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inkintheinternet · 4 months

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Climate Change - What You Didn't Know

By Arjuwan Lakkdawala

Ink in the Internet

Those who don't believe in Climate Change or Global Warming, claim that the fluctuations and variation, and even the extreme weather events are normal, simply part of the natural processes of Earth's Climate.

It was those claims and the extreme weather that I read about around the world, and the consequences of the unfolding disaster that is "Climate Change" is what got me curious and concerned enough to investigate this matter and find the correct answers once and for all.

The first thing to do was to differentiate between the truly normal Climate of Earth and the anthropogenic (human caused) Climate effect.

I thought of going back in time before the industrial revolution, when the air was pure and clean, no one knew what pollution was or air contamination. However, this does not answer the question about the Climate but it does confirm that pollution is a result of the industrial era and with it comes many diseases and contamination of Earth's air and other things.

So I decided to go back in 'geological time' it is a term used by geologists who investigate Earth's past Climate and environment.

Geologists study rocks, boulders, sediments on land and the ocean, sea, etc. These sediments contain fossils and microfossils of plants, animals, microorganisms, and chemical compounds of different minerals, etc. Based on these geologists can ascertain what was the environment in the past Climates when these things were living or formed.

Even this though is not enough to have an in depth comprehensive understanding of the naturally induced Climate Change, it turns out scientists monitor and study the Climate from the ground up to space. It's all relative to Climate Change.

To understand the first chapter of Climate Change, we have to learn about the Milankovitch Cycles, the theory is by the Serbian mathematician, geophysicist, and climatologist Milutin Milankovitch (1879 - 1958.)

His ideas that appeared in papers over the years, were collectively published in his 1941 book: Canon of Insolation and the Ice-Age Problem.

Milankovitch calculated the temperature on different points on Earth at different times of the year, and his calculations were close enough to the early 20th century empirical data to attract the attention of meteorologists.

"In 1924, in collaboration with German meteorologist Vladimir Köppen and German geophysicist Alfred Wegener, who were then working on the causes of Ice Ages."

Milankovitch calculated hundreds of thousands of years back in time to study three known astronomical parameters:

Eccentricity, Earth's orbit around the Sun is an ellipse, and it changes into different elliptical orbits over time, where sometimes the Earth is closer to the Sun and at other times very far away from the Sun - a major contributing factor to Ice Ages.

Earth's Axial Tilt, the Earth rotates on an axis which is tilted, this too changes over time, its changes can be detected at the North Pole as it points to different parts of the sky.

Precession, is caused by the gravitational pull of the Sun and the Moon upon the Earth, and so the Earth wobbles like a "spinning top that is slowing down."

The Milankovitch Cycle consists of these three and they affect the Earth's Climate from an astronomical angle by how much solar radiation hits Earth.

According to geologists there have been 5 Ice Ages in Earth's Climate, and the last one which we are experiencing: "Cainozoic - Quarternary Ice Age, began around 34 million years ago with the glaciation of Antarctica" - Outlook Planet.

So if we are in an Ice Age how can there be Global Warming? It can be and I'll explain how.

Humans are practically living all over Earth, and there are greenhouse gas emissions from factories to cars, planes, rockets, barbecues, wildfires, etc, all of it is releasing carbon dioxide (CO2) filling up into the atmosphere - trapping heat.

Now if we are to find similarity with this anthropogenic CO2 pollution with natural processes in the past Climates, we could take volcanoes as a good example or when meteorites hit Earth, in the first there is great levels of the release of carbon dioxide, and in the second the debris and sediments unearthed by the impact of the meteorite can block the sunlight. These can cause change in climate, but the big difference is that when major events like these happened humans were not around and didn't have to endure the long process of Earth healing itself. Unfortunately it was animal species like dinasaurs and others that suffered extinction and troubles due to severe Climate Change.

(Note: The material that is expelled from volcanoes known as tephra/Ash can either warm or cool the Earth's surface "depending on how the sunlight interacts with it." - British Geological Survey.)

If we plunge Earth into severe Climate Change by human activities of burning fossil fuels endlessly, the healing process of Earth could take decades and humans could suffer greatly.

Global Warming is melting glaciers, which in turn is causing sea levels to rise.

(Note: sea levels do not rise when icebergs melt, because they are already part of the water body, and displaces equivalent mass to its weight.)

Sea levels also rise due to thermal energy, water expands as it heats up, which is what is happening now, the high temperature of oceans and seas are causing them to expand, with the rise due to melting glaciers.

Pacific Island Nations are on the forefront of this crisis - UN. Because they are already low-laying Islands. Not only this but some regions in the Pacific are experiencing annual rise of 4 mm of sea level while around the world it is 3.4 mm.

Island Nations most vulnerable include Kiribati, Tuvalu, and Marshall Islands. They have limited land area and are expected to be partially or completely submerged by the end of the 21st century.

On land floods are causing havoc in a different way. The increasing floods is due to ice melting from mountain caps and the extra greenhouse gas - water vapour in the air, which turns to more rain than is part of the natural season.

Floods are expanding the geographical areas of disease spreading insects. For example, there is an increase in Lyme disease, which has many factors including Climate Change. The nonprofit Companion Animal Parasite Council (CAPC) has warned in its 2023 forecast that the risk of Lym disease is higher than ever.

Floods and out of the normal rain also increase stagnant water that can be breeding grounds for diseases like Malaria and Dengue Fever.

According to the latest World Malaria report there were 249 million cases of Malaria in 2022 compared to 244 in 2021

In very disappointing news recently, Norway, became the first nation to approve deep sea minning.

I can only imagine that the purpose of this is to get resources for manufacturing products, and search for fossil fuels. I think world governments and scientist should instead concentrate on renewable energy and recycling, especially of mobile phones and batteries, and the components of other electronics. Used cars, planes, etc, also have components that ought to be recycled.

The Norwegian government says it will be very careful before giving licences for the actual deep sea minning.

This subject brings me to the matter of what's in the sea, especially regarding threats to its ecosystem and Climate Change.

The matter of extreme concern according to my observations is Methane hydrates also called fire-ice. It belongs to the chemical compound named 'clathrates' after the Latin 'clathratus' meaning encaged.

The name is fitting as the molecules of Methane hydrates are enclosed in a larger cluster of water molecules.

Methane hydrates are a component of the cryosphere, anywhere that water is in solid state, including snow and ice.

The fire-ice is highly flammable and contains four times more hydrogen than carbon dioxide. It is a greenhouse gas with the potential to completely devasted Earth's Climate.

Methane hydrate is almost exclusively only found in the permafrost in the Arctic and below the sea floor in sediments, where the pressure is very high and the temperature low, which are the conditions required to keep it stable.

It has crystallised structure, and Methane molecules in a solid state are more densely packed than as a gas. It means the solid reservoir of Methane hydrates have a lot of Methane that can be turned into gas.

A 2023 study by a team of international researchers from the Newcastle University made a very disturbing discovery. The warming of the sea due to Climate Change is causing Methane hydrates to dissociate from continental sediment slopes and move out from the deep ocean. They found a pocket that had travelled 25 miles. The research is published in the journal Nature Geoscience.

Scientists don't know how much of Methane hydrates could get effected but as it dissolves in the water it will be released in the atmosphere.

If Methane hydrates is minnned for fossil fuel it could be very dangerous, its extraction is difficult and it can be severe for the Climate, being worse than carbon dioxide and highly flammable.

Speaking of sea pollution an important note about coral reefs in the Red Sea, as someone who spent a lot of my time by it, since I live in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in my research I found that coral reefs are very sensitive to any change and will not live if any of its environmental requirements change, so I hope Saudi government take care that the Red Sea is not effected by pollution or anthropogenic Climate Change, the coral reefs provide life to countless species and are a very important part of the sea ecosystem.

Arjuwan Lakkdawala is an author and independent researcher in science. Twitter/Instagram: Spellrainia Email: [email protected]

Sources:

Methane - wisconsin department of health services

Nasa - Milankovitch (orbital) cycles and their role in Earth's Climate

Nasa - what is climate change

British Geological Survey - impacts of climate change - discovering geology - climate change

Lym disease causes, signs, and treatment - lifespan

CDC - signs and symptoms of untreated Lyme disease

Benar news - Pacific Island countries facing faster sea level rise, says UN - Subel Rai Bhandari for RFA

Climate portal - how do greenhouse gases trap heat in the atmosphere

My Climate - shaping the future

Methane Hydrate - Science Direct

Outlook Planet - Climate explained: what is an Ice Age and how often do they happen? - Outlook Planet - desk

BBC - why 'flammable ice' could be the future of energy - Martha Henriques

BBC news - Deep-sea minning: Norway approves controversial practice - Esme Stallard

Nature chemistry - flammable ice of profit and doom - Brett F. Thornton and Christian Stranne

News wise - Climate change shown to cause methane to be released from the deep ocean - Newcastle University

Methane hydrates - an overview - Science Direct

Methane hydrates - NOAA ocean exploration

General hazards of carbon dioxide - HSE

Britannica - Milutin Milankovitch - Doug Macdougall - fact-checked by the Editors of Britannica Encyclopedia

Methane - www . inchem . org

#mad science #science #arjuwan lakkdawala #nature #ink in the internet #physics #radiation #light #methane hydrates #fire ice #climate change #global warming #sea level rise #pacific island nations #Pacific ocean #deep sea #ice age

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