Causes and Mechanisms of Global Warming/Climate Change

Stuart Arthur Harris

A chapter in The Nature, Causes, Effects and Mitigation of Climate Change on the Environment from IntechOpen

Abstract: Comparison of the average mean surface air temperature around the world during 1951-1978 with that for 2010-2019 shows that the bulk of the warming is around the North Atlantic/Arctic region in contrast to the Antarctic ice sheet. Obviously, the temperature change is not global. Since there is a substantial difference between solar heat absorption between the equator and the poles, heat must be moving to the North Pole by surface ocean currents and tropical cyclones. The cold, dry Arctic air coming from Siberia picks up heat and moisture from the open oceans, making the sea water denser so that the warm water sinks slowly down to c. 2000 m. A deep-water thermohaline flow (THC) transports the excess hot (c. 18°C) water south to Antarctica. It is replaced by a cold (c. 2°C) surface water from that area. The latter quickly cool western Europe and Siberia, and glaciers start to advance in Greenland within about 10 years. The THC flow decreases in Interglacials, causing the increased build-up of heat in the Northern Hemisphere (c. 60% currently stored in the Atlantic Ocean), and the ice cover in the Arctic Ocean thaws. Several such cycles may take place during a single major cold event.

Keywords: global warming; major cold events; asymmetrical warming of the Earth; thermohaline currents; agents of transport of heat around the globe; minor cold and warm events (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ito:pchaps:232482

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.101416

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