NASA has been using satellites to study Earth's changing climate. Thanks to satellite and computer model technology, NASA has been able to calculate actual surface temperatures around the world and measure how they've been warming. To accomplish the calculations, the satellites actually measure the Sun's radiation reflected and absorbed by the land and oceans.NASA satellites keep eyes on the ozone hole, El Nino's warm waters in the eastern Pacific, volcanoes, melting ice sheets and glaciers, changes in global wind and pressure systems and much more.

At the global level, countries around the world have expressed a firm commitment to strengthening international responses to the risks of climate change. The U.S. is working to strengthen international action and broaden participation under the support of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Today, scientists around the world continue to try and solve the puzzle of climate change by working with satellites, other tools and computer models that simulate and predict the Earth's conditions.

Bibliography:

http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/

www.nasa.gov

The next question that arises is, why to study climate?

The reason studying climate and a changing climate is important, is that will affect people around the world. Rising global temperatures are expected to raise sea levels, and change precipitation and other local climate conditions. Changing regional climate could alter forests, crop yields, and water supplies. It could also affect human health, animals, and many types of ecosystems. Deserts may expand into existing rangelands, and features of some of our National Parks and National Forests may be permanently altered.

An example of a Monthly Mean Outgoing Longwave Radiation (OLR)

 product produced from NOAA polar-orbiter satellite data, which is frequently

    used to study global climate change. Credits: NOAA

The National Academy of Sciences, a lead scientific body in the U.S., determined that the Earth's surface temperature has risen by about 1 degree Fahrenheit in the past century, with accelerated warming during the past two decades. There is new and stronger evidence that most of the warming over the last 50 years is attributable to human activities. Yet, there is still some debate about the role of natural cycles and processes.

Human activities have altered the chemical composition of the atmosphere through the buildup of greenhouse gases – primarily carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide. The heat-trapping property of these gases is undisputed although certainties exist about exactly how Earth's climate responds to them. According to the U.S. Climate Change Science Program (http://www.climatescience.gov), factors such as aerosols, land use change and others may play important roles in climate change, but their influence is highly uncertain at the present time.

Climate change

#global warming#pollution#burdening the earth#me you every one is responsible#save mankind#save mother earth#protect our climate

Climate change have always been a concern of the modern times. Every year in their yearly memorandum every government tries to tackle this issue but I must say it is not only the governments, rather we share equal responsibilities. By 2050 or so, the human population is expected to pass nine billion. Those billions will be seeking food, water and other resources on a planet where humans are already shaping climate and the web of life.

In this blog, I try to describe what climate has meant to us for so many years and how we are manipulating it for our needs. Whether it leaves a good impact or forecasts a tragic chapter is left to you, the SENSITIVE reader, to think and decide on.

Before we start, what do we understand by climate and weather? Rather what's the difference between weather and climate?

The difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere "behaves" over relatively long periods of time. When we talk about climate change, we talk about changes in long term averages of daily weather. Being from the southern state of Tamil Nadu and settled in Pune for over 16 years now, I have witnessed two very different climates. But, even today, the stories I hear from my parents about the climate during their time, I feel amazed. I can only imagine them enjoying the peasant climates of the west and the scenic beauty of the south. Now, I am bound to stay only with this imagination as every thing around me is changing, all because of climate change.

If summers seem hotter lately, then the recent climate may have changed. In various parts of the world, some people have even noticed that springtime comes earlier now than it did 30 years ago. An earlier springtime is indicative of a possible change in the climate.

In addition to long-term climate change, there are shorter term climate variations. This so-called climate variability can be represented by periodic or intermittent changes related to El Niño, La Niña, volcanic eruptions, or other changes in the Earth system.

I realize that all of this sounds like a personal frustration or grudge against the reasons for climate change but until we take it personal things won't change. Our mother earth will always be burdened by our tortures and we will keep seeing this change in climate.