20th Century Climate Change
Measurements taken from all over the world have shown that the Earth's climate is changing. In the last 100 years the atmosphere has warmed up by over half a degree Celsius (0.5°C). Also during this time humans have been polluting the atmosphere with extra greenhouse gases, which are the result of burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Scientists now believe that global warming and greenhouse gas pollution are related.
At the same time as the Earth's surface temperature has increased, other climate changes have been observed as well. Changes in the amount of rainfall have been recorded in some parts of the world. Northern Africa experienced severe drought between the 1960s and 1980s. Russia became wetter during the second half of the 20th century. Scientists are not sure however, whether rainfall over the whole Earth has increased or decreased.
Changes in the size of glaciers and the coverage of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean and surrounding Antarctica have accelerated in the last few years. Scientists believe this is a sure sign of global warming.
| Global temperature |
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