What is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns, leading to changes in the average conditions such as temperature and rainfall in a region over a long period of time. These changes are observed in Earth’s local, regional, and global climates and are driven by human activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in Earth’s atmosphere, raising Earth’s average surface temperature. Natural processes, such as cyclical ocean patterns and volcanic activity, can also contribute to climate change, but they have been overwhelmed by human activities. Climate change is measured over many years, typically 30 years or more, and is monitored using observations from the ground, air, and space, along with computer models. The observed effects of climate change include global land and ocean temperature increases, rising sea levels, ice loss at Earth’s poles and in mountain glaciers, changes in extreme weather events, and cloud and vegetation cover changes. The Earth’s climate is changing, and the global climate is projected to continue to change over this century and beyond, with significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions being crucial to limiting the magnitude of climate change.
