What changes our climate?
What's really changing the climate? This graph shows how different factors play a role in Earth's
changing climate. Scientists have created many climate models that take into account many factors that
can contribute climate change.
This data shows historical simulations, where scientists try to replicate temperature changes that
have happened in the past based on historical measurements of these factors. The vertical axis is the
difference in global average temperature relative to the 1951-1980 mean (which is 0 on the axis). The
horizonal line shows the pre-industrial temperature, specifically the 1850-1859 mean; it's what we
would see if the contributions stayed steady at pre-industrial levels.
Use the buttons to select a source and see the effect it has on the climate.
Other Greenhouse Gases
Greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and some halogenated
compounds, absorb outgoing heat (infrared) energy from the earth, and cause the temperature of the
atmosphere to increase.
This source does not include ozone, or GHGs from volcanic activity.
Aerosols
Aerosols are small particles that get suspended in the air. Aerosols can have warming or cooling
effects, depending on what they're made of. Dark-coloured aerosols, such as black carbon, absorb solar
radiation and cause warming, while light coloured aerosols, such as sulfate aerosols from coal
burning, can reflect sunlight back into space and have a net cooling effect.
Land Use
Deforestation not only destroys important sinks for atmospheric carbon dioxide, but also affects how
much solar radiation is reflected back into space. Dark forests are being converted into lighter
patches, which have a small net cooling effect on the climate.
Ozone
Tropospheric ozone, a short-lived greenhouse gas, has increased in the past century because a variety
of pollutants can react to form ozone close to the surface of the earth. In the higher stratospheric
level of the atmosphere, ozone generates heat from several processes. Stratospheric ozone has been
depleted by pollutants such as chloroflourocarbons (CFC), resulting in a net warming effect from
changes in atmospheric ozone.
Solar Radiation
The amount of radiation given off by the sun can fluctuate, which can have effects on global
temperature.
Volcanic Activity
Volcanic activity can influence the climate because volcanic eruptions release both greenhouse gases
that cause longer term warming and aerosols that reflect sunlight with a short term cooling effect.