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Global Warming
Global warming means simply that the earth is getting hotter. How much? Less than 1 degree centigrade on average over the past 100 years. There is little doubt that this is happening, and many think it will lead to catastrophic events such as higher sea levels, increased storms with more violence, drought, floods, famine, and melting ice caps. One degree in temperature change does not sound like a lot, and its not unless the average temperature of an area is close to the freezing point, in which case it could mean a large difference in the amount of ice cover. But the temperature change is not uniform across the globe. A one degree average temperature change means that some areas could see changes far in excess of one degree; hence the droughts, ice melting, flooding and storms of higher intensity.
What is causing global warming? The standard line is that we, the human race, are. Driving our SUVs to work, using electricity, heating our homes, and in short, enjoying our industrial lifestyle is to blame. All of these activities use fossil fuel, hydrocarbons, and when that fuel is burned to release its energy carbon dioxide is released. This carbon dioxide in the atmosphere acts as a blanket, and causes heat to be retained that would have otherwise radiated into space. But, there is a problem with this explanation. It seems that every planetary body in our solar system is exhibiting some kind of warming... even as far out as Pluto. Obviously, soccer moms driving their kids to school in their H2 Hummer cannot be the reason that Mercury is getting warmer can it? So something else must be going on, something that we don't understand, but is most likely linked to increased activity from the Sun. Solar activity is greater now than it has been for thousands of years. Knowing that warming is occurring on other planets, wouldn't it be wise to consider that humanity and fossil fuels may not be the root cause of global warming? If we fail to identify the true cause, there is little hope in finding a solution.
From Filer's Files :
OUR SOLAR SYSTEM IS WARMING UP Astronomers have noticed warming of Neptune's largest moon, Triton, Mercury, Mars and the Earth. Massachusetts Institute of Technology News says that Pluto is undergoing global warming of about 2 degrees Celsius over the past 14 years, as evidenced by a threefold increase in the planet's atmospheric pressure. A team led by James Elliot, director of MIT's Wallace Observatory, made this finding by watching the dimming of a star when Pluto passed in front of it. Astronomer Jay Pasachoff, said that, Pluto's global warming was "likely not connected with that of the Earth. The major way they could be connected is if they were caused by a large increase in sunlight. But the solar constant -- the amount of sunlight received each second -- is carefully monitored by spacecraft, and we know the sun's output is much too steady to be changing the temperature of Pluto."
The Hubble Space Telescope has found evidence that Neptune's Largest Moon is Triton is also warming up significantly. Triton is undergoing global warming -- percentage-wise, it's a very large increase," said James L. Elliot, an astronomer at MIT. The warming trend is causing part of Triton's frozen nitrogen surface to turn into gas, thus making its thin atmosphere denser. Thanks to Massachusetts Institute of Technology News
And from Nasa:
Orbiter's Long Life Helps Scientists Track Changes on Mars New gullies that did not exist in mid-2002 have appeared on a Martian sand dune.
That's just one of the surprising discoveries that have resulted from the extended life of NASA's Mars Global Surveyor, which this month began its ninth year in orbit around Mars. Boulders tumbling down a Martian slope left tracks that weren't there two years ago. New impact craters formed since the 1970s suggest changes to age-estimating models. And for three Mars summers in a row, deposits of frozen carbon dioxide near Mars' south pole have shrunk from the previous year's size, suggesting a climate change in progress. ...
Whatever the cause, global warming is going to contribute to the drama leading up to the 2012 event, both in political terms and in physical terms. We are already seeing disturbing changes in weather all around the world. We live in a delicate balance with nature, and nature has the ability to decimate populations through floods, drought, and violent storms as we have recently seen.