Global warming is not just a 'blanket' trapping heat on Earth - it's more like tanning oil, scientists claim

 

Published:  10th November 2014

Source:  Mail online

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2828910/Global-warming-SPEED-pause-scientists-warn.html

Scientific field: Science

Summary:

A team from the University of Washington and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) explained that carbon dioxide being belched out by factories and vehicles acts as a blanket, trapping long-wave infrared energy coming off the Earth. As the icecaps melt, more high-energy solar rays will be absorbed and the cause of global warming will switch from long-wave to short-wave radiation.

Glossary:

-  belched ( eructo): to expel or be expelled forcefully from inside

- melt ( derretir): to become liquid by heat

- greenhouse( invernadero):  a building with transparent walls and roof, usually of glass, for the cultivation and exhibition of plants under controlled conditions

- shortwave ( onda corta)

Critical appraisal:

In the longer term, the study and its computer models show that the Earth will begin to absorb more shortwave radiation. The researchers warn that the planet is likely to have less ice and the air will become more humid under climate change, both of which will act to absorb more shortwave radiation from the sun.

Melting ice creates darker surfaces that can absorb more heat, and the more melting, the more heat it can absorb. While greenhouse gases trap one type of radiation, the visible shortwave radiation that is really sustaining global warming over the long term.

One professor of atmospheric sciences, David Battisti at Washington University said: 'Our results do not change our overall expectation that the planet will continue to warm due to the burning of fossil fuels, but they do change our fundamental understanding of how that warming comes about.'

The use of fossil fuels must be phased out by the end of the century, scientists have warned despite growing concerns over energy supplies. The UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issued stark predictions that continued greenhouse gas emissions will cause 'severe, pervasive and irreversible' impacts around the world.



Written by Lidia Figueras