Teresa Madaleno

Researchers at Duke University along with a group of Scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion lab say they’ve discovered climate change does not occur naturally, but by external factors. The team reached this conclusion following careful observation of satellite information.

The scientists, who say their findings could prove that global warming is in fact man-made, have indicated that their research tells us that temperature should remain stable unless pushed by outside forces.

Using climate models and NASA satellite observations of Earth’s energy from the last 15 years, the data showed that a warming Earth is able to restore its temperature through a complex set of atmospheric changes and adjustments in the way radiative heat is transported.

For a long time, scientists have believed that temperature stabilizes due to what is called the “Planck Response.” This stabilization is thought to be like a large increase in infrared energy that Earth emits as it warms. This response creates a negative radiative feedback, thus allowing more heat to be released into space.

Well, now the Duke/NASA findings confirm that the stabilization process or restoring global temperature stability tends to be impacted locally by heat-trapping energy feedbacks such as changes in clouds, water vapor, as well as snow and ice. As they investigated further, the scientists realized that while global temperature may stabilize naturally, there are other mechanisms at work. These mechanisms include a “net release of energy” in regions that may be cooler during a natural, unforced warming event.

There are those who like to argue that right now Earth is wrapped in a blanket with no chance of being uncovered. While the scientists involved in this research study may not go that far, they are stating that global warming is influenced by large scale energy transport and atmospheric circulation changes. In other words…what happens locally can impact the whole globe. Ultimately, we all have a hand in what happens to Earth.