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Introduction

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Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis

Abstract

Global warming involves a temperature change on planet Earth. The temperature is climbing gradually so that the average person does not feel it. However, there are indirect lines of evidence that the average person can see and feel. Increasing unusual weather patterns reported by the news media nearly every day indicate climate change. More floods in parts of the world and more intense droughts in others indicate climate change. Fires raging in some areas and unusual snowfalls in others indicate climate change. A season of intense tornados and more intense hurricanes indicates more energy in the atmosphere and that is climate change. As the Earth’s global temperature increases, rates of evaporation also increase placing more water in the atmosphere. More evaporation dries out the land, soils, forests and takes more water from the ocean. All are signs of a changing climate. A warming Earth is climate change and it is affecting everyday life throughout the globe. Thus ‘global warming’ is used to refer to Earth’s gradually increasing temperature.

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Farmer, G.T., Cook, J. (2013). Introduction. In: Climate Change Science: A Modern Synthesis. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-5757-8_1

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