LiveScience Topics: Global Warming

Global warming is the term used to describe a gradual

increase in the average temperature of the Earth's

atmosphere and its oceans, a change that is believed to

be permanently changing the Earth’s climate.

While many view the effects of global warming to be more

substantial and more rapidly occurring than others do, the

scientific consensus on climatic changes related to global

warming is that the average temperature of the Earth has

risen between 0.4 and 0.8 °C over the past 100 years.

The increased volumes of carbon dioxide and other

greenhouse gases released by the burning of fossil fuels,

land clearing, agriculture, and other human activities, are 

believed to be the primary sources of the global warming

that has occurred over the past 50 years.

Scientists from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

carrying out global warming research have recently

predicted that average global temperatures could

increase between 1.4 and 5.8 °C by the year 2100.

Changes resulting from global warming may include rising

sea levels due to the melting of the polar ice caps, as well

as an increase in occurrence and severity of storms and

other severe weather events.

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