Before we even heard of the term “climate change” there was the “greenhouse gas effect” and “global warming” – so why the changes in terminology?  It’s not so much that the terminology has changed over the years, it’s more the understanding we have come to have on this global pandemic and the common knowledge that has grown within our societies.

Greenhouse Gas Effect

The greenhouse gas effect is the cause of what we used to call global warming, but now call climate change (we’ll talk more about that change in terminology later).  Global warming is a process by which the earth is warmed up due to an increase in the volume of “greenhouse gases” in the atmosphere.  Greenhouse gases consist of carbon dioxide (CO₂), water (H₂O), nitrogen oxides (NO_x) and other molecules.  These gases occur naturally in the atmosphere surrounding the earth helping to keep the earth warm, without these gases to act as blanket around the earth the average temperature on earth would actually be around -18ºC instead of our current 15ºC.

Sticking with the blanket analogy, if you pile more blankets on the bed, we all know that you will get warmer – the same is true for the greenhouse gases.  With an increase in CO₂ being released into the atmosphere, along with water and nitrogen and a whole host of other emissions there is an increase in the amount of heat that is trapped on the Earth’s surface.

These greenhouse gas molecules are being released as a result of human consumption of fossil fuels for manufacturing and transportation, as well as emissions as a result of many other types of combustion which occur all over the world making the world the booming industrial place we know and love.

Rise in CO₂ Levels

Prior to the industrial revolution carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere were 278 ppm, during the industrial revolution we started to see an increase in the volume of carbon dioxide being emitted into the atmosphere and saw the concentration of CO2 rise to around 290 ppm as of 2007 the atmospheric concentration of CO2 is now at 384 ppm.  Looking at this correlation it is easy to see that humans have had a direct influence on the current status of the atmosphere, which also correlates with the trend of temperature increasing.

This brings us to the change in terminology from “global warming” to “climate change”.  When this phenomenon first started to be discussed in mainstream media people believed that the greenhouse gas effect would simply cause an increase in temperature on the earth – which in effect it does.  However, during this gradual temperature increase we start to see changes in our global weather cycles which cause disruption to the normal weather patterns we see in some areas.

Climate Change Impacts on the Arctic

The area that has seen the largest impact as a result of climate change has been the arctic.  In 2004 the results of an arctic climate impact study were issued by eight arctic nations (Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the United States), six Indigenous People’s Organizations and official observers (France, Germany and the United Kingdom).  The lead authors were from the Universities of Colorado, Laval, Alaska, Stockholm, Harvard, Western Ontario, Aberdeen, Alberta and also included scientists from government agencies such as Fisheries and Oceans Canada.  Fourty-five Canadian scientists and thirty Canadian experts in traditional knowledge contributed.  The Government of Canada contributed $500,000 to facilitate the involvement of the Canadian researchers.  The Canadian Centre for Climate Modeling and Analysis (a branch of Meteorological Service of Canada) provided climate change scenarios along with four other global modeling centres of high repute.  All of this to say that this was a very in depth study, conducted by highly specialized and trained individuals.

The findings?  They concluded that the changes in sea ice are a key climate change indicator for what is happening, and how fast.  While studying the impact that climate change has had on the sea ice in the arctic they determined that there has been an 8% decrease in annual sea ice extent in the last 30 years, which equals more than 1 million square kilometres of ice!  While in the summer the ice extent decreases by more than 15 – 20%.  They also discovered that the thickness of the sea ice decreases by 10-15% and in some areas up to 40%.

The arctic is more susceptible to climate change, and therefore rapid melting, because of the arctic feedback loop.  As the temperature rises the ice begins to melt, which in turn causes more ocean surface to be exposed which has a lower reflectivity quotient than ice therefore absorbing more radiation and causing further warming.  This in turn causes further melting, and the cycle continues.  This feedback loop is the reason why the Arctic climate impact study determined that the melting of the sea ice is a valuable indicator to climate change, which some have compared to the canary in a coal mine.

Scientists had first predicted that the arctic would be ice free by 2070, but more recent studies have actually indicated that it will be ice free as soon as 2013.

This melting will mean that there will be a much greater area of ice-free ocean to absorb solar radiation and cause widespread climate changes increasing the global temperature by several degrees.

Many people wonder what the big deal in a couple of degrees is, the chart below shows how much damage only a few degrees can do to the world as we know it.