“Global Climate Change”

Is the ozone hole causing climate change?

* Yes and no. The ozone hole is not causing global warming,

but it is affecting atmospheric circulation.

What’s the difference between climate change and global warming?

*“Global warming” refers to the long-term warming of the

planet. “Climate change” encompasses global warming, but

refers to the broader range of changes that are happening to

our planet, including rising sea levels; shrinking mountain

glaciers; accelerating ice melt in Greenland, Antarctica and the

Arctic; and shifts in flower/plant blooming times.

Is the Sun causing global warming?

*No. The Sun can influence the Earth’s climate, but it isn’t

responsible for the warming trend we’ve seen over the past few

decades.

Has Earth continued to warm since 1998?

*Yes, evidence shows warming from 1998 to the present, with

the four most recent years (2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017) being

the four warmest years globally since 1880.

Are the land-based ice sheets in Greenland and Antarctica continuing to lose mass (ice)?

*Data from NASA’s GRACE satellites, which measured Earth’s

gravity field, show that the land ice sheets in both Antarctica

and Greenland have been losing mass (ice) since 2002. Both ice

sheets have seen an acceleration of ice mass loss since 2009.

If all of Earth’s ice melts and flows into the ocean, what would happen to the planet’s rotation?

*Melting land ice, like mountain glaciers and the Greenland and

Antarctic ice sheets, will change the Earth’s rotation only if the meltwater flows into the oceans. For example, if the

Greenland

ice sheet were to completely melt and the meltwater were to

completely flow into the oceans, then global sea level would

rise by about seven meters (23 feet) and the Earth would

rotate more slowly, with the length of the day becoming

longer than it is today, by about two milliseconds.

Melting sea ice, such as the Arctic ice cap, does not change sea

level because the ice displaces its volume and, hence, does not

change the Earth’s rotation.