Climate Change and Hurricane Irma

“Hurricane Irma was not caused by climate change at all…” Climate change works to heat the ocean and increase the sea levels. In turn, that helps to make the hurricane more devastating: more heat helps propel the power of the hurricane, leading to the kind of destruction that has made its way across the Americas twice over the last week. "For climate change, it’s important to note that climate change has already caused higher sea levels, so any storm surge is happening on top of a higher initial level, leading to more coastal flooding," said Chris Holloway, a tropical storm expert at the University of Reading. "Also, climate change leads to increased rainfall for a storm of a given strength, leading to increased freshwater flooding. Climate change also likely increases the probability of storms reaching an extremely high intensity." Is Earth's Climate Changing? Earth's climate is always changing. In the past, Earth's climate has gone through warmer and cooler periods, each lasting thousands of years. The climate of a region or city is its typical or average weather. For example, the climate of Hawaii is sunny and warm. But the climate of Antarctica is freezing cold. Earth's climate is the average of all the world's regional climates. Sources Griffin, Andrew. “What Caused Hurricane Irma? Did Climate Change Cause This Category 5 Tropical Storm?” The Independent, Independent Digital News and Media, 7 Sept. 2017, www.independent.co.uk/environment/irma-climate-change-what-cause-hurricane-global-warming-caribbean-florida-a7933721.html. Friedl, Sarah. “The Four Spheres of Earth: Geosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere, and Atmosphere.” Study.com, Study.com, study.com/academy/lesson/the-four-spheres-of-earth-geosphere-hydrosphere-biosphere-and-atmosphere.html. “Hurricane Irma: All You Need to Know - CBBC Newsround.” BBC News, BBC, 12 Sept. 2017, www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/41165108. Dunbar, Brian. “What Are Climate and Climate Change?” NASA, NASA, 9 June 2015, www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-is-climate-change-58.html. Reflection Atmosphere: The air that surround earth. This sphere is made up of mostly the nitrogen, some oxygen, and some amount of many other molecules. The atmosphere consists of 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% water vapor, and a minute amount of other trace gases like argon, and carbon monoxide. All of these gases combine to absorb ultraviolet radiation from the Sun and warm the planet’s surface through heat retention. Geosphere: The Geosphere is the rocks and minerals of the earth. From hot magma, to the sandy beaches, this is all part of the Geosphere. Hydrosphere and cryosphere: since Hydro means water so hydrosphere is made up of all the waters on earth including the rivers, lakes, streams, oceans, groundwater,polar ice caps, glaciers and moisture in the air like rain and snow. The hydrosphere covers about 70% of the surface of the Earth and is the home for many plants and animals. Cryosphere: is the frozen water part of the Earth system. ... One part of the cryosphere is ice that is found in water. Biosphere: it is composed of all of the living organisms on the planet. “ This includes all of the plants, animals, bacteria, fungi and single-celled organisms found on Earth. The biosphere is unique. So far there has been no existence of life elsewhere in the universe. In order to put oxygen into the air, there had to be plants, which take in carbon dioxide and release oxygen in the process of photosynthesis. For example, plants (biosphere) grow in the ground (geosphere), but to survive they absorb water (hydrosphere) and carbon dioxide (atmosphere). When wind brushes up against water, the wind will get cooler. So cities with large bodies of water near them, such as Chicago, will get much cooler during the winter. This is known as the sea breeze effect, and is also an example of how the earths systems affect each other. Knowledge of global warming for example can help us prevent it for our future generations. Cutting down on fossil fuels is probably the best solution for putting a stop to global warming. Although it would be far in the future, it is worth the change.