Energy and global climate change: Why ORNL?
Subtle signs of global warming have been detected in studies of the climate record of the past century after figuring in the cooling effects of sulfur emissions from volcanoes and human sources. According to the December 1995 report of the Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the earth`s surface temperature has increased by about 0.2{degrees}C per decade since 1975. the panel projects about a 2{degrees} increase in global temperature by 2100. The IPCC report states that pollutants-greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and fluorocarbons that warm the globe and sulfur emission that cool it-are responsible for recent patterns of climate change. {open_quotes}The balance of evidence,{close_quotes} states the report, {open_quotes}suggests that there is a discrenible human influence on global climate.{close_quotes} This human influence stems largely from fossil fuel combustion, cement production, and the burning of forests, and could intensify as populations grow and developing countries increase energy production and industrial development. The two facts have caught the attention of the news media and public. First, 1995 was declared the hottest year in the 140-year-long record of reliable global measurements. Second, recent years have been marked by an unusually high number of extreme weather events, such as hurricanes, blizzards, and floods. In the 1990`s the world has become more aware of the prospect and possible impacts of global climate change. In the late 1950`s, global climate change was an unknown threat to the world`s environment and social systems. Except for a few ORNL researchers who had just completed their first briefing to the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission on the need to understand the global carbon cycle, the connection between rising carbon dioxide concentrations and potential changes in global climate was not common knowledge, nor were the consequences of climate change understood.
- OSTI ID:
- 254557
- Journal Information:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review, Journal Name: Oak Ridge National Laboratory Review Journal Issue: 2-3 Vol. 28; ISSN 0048-1262; ISSN ORNRAH
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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