Discuss the causes and effects of three factors of climate change Essay

Discuss the causes and effects of three factors of climate change - Essay Example Change in the climate of a given region, is because of natural and human induced factors on the environment. This paper discusses three factors that cause change in the climatic conditions of an area. These three factors include oceanic circulations, global warming and volcanic radiations. Volcanic activity is a natural factor that causes climatic change. When volcanic eruptions occur, they inject quite a large amount of duct and other gaseous elements into the stratosphere. One of the gaseous elements that reach the stratosphere is sulphur dioxide (Letcher 81). On reaching the stratosphere level, sulphur dioxide converts rapidly to form sulphuric acid aerosols. The aerosols formed continue to spread gradually covering the whole world at the stratosphere. The effects of volcanic eruptions at the stratosphere, do not wear out as fast as the effects at the lower level (Letcher 81). This is because at the lower level, the effects of gravity and rainfall, contribute to the recovery of th e volcanic effects at that level. The covering at the upper level, which constitutes sulphuric acid aerosols, reduces the direct solar beam to the earth surface. The reduction is because of the high reflective property of sulphuric acid aerosols (Letcher 81). ... The effects of volcanic activity on climate are in a long time scale, such as millions of years. Over millions of years, continuous volcanic activity, releases huge volumes of greenhouse gases, which causes global warming. On the other hand, sulphur dioxide emissions will counter the effects of global warming. Therefore, the result of the process on the climate remains uncertain, leaving other external factors, such as the nature of the volcano, to determine the change (Letcher 84). Ocean circulation is another significant factor that results to a change in the climatic conditions. This is because oceans too, play a role in the global climate system. Oceans store a large amount of heat energy. Ocean circulation is a force that causes a change in the global heat balance on Earth (Samelson 29). Major theories in ocean circulation, depict the changes in the North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) production and thermohaline circulation, to be cause of climatic change. However, scientists have focused more on the climatic transitions that occurs between the interglacial and glacial occurrences (Samelson 29). The Gulf Stream carries heat polewards, to warm the north maritime Europe. The North Atlantic contains cold polar air (Samelson 30). On meeting the cold polar air, the warm water, releases heat to the atmosphere. The cooling water sinks with the help of the increased salinity in the region. Increase in salinity is a result of the presence of sea ice, which is present in the Arctic regions (Samelson 30). The cooling water will thus sink because of an increase in density, forming the North Atlantic Deep Water. The NADW flows through to the Pacific Ocean via western Atlantic, all the way around Australia and