expected to continue for more than a thousand years even if greenhouse gas levels are stabilized. The delay in reaching equilibrium is a result of the large heat capacity of the oceans.

CAUSES OF GLOBAL WARMING.

Greenhouse gases and greenhouse effect. Greenhouse effect is the process by which absorption and emission of infrared radiation by atmospheric gases warm a planet's lower atmosphere and surface.It was discovered Joseph Fourier in 1824 and was first investigated quantitatively by Svante Arrhenius in 1896. Earth daily absorbs large quantity of solar energy from the sun.Most of this energy is radiated back to the atmosphere by the earth,and this process maintains the balance of heat and energy on the earth.There are many gases present in the atmosphere ,but only carbon dioxide and water vapour absorb this infra red radiation of the earth strongly and effectively block the radiation of energy back to the atmosphere .However,a considerable part of it is re-emitted to the earths surface and consequently the earth surfaces gets heated up.This increase in temperature of the earth is called green house effect and gases responsible for this are called green house gases. Naturally occurring greenhouse gases have a mean warming effect of about 33 C (59 F), without which Earth would be uninhabitable. On Earth, the major greenhouse gases are water vapor, which causes about 3670% of the greenhouse effect (not including clouds); carbon dioxide (CO2), which causes 926%; methane (CH4), which causes 49%; and ozone, which causes 37%. Human activity since the industrial revolution has increased the concentration of various greenhouse gases, leading to increased radiative forcing from CO2, methane, tropospheric ozone, CFCs and nitrous oxide. Molecule for molecule, methane is a more effective greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, but its concentration is much smaller so that its total radiative forcing is only about a fourth of that from carbon dioxide. Some other naturally occurring gases contribute very small fractions of the greenhouse effect, one of these, nitrous oxide (N2O), is increasing in concentration owing to human activity such as agriculture. The

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Engineering Science atmospheric concentrations of CO2 and CH4 have increased by 31% and 149% respectively since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the mid-1700s. Fossil fuel burning has produced about three-quarters of the increase in CO2 from human activity over the past 20 years. Most of the rest is due to land-use change, in particular deforestation. Main causes behind the increase in CO2 in the atmosphere. Natural phenomenon : o Volcanic eruptions. o Forest fire. These natural phenomenon cannot be checked.

Human activities: o Increased combustion of fossil fuels. o Deforestation. See fig:1

Fig1: Recent increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). The present atmospheric concentration of CO2 is about 385 parts per million (ppm) by volume. Future CO2 levels are expected to rise due to ongoing burning of fossil fuels and land-use change. The rate of rise will depend on uncertain economic, sociological, technological, and natural developments, but may be ultimately limited by the availability of fossil fuels. The detailed causes of the recent warming remain an active field of research, but the scientific consensus is that the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gases due to human activity caused most of the warming observed since the start of the industrial era.

Solar variation. Researchers at Duke University, Bruce West and Nicola Scafetta, have estimated that the Sun may have contributed about 4550% of the increase in the average global surface temperature

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Engineering Science over the period 19002000, and about 2535% between 1980 and 2000.Other researchers suggests that climate models overestimate the relative effect of greenhouse gases compared to solar forcing. See fig:2

Fig :2
A hypothesis is that variations in solar output, possibly amplified by cloud seeding via galactic cosmic rays, may have contributed to recent warming .It suggests magnetic activity of the sun is a crucial factor which deflects cosmic rays that may influence the generation of cloud condensation nuclei and thereby affect the climate. One predicted effect of an increase in solar activity would be a warming of most of the stratosphere, whereas greenhouse gas theory predicts cooling there. Reduction of stratospheric ozone also has a cooling influence, but substantial ozone depletion did not occur until the late 1970s. Solar variation combined with changes in volcanic activit probably did have a warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950, but a cooling effect since. In 2006, Peter Foukal and other researchers from the United States, Germany, and Switzerland found no net increase of solar brightness over the last thousand years. Researchers at Duke University, Bruce West and Nicola Scafetta, have estimated that the Sun may have contributed about 4550% of the increase in the average global surface temperature Researchers at Duke University, Bruce West and Nicola Scafetta, have estimated that the Sun may have contributed about 4550% of the increase in the average global surface temperature

over the period 19002000, and about 2535% between 1980 and 2000.Other researchers suggests that climate models overestimate the relative effect of greenhouse gases compared to solar forcing. A hypothesis is that variations in solar output, possibly amplified by cloud seeding via galactic cosmic rays, may have contributed to recent warming .It suggests magnetic activity of the sun is a crucial factor which deflects cosmic rays that may influence the generation of cloud condensation nuclei and thereby affect the climate. One predicted effect of an increase in solar activity would be a warming of most of the stratosphere, whereas greenhouse gas theory predicts cooling there. Reduction of stratospheric ozone also has a cooling influence, but substantial ozone depletion did not occur until the late 1970s. Solar variation combined with changes in volcanic activit probably did have a warming
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Engineering Science effect from pre-industrial times to 1950, but a cooling effect since. In 2006, Peter Foukal and other researchers from the United States, Germany, and Switzerland found no net increase of solar brightness over the last thousand years. Researchers at Duke University, Bruce West and Nicola Scafetta, have estimated that the Sun may have contributed about 4550% of the increase in the average global surface

over the period 19002000, and about 2535% between 1980 and 2000.Other researchers suggests that climate models overestimate the relative effect of greenhouse gases compared to solar forcing. A hypothesis is that variations in solar output, possibly amplified by cloud seeding via galactic cosmic rays, may have contributed to recent warming .It suggests magnetic activity of the sun is a crucial factor which deflects cosmic rays that may influence the generation of cloud condensation nuclei and thereby affect the climate. One predicted effect of an increase in solar activity would be a warming of most of the stratosphere, whereas greenhouse gas theory predicts cooling there. Reduction of stratospheric ozone also has a cooling influence, but substantial ozone depletion did not occur until the late 1970s. Solar variation combined with changes in volcanic activit probably did have a warming effect from pre-industrial times to 1950, but a cooling effect since. In 2006, Peter Foukal and other researchers from the United States, Germany, and Switzerland found no net increase of solar Solar cycles led to a small increase of 0.07% in brightness over the last thirty years. This effect is far too small to contribute significantly to global warming.A paper by Mike Lockwood and Claus Frhlich found no relation between global warming and solar radiation since 1985, whether through variations in solar output or variations in cosmic rays. Henrik Svensmark and Eigil FriisChristensen, the main proponents of cloud seeding by galactic cosmic rays, disputed this criticism of their hypothesis.

Temperature changes See fig :3

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fig :3 Two millennia of mean surface temperatures according to different reconstructions, each smoothed on a decadal scale. The unsmoothed, annual value for 2004 is also plotted for reference. Global temperatures on both land and sea have increased by 0.75 C (1.35 F) relative to the period 18601900, according to the instrumental temperature record. This measured temperature increase is not significantly affected by the urban heat island effect. Since 1979, land temperatures have increased about twice as fast as ocean temperatures (0.25 C per decade against 0.13 C per decade).Temperatures in the lower troposphere have increased between 0.12 and 0.22 C (0.22 and 0.4 F) per decade since 1979, according to satellite temperature measurements. Temperature is believed to have been relatively stable over the one or two thousand years before 1850, with possibly regional fluctuations such as the Medieval Warm Period or the Little Ice Age.
Sea temperatures increase more slowly than those on land both because of the larger effective heat capacity of the oceans and because the ocean can lose heat by evaporation more readily than the land. Based on estimates by NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies, 2005 was the warmest year since reliable, widespread instrumental measurements became available in the late 1800s, exceeding the previous record set in 1998 by a few hundredths of a degree. Estimates prepared by the World Meteorological Organization and the Climatic Research Unit concluded that 2005 was the second warmest year, behind 1998. Temperatures in 1998 were unusually warm because the strongest El Nio in the past century occurred during that year. Anthropogenic emissions of other pollutantsnotably sulfate aerosolscan exert a cooling effect by increasing the reflection of incoming sunlight. This partially accounts for the cooling seen in the temperature record in the middle of the twentieth century,though the cooling may also be due in part to natural variability. James Hansen and colleagues have proposed that the effects of the products of fossil fuel combustionCO2 and aerosolshave largely offset one another, so that warming in recent decades has been driven mainly by non-CO2 greenhouse gases.

Global climate model Scientists have studied global warming with computer models of the climate. These models are based on physical principles of fluid dynamics, radiative transfer, and other processes, with simplifications being necessary because of limitations in computer power and the complexity of
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Engineering Science the climate system. All modern climate models include an atmospheric model that is coupled to an ocean model and models for ice cover on land and sea. Some models also include treatments of chemical and biological processes .These models predict that the effect of adding greenhouse gases is to produce a warmer climate. However, even when the same assumptions of future greenhouse gas levels are used, there still remains a considerable range of climate sensitivity. Including uncertainties in future greenhouse gas concentrations and climate modeling, the IPCC anticipates a warming of 1.1 C to 6.4 C (2.0 F to 11.5 F) by the end of the 21st century, relative to 19801999. Models have also been used to help investigate the causes of recent climate change by comparing the observed changes to those that the models project from various natural and human-derived causes. Current climate models produce a good match to observations of global temperature changes over the last century, but do not simulate all aspects of climate. These models do not unambiguously attribute the warming that occurred from approximately 1910 to 1945 to either natural variation or human effects; however, they suggest that the warming since 1975 is dominated by man-made greenhouse gas emissions. Global climate model projections of future climate are forced by imposed greenhouse gas emission scenarios, most often from the IPCC Special Report on Emissions Scenarios(SRES). Attributed and expected effects See fig:4

Fig:4 Sparse records indicate that glaciers have been retreating since the early 1800s. In the 1950s measurements began that allow the monitoring of glacial mass balance, reported to the WGMS and the NSIDC.

Effects of global warming Sea level rise. Glacial retreat. Arctic shrinkage. Precipatation. o Flooding. o Drought.
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Changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather o Storms. o Warm summers(1998).

Other effects may include changes in agricultural yields, addition of new trade routes reduced summer streamflows, species extinctions, and increases in the range of disease vectors. A 2001 report by the IPCC suggests that glacier retreat, ice shelf disruption such as that of the Larsen Ice Shelf, sea level rise, changes in rainfall patterns, and increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events, are being attributed in part to global warming. While changes are expected for overall patterns, intensity, and frequencies, it is difficult to attribute specific events to global warming. Other expected effects include water scarcity in some regions and increased precipitation in others, changes in mountain snowpack, and adverse health effects from warmer temperatures. Increasing deaths, displacements, and economic losses projected due to extreme weather attributed to global warming may be exacerbated by growing population densities in affected areas, although temperate regions are projected to experience some benefits, such as fewer deaths due to cold exposure. A summary of probable effects and recent understanding can be found in the report made for the IPCC Third Assessment Report by Working Group II. The newer IPCC Fourth Assessment Report summary reports that there is observational evidence for an increase in intense tropical cyclone activity in the North Atlantic Ocean since about 1970, in correlation with the increase in sea surface temperature, but that the detection of long-term trends is complicated by the quality of records prior to routine satellite observations. The summary also states that there is no clear trend in the annual worldwide number of tropical cyclones. Additional anticipated effects include sea level rise of 110 to 770 millimeters (0.36 to 2.5 ft) between 1990 and 2100,repercussions to agriculture, possible slowing of the thermohaline circulation, reductions in the ozone layer, increased intensity of hurricanes and extreme weather events, lowering of ocean pH, and the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. One study predicts 18% to 35% of a sample of 1,103 animal and plant species would be extinct by 2050, based on future climate projections. However, few mechanistic studies have documented extinctions due to recent climate change and one study suggests that projected rates of extinction are uncertain. Related climatic issues Ocean acidification. Global dimming . Ozone depletion.

Increased atmospheric CO2 increases the amount of CO2 dissolved in the oceans. CO2 dissolved in the ocean reacts with water to form carbonic acid, resulting in acidification. Ocean surface pH is estimated to have decreased from 8.25 near the beginning of the industrial era to 8.14 by 2006, and is projected to decrease by a further 0.14 to 0.5 units by 2100 as the ocean absorbs more CO 2. Since organisms and ecosystems are adapted to a narrow range of pH, this raises extinction concerns, directly driven by increased atmospheric CO2, that could disrupt food webs and impact human societies that depend on marine ecosystem services. Global dimming, the gradual reduction in the amount of global direct irradiance at the Earth's surface, may have partially mitigated global warming in the late twentieth century. From 1960 to
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Engineering Science 1990 human-caused aerosols likely precipitated this effect. Scientists have stated with 6690% confidence that the effects of human-caused aerosols, along with volcanic activity, have offset some of the global warming, and that greenhouse gases would have resulted in more warming than observed if not for these dimming agents. Ozone depletion, the steady decline in the total amount of ozone in Earth's stratosphere, is frequently cited in relation to global warming. Although there are areas of linkage, the relationship between the two is not strong.

Social and political debate Over the past several years, increased awareness of the scientific findings surrounding global warming has resulted in political and economic debate. Poor regions, particularly Africa, appear at greatest risk from the suggested effects of global warming, while their actual emissions have been small compared to the developed world. At the same time, developing country exemptions from provisions of the Kyoto Protocol have been criticized by the United States and Australia, and have been used as part of the rationale for continued non-ratification by the U.S. In the Western world, the idea of human influence on climate has gained wider acceptance in Europe than in the United States. The issue of climate change has sparked debate weighing the benefits of limiting industrial emissions of greenhouse gases against the costs that such changes would entail. There has been discussion in several countries about the cost and benefits of adopting alternative energy sources in order to reduce carbon emissions.Organizations and companies such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute and ExxonMobil have emphasized more conservative climate change scenarios while highlighting the potential economic cost of stricter controls.Likewise, various environmental lobbies and a number of public figures have launched campaigns to emphasize the potential risks of climate change and promote the implementation of stricter controls. Some fossil fuel companies have scaled back their efforts in recent years or called for policies to reduce global warming. Another point of debate is the degree to which newly developed economies such as India and China should be expected to constrain their emissions. China's gross national CO2 emissions are expected to exceed those of the U.S. within the next few years, and may have already done so according to a 2006 report.China has contended that it has less of an obligation to reduce emissions since its per capita emissions are roughly one-fifth that of the United States. [India, also exempt from Kyoto restrictions and another of the biggest sources of industrial emissions, has made similar assertions.However, the U.S. contends that if they must bear the cost of reducing emissions, then China should do the same.

Adaptation and mitigation The broad agreement among climate scientists that global temperatures will continue to increase has led some nations, states, corporations and individuals to implement actions to try to curtail global warming or adjust to it. Many environmental groups encourage individual action against global warming, often by the consumer, but also by community and regional organizations. Others have suggested a quota on worldwide fossil fuel production, citing a direct link between fossil fuel production and CO2 emissions. There has also been business action on climate change, including efforts at increased energy efficiency and limited moves towards use of alternative fuels. One important innovation has been the development of greenhouse gas emissions trading through which companies, in conjunction

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Engineering Science with government, agree to cap their emissions or to purchase credits from those below their allowances. The world's primary international agreement on combating global warming is the Kyoto Protocol, an amendment to the UNFCCC negotiated in 1997. The Protocol now covers more than 160 countries globally and over 55% of global greenhouse gas emissions.Only the United States and Kazakhstan have not ratified the treaty, with the United States historically being the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gas. This treaty expires in 2012, and international talks began in May 2007 on a future treaty to succeed the current one. Claiming "serious harm" to the United States economy and the exemption of "80 percent of the world, including major population centers" like China and India from the treaty, George W. Bush contends that the Kyoto Protocol is an unfair and ineffective means of addressing global climate change concerns. Bush has promoted improved energy technology as a means to combat climate change, and various state and city governments within the United States have begun their own initiatives to indicate support and compliance with the Kyoto Protocol on a local basis; an example of this being the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. China and India, though exempt from its provisions as developing countries, have ratified the Kyoto Protocol. China may have passed the U.S. in total annual greenhouse gas emissions according to some recent studies. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has called on the nation to redouble its efforts to tackle pollution and global warming. The IPCC's Working Group III is responsible for crafting reports that deal with the mitigation of global warming and analyzing the costs and benefits of different approaches. In the 2007 IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, they conclude that no one technology or sector can be completely responsible for mitigating future warming. They find there are key practices and technologies in various sectors, such as energy supply, transportation, industry, and agriculture, that should be implemented to reduced global emissions. They estimate that stabilization of carbon dioxide equivalent between 445 and 710 ppm by 2030 will result in between a 0.6% increase and 3% decrease in global gross domestic product.

Global Warming See fig:5

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Engineering Science Fig :5 On Feb. 2, 2007, the United Nations scientific panel studying climate change declared that the evidence of a warming trend is "unequivocal," and that human activity has "very likely" been the driving force in that change over the last 50 years. The last report by the group, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, in 2001, had found that humanity had "likely" played a role. The addition of that single word "very" did more than reflect mounting scientific evidence that the release of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases from smokestacks, tailpipes and burning forests has played a central role in raising the average surface temperature of the earth by more than 1 degree Fahrenheit since 1900. It also added new momentum to a debate that now seems centered less over whether humans are warming the planet, but instead over what to do about it. In recent months, business groups have banded together to make unprecedented calls for federal regulation of greenhouse gases. The subject had a red-carpet moment when former Vice President Al Gore's documentary, "An Inconvenient Truth," was awarded an Oscar; and the Supreme Court made its first global warming-related decision, ruling 5 to 4 that the Environmental Protection Agency had not justified its position that it was not authorized to regulate carbon dioxide. The greenhouse effect has been part of the earth's workings since its earliest days. Gases like carbon dioxide and methane allow sunlight to reach the earth, but prevent some of the resulting heat from radiating back out into space. Without the greenhouse effect, the planet would never have warmed enough to allow life to form. But as ever larger amounts of carbon dioxide have been released along with the development of industrial economies, the atmosphere has grown warmer at an accelerating rate: Since 1970, temperatures have gone up at nearly three times the average for the 20th century. The latest report from the climate panel predicted that the global climate is likely to rise between 3.5 and 8 degrees Fahrenheit if the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere reaches twice the level of 1750. By 2100, sea levels are likely to rise between 7 to 23 inches, it said, and the changes now underway will continue for centuries to come.

Retreating Ice See fig:6

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fig:6 Security In November 2007, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the Center for a New American Security published a report highlighting the national security effects of climate change. These security effects include increased competition for resources between countries, mass migration from the worst affected areas, challenges to the cohesion of major states threatened by the rise in sea levels, and, as a consequence of these factors, an increased risk of armed conflict, including even nuclear conflicts. Precautions to global warming

Checking atmosphere pollution. Deforestation should be stopped. Unnecessary combustion of fuel should be checked. Renewable sources of energy should be used as it is non-polluting and very efficient. o Solar energy. o Wind energy. Hydro electricity should be used. Encourage biogas plant. Devoleoment of more efficient vehicles would also result in less consumption of fuel and therefore less atmospheric pollution. Brick houses should be encouraged as they retain less heat.

References.

1. A guide to facts and fictions about climate change. Royal Society (March 2005).
2. New York Times. 3. Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007-02-05). 4. Changes in Atmospheric Constituents and in Radiative Forcing (PDF). Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. 5. www.google.com

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