Abstract
The phenomenon of climatic regime on this Earth is a dynamic process that has evolved over millions of years under the influence of its own internal dynamics as well as changes in the external factors. There is strong scientific evidence that Earth has witnessed cycles of ice ages and warmer periods during its evolutionary history and these climatic changes have been responsible for speciation and extinction of many plants and animals on this planet. Analysis of ice core has provided evidence of warming and cooling within long ice ages. But the current climate change phenomenon is attributed to human influence since 1750 and is concerned with radiation imbalance due to factors such as long-lived greenhouse gases, ozone, water vapour, surface albedo (land use changes and snow cover changes) and aerosols. Indiscriminate use of coal and petroleum derivates after the onset of Industrial Revolution and especially the upsurge after World War II has brought in significant and possibly irreversible changes in Earth’s energy balance.
Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
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Notes
- 1.
Large deposits of methane hydrate are still found under the Arctic tundra and under the seafloor.
- 2.
Bighorn basin is a hundred mile long arid plateau east of Yellowstone National Park in Northern Wyoming, USA.
- 3.
Glick (2004).
- 4.
IPCC (2007), Chap. 6 (6.3.1).
- 5.
Glaciers and the Environment UNEP/GEMS Environment Library No 9, Nairobi UNEP 1992.
- 6.
Total solar energy intercepted by the earth per day = 3.67 × 1021 calories.
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Srivastav, A. (2019). A Glimpse of Natural Climatic History. In: The Science and Impact of Climate Change. Advances in Geographical and Environmental Sciences. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-0809-3_2
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