Field Notes of Catastrophe Precis

The National Academy of Science undertook its first study about global warming in 1979. The results were alarming enough that President Jimmy Carter urged the Academy to pursue their research. It read: "If carbon dioxide continues to increase, the study group finds no reason to doubt that climate changes will result and no reason to believe that these changes will be negligible." The effect of adding CO2 to the atmosphere is to throw the earth out of 'energy balance'. In order for balanced to be restored, according to the laws of physics, it eventually must be the entire planet has to heat up, including the oceans, a process that could take several decades. (Written by the Charney panel)
Since the Charney study, more than 200 studies have been published. Though studies are constantly being published, the CO2 levels have been rising. Carbon-dioxide emissions have increased from five billion to seven billion metric tons a year and the earth's temperature has risen as well. 1998 is the hottest year ever experienced since the studies have begun, and the next years after that are close behind, with each one increasing from one year to the next. Hottest years: 1998, 2002, 2003, 2004. It is likely that by the end of the century, it will likely be hotter than at any point in the last two million years.
Nearly every major glacier in the world is shrinking. Those in Glacier National Park are melting so quickly that it is estimated that they'll be completely gone by 2030. The oceans are not only becoming warmer but also more acidic. The difference between daytime and nighttime temperatures is diminishing, animals are shifting their ranges pole ward, and plants are blooming days, even weeks, earlier than they used to.
In other words, The Arctic is melting.
Any piece of ground that has remained frozen for at least two years is by definition permafrost. Talik is thawed permafrost.
The permafrost melts and creates holes in the ground. The holes are called thermo karsts. Ten years ago, no one cared about permafrost, now everybody wants to know. Permafrost started to degrade in the early 1990's.
Permafrost represents a unique record of long term temperature trends. It also acts, in effect, as a repository for greenhouse gases. As the climate warms, there is a good chance that these gases will be released into the atmosphere, further contributing to global warming. Heat flux from the center of the earth, permafrost gets warmer the farther down you go. Temperatures will decrease steadily as you go higher. Usually, the coldest temperatures are found at the surface of the permafrost. However now, the permafrost is still warmest at the very bottom, but it is coldest somewhere in the middle and gets warmer again toward the surface.
The active layer, which can be anywhere from a few inches to a few feet deep, freezes in the winter and thaws over the summer, and it is what supports the growth of plants. Temperatures are so low that when trees die, they don’t fully decompose.
As the permafrost in the area has warmed, methane releases have increased, in some cases as much as 60%. There is seasonal ice, which forms in the winter and then melts in the summer, and perennial ice, which persists year round.
An atmospheric circulation pattern known as the Arctic Oscillation has mostly been in what climatologists call a "positive mode". The positive Arctic Oscillation is marked by a low pressure over the Arctic Ocean and it tends to produce strong winds and higher temperatures. Between the 1960s and the 1990s, sea-ice depth in a large section of the Arctic Ocean declined by nearly 40 percent. Ice becomes so thin, that scientists fall through the ice while doing research. Geologically speaking, we are now living in a warm period after an ice age.
Glacial cycles are initiated by slight, periodic variations in the earth's orbit. These variations are caused mainly by the gravitational pull of other planets, alter the distribution of sunlight at different latitudes during different seasons and occur according to a complex cycle that takes a hundred thousand years to complete.
As the ice spread, the albedo increased, leading to less heat absorption and the growth of yet more ice. As the ice sheets advanced, CO2 levels declined. During each warm period, when the ice retreated, CO2 levels rose again.

The earth is constantly receiving energy from the sun, and at the same time constantly radiating energy back to space. All hot bodies radiate and the amount that they radiate is a function of their temperature. In order for the earth to be at equilibrium, the amount of energy it radiates out into space must be equal to the amount of radiation it is receiving. When equilibrium shifts, the planet will either cool down or warm up.
Falling carbon dioxide levels could have cause the ice ages. If CO2 levels are doubled, there would be an increase in global temperatures (9-11 degrees). Industrialization and climate change are very closely related. Scientists believed that the oceans would act as sponges and soak up the CO2.
Once an ice sheet begins to melt, it starts to flow faster, which means it also thins faster, encouraging further melt.
Global warming produces global freezing. Glaciers are melting all over the world.
Most scientists are still having a debate about global warming but all of them know that it is not just a natural process.