UNT Global Warming Presentation

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Paola Becerril
Annotated Bibliography on Global Warming
March 2, 2022
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Al-Ghussain, L. (2019). Global warming: review on driving forces and mitigation: Global
Warming: Review on Driving Forces and Mitigation. Environmental Progress &
Sustainable Energy, 38(1), 13–21. https://doi.org/10.1002/ep.13041
This article notes that global warming remains a major threat affecting the world today.
This is caused by various human activities, especially due to the overuse of fossil fuels to
generate energy. The use of such energy sources contributes to increased concentration of the
greenhouse gases such as CH4, CO2, and N2O in the atmosphere hence increasing heat in the
environment. Based on the article, water vapor is linked to two-thirds of global warming. On the
other side, carbon dioxide is identified as the main controlling factor in climate change and
global warming. The argument holds that without an increase in the concentration of CO2, global
warming would not occur. Hence an increase in the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
contributes to an increased temperature, while a decrease would contribute to lower surface
temperatures. According to Al-Ghussain (2019), the temperature changes are also dependent on
the amount of humidity in the atmosphere. The concentration of other gases such as the N20 and
CH4 have insignificant contributions to global warming given their low atmospheric
concentrations. The article holds that the mitigation strategies in place would help reduce the
amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere hence reducing the chances of increased global
warming. This article provides important information that I can use in addressing some of the
factors that contribute to global warming. The article will be resourceful while researching global
warming and how it can be reduced.
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Rosso Grossman, M. (2018). Climate change and the individual. The American Journal of
Comparative Law, 66(suppl_1), 345–378. https://doi.org/10.1093/ajcl/avy018
The author notes that climate change was once considered a future problem that has
moved to the present. There are various climatic changes, such as the rise in the ocean and
atmospheric temperatures and the frequency of adverse weather events witnessed today. The
article cites a report from 2017 on climate change, noting that human activities are linked to
increasing global warming. The article identifies greenhouse gases in the atmosphere as the
major cause of global warming and climate change. Information provided in the article is based
on a questionnaire to address lawsuits filed by people against private and public actors who
contribute to climate change. The article notes that most environmental organizations sue the
actors for adopting mitigation against climate change that would reduce negative effects leading
to global warming. This article will help highlight the measures taken to reduce global warming.
National Geographic. (2019, January 14). Global Warming effects. National
Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/globalwarming-effects
The article discusses the major causes of global warming, noting that the planet has
continued to experience increased temperatures since 1906. This article notes that the warming
happens from the north to the south pole with an increase of 1.6 Degrees Fahrenheit. The effects
are felt as the increased heat melts sea ice and glaciers, causing a shift in precipitation patterns
while animals are also affected by their natural habitats. The changes are attributed to the shift in
climatic conditions that lead to increased average temperatures. The main contribution of these
factors is the human activities that lead to increased greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Impacts
of the climate in relation to global warming are documented, such as melting ice at the poles, rise
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in sea levels, and disruption of species from their natural habitat. The information provided in
this article will help understand the causes of global warming, especially the contributions of
human activities in increased greenhouse gases. Also, the article discusses the effects of global
warming, and I will incorporate them in my research study. Based on the information, mitigation
methods can be identified, which I intend to incorporate in my recommendations.
Thompson, T. (2021). Arctic sea ice hits 2021
minimum. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02649-6
The article discusses the changes in Arctic sea ice, which has passed the minimum extent
of shrinking. The article notes that the annual minimum reported was the lowest since 2014. The
changes are attributed to the changes in global warming despite the overall trends reported in sea
ice. The article notes that there is an increase in the average global temperatures. Despite the
changes in the average atmospheric temperatures, cool summer is witnessed. Arctic regions are
said to have cloudier and cooler seasons which haven’t been witnessed before. The article also
highlights the effects of low weak pressure in the Arctic, which ensures cold air, hence
preventing ice melting. The formation of clouds also blocks the sun, which slows down ice
melting. With such conditions, the ice tends to be thicker than before. The article provides a
detailed discussion on how various conditions such as low pressure and cold temperatures can
help prevent ice melting. Such conditions can help prevent global warming and create a better
environment for species to thrive in. I will use the information provided in the article to show
how long temperatures reduce the melting of ice while creating better conditions for animals and
other species to thrive.
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References
Al-Ghussain, L. (2019). Global warming: review on driving forces and
mitigation. Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy, 38(1), 13-21.
National Geographic. (2019, January 14). Global Warming effects. National
Geographic. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/global-warmingeffects
Rosso Grossman, M. (2018). Climate change and the individual. The American journal of
comparative law, 66(suppl_1), 345-378.
Thompson, T. (2021). Arctic sea ice hits 2021
minimum. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-02649-6
Global Warming: Review on Driving Forces and
Mitigation
Loiy Al-Ghussain
Mechatronics Engineering Department/NanoLab, School of Applied Technical Sciences, German Jordanian University, P.O. Box
35247, Amman, 11180, Jordan; loui.essam@hotmail.com (for correspondence)
Published online 00 Month 2018 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002/ep.13041
Global warming is one of the major consequences of the
human activities where the overuse of fossil fuels as energy
resources caused the increase in the concentration of the
greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as CO2, CH4, N2O, and water
vapor, in the atmosphere causing the increase in the average
surface temperature of the earth. This article reviews the driving forces of global warming and highlights the major contributors to this phenomenon and presents some of the mitigation
techniques. Water vapor is responsible for two-third of the
global warming; however, CO2 is considered as the controlling
factor of the global warming. In other words, if the concentration of CO2 did not increase, global warming would not have
happened. Scientists claim that doubling or halving the CO2
in the atmosphere causes the change in the average surface
temperature of the earth by +3.8 C or -3.6 C, respectively.
However, this amount of change depends on the change in
the humidity of the air which in return depends on the air’s
temperature. Conversely, even though the other GHGs such as
CH4 and N2O have stronger ability to absorb the radiation,
their contribution in the global warming is insigni?cant
because of their low concentration in the atmosphere compared with CO2. The adoption of the mitigation and adaptation strategies at the same time is the most effective economic
and technical solution for the global warming issue. © 2018
American Institute of Chemical Engineers Environ Prog, 2018
Keywords: global warming, greenhouse gases, water
vapor, CO2
INTRODUCTION
Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases
Global warming is de?ned as “the increase in the surface
average temperature of the earth” because of the increase in
the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as water
vapor, methane, ozone, carbon dioxide, chloro?uorocarbons
(CFCs), and nitrous oxide [1]. Greenhouse effect is the main
cause of being earth a suitable place to live on, without GHGs,
the earth surface temperature would be too law and so no life
will be on earth. However, the increase in the amount of
GHGs in the atmosphere led to this catastrophic phenomenon,
that is, the global warming [2].
The atmosphere of the earth consists of nitrogen, oxygen,
and argon mainly and other gases in small quantities including
GHGs and some pollutants as represented in Table 1. The percentage of the permanent gases (nitrogen, oxygen, and argon)
© 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
does not change while the percentage of the trace gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxides and ozone) changes
daily, seasonally, and annually [3,4]. GHGs have the ability to
absorb and reradiate infrared radiation because of the internal
vibrational modes that their atoms have, unlike the other main
components of the atmosphere [5].
Heat Retention Mechanism
The solar radiation spectrum consists of three wavelength
ranges; ultraviolet range, visible range and infrared range and
each range possess a portion of the solar energy. Figure 1
shows the components of the extraterrestrial solar radiation
spectrum and the fraction of the solar energy in each range.
Infrared waves carry almost half of the solar energy in the
spectrum, most of these infrared waves are with high wavelength due to the sun surface temperature (5777 K) [5,6].
As the sun radiation goes through the atmosphere, minor
portions of it get absorbed by the GHGs and re?ected toward
the space due to clouds and aerosols. Carbon dioxide and
methane absorb the waves in the infrared region, while ozone
absorbs the waves in ultraviolet region. Moreover, the absorption effect of water vapor is distributed throughout all the
wave lengths [7]. The major portion of solar radiation hits the
earth’s surface and the terrestrial objects causing a rise in the
temperature of these objects. As the earth’s surface and terrestrial objects get warmer they radiate short-wave infrared radiation (due to their low temperature (277 K) compared with the
sun) toward the atmosphere, which will be absorbed by GHGs
[4]. Figure 2 shows the extraterrestrial and terrestrial wavelength spectrum and the characteristics of water vapor and carbon dioxide to absorb radiant energy at short-wave infrared
region.
THE DRIVING FORCES OF GLOBAL WARMING
Natural Events
The climate of the earth has changed many times in the
past with causes related to nature like the variation in the solar
radiation emitted by the sun, the volcanic eruptions, and the
variation in the incident solar radiation on earth due to Milankovitch cycle [8,9]. Milankovitch cycle is de?ned as a long-term
cycle that occurs every 10,000 years, this cycle launches natural global cooling and warming by three causes: the eccentricity, the obliquity, and the precession. The eccentricity is
de?ned as the change in the elliptical shape of the earth’s orbit
while the obliquity is de?ned as the change in the declination
angle of the earth and the precession is de?ned as the wobble
of earth’s axis [10].
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Table 1. The gas content of the earth’s atmosphere [3,4].
Gas name
Nitrogen
Oxygen
Argon
Carbon dioxide
Neon
Helium
Methane
Nitrous oxide
Ozone
Percentage (%)
78
21
0.9
0.0935
0.004675
0.001299
0.000442
0.000078
0.00001
NASA satellites have been measuring the sun irradiation
since 1978, the readings show a very slight drop in irradiance
(the rate of energy emitted by the sun) over this period of time
[11]. Long-term estimations were made to determine the effect
of the variation of solar radiation; the results show that the
change in the solar radiation could be responsible for not
more than 10% of the 20th century warming. Moreover, if the
warming is caused by the increase in solar activity the whole
layers of atmosphere should be warmed, instead scientist
observed a cooling pattern in the upper layers of the atmosphere and a warming pattern in the lower layers of the atmosphere [12].
Volcanic eruptions have a signi?cant effect on the temperature of the earth; the eruptions carry gases and ash into the
upper atmosphere; these gases, especially sulfuric gases, help
in the formation of clouds causing the reduction of the global
temperature for 3 years. In addition, volcanoes emit large
amounts of carbon dioxide and water vapor, which contributes
in the global warming; however, the amount of carbon dioxide
and water vapor emitted by the volcanos is very small compared to human emissions [13,14]. Volcanos emit an annual
average between 130 and 230 million tons of carbon dioxide
while mankind causes annual emissions of 26 billion tons of
carbon dioxide (100 times more than volcanos) [15,16].
Natural events are still acting but with too small and slow
in?uence on the climate compared with human activity in?uence. Scientist developed climate models based on data from
satellites and from ground stations to recreate temperature
models over the past 150 years to proof that human activities
are the main in?uence on the climate. The simulations of the
model were able to ?t the global temperature observations by
considering only the solar natural variability and the volcanic
emissions for the period between 1750 and 1950, but after
1950, the global temperature trends cannot be explained without considering the GHGs added by mankind [15,16]. Figure 3
shows the ensembles between the global observed temperature anomalies and the simulated ones by considering only the
natural causes and by considering both natural and anthropogenic causes.
Anthropogenic Emissions
Water Vapor
Water vapor is considered as the most abundant gas in the
atmosphere and it is considered as an important element that
gives feedback about the climate and so about global warming. Water vapor is responsible for two-third of the global
warming; the amount of additional warming in the atmosphere
is determined by the amount of water vaper that enters the
atmosphere. The atmosphere currently maintains a constant
equilibrium between temperature and water vapor concentration due to the short lifecycle of water vapor. However, as the
temperature continue to increase the balances will be lost and
will increase the global warming where water vapor has the
ability to double the warming caused by carbon dioxide [9,16].
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4.6%
45.6%
48%
Ultraviolet (0-380 nm)
Visible (380-780 nm)
Infrared (>780 nm)
Figure 1. The fraction of the extraterrestrial solar radiation in
each range of solar spectrum. [Color ?gure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Water vapor can also affect the global warming in an indirect way; when the climate gets warmer the percentage of
water vapor increases in the atmosphere, which increases the
possibility of forming clouds [11]. Clouds play an important
role in cooling or even warming the planet, brighter clouds
re?ects the solar radiation to space and by that they help in
cooling the planet. Conversely, clouds have the ability to
absorb and emit energy in the infrared region where low
clouds have approximately the same temperature of earth surface and so they emit almost the same amount of infrared
energy. While high cold clouds absorb the energy coming
from the lower atmosphere and due to their low temperature,
the amount of energy emitted will be low which means that
high clouds will reduce the ability of earth to cool and so
cause the increase in the earth’s temperature [9,16].
Carbon Dioxide
Carbon dioxide concentration has increased in the atmosphere by 30% since 1950, which is a signi?cant increase. This
increase was caused most likely by human’s activities. Figure 4
shows the global change in the concentration of carbon dioxide through the history until 2013. Humankind depends mainly
on fossil fuel to produce energy where burning these fuels
produces different amount of carbon dioxide, water vapor,
and nitrous oxides depending on the fossil fuel type. Coal, natural gas, and oil are the most common types of fossil fuel that
are used by humankind where in 2015, it was reported that
45% of CO2 emissions came from coal burning, 35% from oil
burning, and 20% from natural gas burning [17].
Humankind not only increased the amount of carbon dioxide but also disrupted the carbon dioxide cycle in the nature
by overcutting the forests. The deforestation will cease the
absorption of carbon by trees and so carbon dioxide concentration will increase in the atmosphere where 25–30% of the
yearly emitted GHGs is because of deforestation. In addition,
50% of the trees is carbon and burning these trees will release
the carbon stored in the trees as CO2 which will exacerbate
the consequences of the deforestations [18].
Carbon dioxide needs hundreds of years (5–200 year) [16]
to adjust and achieve the balance and as the percentage of carbon dioxide increases, the balance will happen at higher temperature and at higher water vapor levels. Therefore, scientists
believe that carbon dioxide behave as controlling factor rather
than reacting factor, as it controls the amount of water vapor
carried by the atmosphere [2]. Doubling or halving the carbon
dioxide in the atmosphere causes the change in the earth’s
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
Figure 2. Water vapor and carbon dioxide absorption characteristics of the radiation. Reproduced by permission of Bureau of
Meteorology, © 2018 Commonwealth of Australia. [Color ?gure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 3. The ensembles between the global observed temperature anomalies and the simulated ones by considering only the
natural causes and by considering both natural and anthropogenic causes. Reproduced from: Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M.,
Marquis, M., Averyt, K., Tignor MMB., et al (2007). Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working
Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. [Color ?gure can be viewed at
wileyonlinelibrary.com]
temperature by +3.8 C or -3.6 C respectively. However, the
amount of the change in the earth’s temperature—caused by
the change in the carbon dioxide concentration—depends on
the change in air humidity which in return depends on the air
temperature [19,20].
percentage of methane produced globally by different human
activities between 2003 and 2012.
Methane molecule has the ability to absorb and reradiate
the energy 10 times more effective than the carbon dioxide
molecule. However, scientist usually focus on the total levels
of the emissions instead of the intensity in their analyses where
the concentration of carbon dioxide is approximately 200 times
more than methane and also the lifetime of carbon dioxide is
much bigger than the atmospheric methane [24,25] (methane
life time is 12 years) [16].
Methane
The second largest anthropogenic contributor to global
warming is methane emissions, the amount of methane emissions have increased by more than the double over the last
150 years [21] where it is reported that almost 60% of methane
emissions comes from human activities. Anthropogenic methane can be released into the atmosphere during the extraction,
production, transportation, re?ning, and the distribution of natural gas (methane is a primary component). Moreover, signi?cant amounts of methane come from livestock, agriculture,
human waste, and from land?lls [22]. Table 2 shows the
Nitrous Oxide
Human Activities such as fossil fuel combustion, agriculture,
industrial processes, and wastewater management are responsible for about 40% of the total N2O emissions [25], Figure 5
shows the global N2O emissions by sector in 2010. If the
trends of N2O increase continue, the N2O emissions are
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
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Figure 4. The concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Reproduced from: Climate change: How do we know? NASA
Global Climate Change Center, https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/. [Color ?gure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Table 2. Global methane emissions by human activities
between 2003 and 2012 [23].
Sources
Agriculture and waste
Wetlands
Oil and natural gas
Coal
Biomass burning
Percentage (%)
37.08
34.83
16.61
7.87
5.62
predicted to be 25.7 Tg N2O/year by 2100 which will cause an
increase in the surface average temperature by 0.37 C [27].
N2O stays approximately 114 years in the atmosphere and it is
removed as a part of the nitrogen cycle by certain bacteria or
destroyed by chemical reaction or by ultraviolet radiation. N2O
has the ability to warm the atmosphere almost 300 times more
than CO2 (1 to 1 base); however, the concentration of N2O is
much smaller than CO2 [25].
THE CONSEQUENCES OF THE INCREASE IN THE CONCENTRATION OF GHGS
Temperature Rise
After the industrial revolution the temperature of the earth’s
surface began to increase; scientists at Goddard Institute for
Space Studies (GISS) say that since 1880, the earth’s surface
average temperature has increased by about 0.8 C. NASA,
NOAA, the Japan Meteorological Agency and the Met Of?ce
Hadley Centre in United Kingdom recorded the annual temperature anomalies from 1880 to 2014, all the records show
the same trend (peaks and valleys) with different values [28],
as shown in Figure 6.
Earth’s average surface temperature will continue to rise as
humankind continues his environmentally harmful activities
specially burning fossil fuel. Based on three CO2 emissions
scenarios, scientists predict that the average surface temperature will increase by 2–6 C by the end of 21st century [9], as
shown in Figure 7. Plants, crops, and animals need speci?c
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conditions to survive and grow including the suitable ambient
temperature and enough amount of water where the increase
in the global temperature will disturb the growth and the
breed of these creatures. Moreover, the increase in the global
temperature will lead to increase the intensity and the spread
of extreme weather events such as droughts, hurricanes, heat
waves, and ?oods [29], which will increase the number of
human and material casualties. In addition, as the climate get
warmer the snow and the ice melts down causing not just the
sea level to increase but also the transformation of sunlight
re?ecting surfaces (snow surfaces) to sunlight absorbing surfaces which will causes more energy to be trapped in the earth
atmosphere [9].
Oceans and Marine Life
Half of the anthropogenic CO2 has been absorbed with the
time by oceans which reduces the warming of the climate;
however, this causes a serious change in the chemistry of the
water. When carbon dioxide dissolves in water, carbonic
acidic is formed which will cause a drop in the surface water’s
pH. Over the past 300 million years, oceans’ water tends to be
slightly basic with approximately pH of 8.2, but today it is
around 8.1, this drop represents 25% increase in the acidity
over the past two centuries and this change in the water’s pH
will affect the life cycle of many marine creatures [30].
Moreover, almost 80% of the heat trapped because of
greenhouse gases is absorbed by oceans causing the rise in
the water’s temperature and so the expansion of water. Scientists say that about half of the rise in water level in the
past century is due to the thermal expansion. Sea level has
been rising at a rate of 0.14 in. per year since 1990 where
this increase is mainly caused by thermal expansion of
water. Furthermore, as the climate get warmer, the snow
and the ice will melt down causing sea level to increase
[9,31]. Scientists expect that by 2100 sea level will rise
between 0.8 and 2 m which mean thousands of coastal cities and islands will be demolished and storm surges will be
more powerful [32].
Environmental Progress & Sustainable Energy DOI 10.1002/ep
0.29%
5.75%
3.89%
7.09%
2.98%
4.51%
0.52%
2.73%
72.22%
Other sources
Waste
Industry
Land use
Energy
International bunkers
Residential and commercial
Transport
Agriculture
Figure 5. Nitrous oxide global emission by sector in 2010 [26]. [Color ?gure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Figure 6. The annual anomalies in average surface earth
temperature between 1880 and 2014 from four independent
records. Reproduced from: World of Change: Global
Temperatures, Simmon, R., NASA Earth Observatory Center,
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/WorldOfChange/decadal
temp.php. [Color ?gure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
The increase in water’s temperature will not affect only the
thermal expansion of the water but also will affect the marine
life where as the oceans become warmer the percentage of
dissolved oxygen will be reduced which will cause the death
of many species. Coral bleach is one of the most dramatic
effects of global warming, the increase in the water temperature will cause the death of the algae that lives inside the coral;
these algae provides the coral with the food and the death of
them means the death of the coral [33,34].
Figure 7. IPCC estimation for the average surface temperature
rise based on the rate of CO2 emissions. Reproduced from
Solomon, S., Qin, D., Manning, M., Marquis, M., Averyt, K.,
Tignor MMB., et al (2007). Climate Change 2007: The Physical
Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth
Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change. [Color ?gure can be viewed at wileyonlinelibrary.com]
Extreme Weather Events
Storms and Hurricanes
The temperature difference between the equator and the
poles fuels the formation of mid-latitude storms and the
decrease in this temperature difference by the global warming
could affect the formation of the storms. As the temperature of
the atmosphere increases, the ability of it to carry water vapor
will increase causing humidity to increase where at the poles
the humidity and the temperature are low and any increase in

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