Did Humans Cause the Global Warming Research Paper

Did Humans Cause the Global Warming - Research Paper Example The current state of research does not confirm the link between warming and human activity and implies that years will pass before we have a better understanding of its causes, mechanisms and, if necessary, solutions. Scholars and professionals in climate studies lack unanimous agreement as for whether global warming is the direct consequence of human activity. Nevertheless, most of them unilaterally assert that the planet is gradually warming and that the climate is slowly changing. Statistically, the last century was marked with the steadily rapid increase of surface temperatures on the planet – 0.56 K over a century (Anonymous, 2010). Temperatures at the New York and Paris latitude moved about 2 degrees, while temperatures in the polar latitudes changed up 3 degrees Celsius (Singer & Avery, 2007). Actually, polar latitudes and Arctic ices represent the most complex problem: Arctic warming has already become the issue of the major climatic concern. During the twentieth century, air temperatures in the Arctic land rose by 5 degrees Celsius (West, 2009). By the end of the twenty-first century, the average temperatures in Alaska are expected to rise 3-5 degrees over land and 5-7 degrees over the ocean (West, 2009). In the Arctic, warming is more rapid intense compared with the other regions and the rise of temperatures there will have a profound effect on the flora and fauna. Ultimately, the end of the 20th century was marked with the growing number of hurricanes and storms of unbelievable strength (Houghton, 2007). Windstorms and hurricanes were followed by floods due to unusually intense rainfalls or because of the long periods of reduced rainfalls (Houghton, 2007).