By Taylor Arnold

Edited by Brianna Cruz

While the topic of climate change has become intensely controversial, the evidence for it is unequivocal. Over the last 650,000 years, the Earth’s climate has seen glacial periods which ended abruptly and began the modern climate age. However, the climate change that we are seeing daily is anything but natural. But, it can be confusing when you don’t know what exactly is the evidence for climate change when there is so much misinformation in every circle we encounter.

One way you can counter misinformation is knowing what the concrete evidence is for climate change. Below is data and information synthesized from NASA that will make understanding what the evidence for climate change is!

Global Temperature is rising:
Since the late 19th century, the Earth’s average temperature has risen by 2.12 degrees Fahrenheit which is a direct result of increased carbon dioxide emissions. In fact, the biggest increase has occurred over the last 40 years, the last 7 years have been the warmest of that (“Climate Change: How Do We Know”).

The Ocean Warming
This might not be something we think about, but our oceans have warmed more than 0.6 degrees since 1969 Fahrenheit according to experts at NASA.

Shrinking Ice Sheets and glaciers

This is one of the most evident sources of the existence of climate change. For years, scientists have observed the ice patterns in glaciers and have noticed a tremendous decrease in glaciers in places like Olympic National Park. However, NASA has really noted the melting of Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets. In fact, they have lost 279 billion tons of ice per year between 1993 and 2019.

Sea Level Rise

Additionally, global sea level rose roughly 8 inches in the last 100 years. Not surprisingly, the last two decades have seen the rise nearly double.

Extreme Events
As the residents of Texas know, there has been an increase of drastic weather events in areas where there shouldn’t be. Texas experienced a devastating winter storm that is a direct result of climate change.

Ocean Acidification

The Industrial Revolution brought more than what it bargained for. Since then, the surface of the ocean waters’ acidity has increased by 30%. Aside from the effects of acid rain brought on by the burning of coal, the ocean has absorbed between 20% and 30% of total anthropogenic carbon dioxide emissions in recent decades

All of these reasons are brought on by humans as the accelerated consequences of climate change have never been to the magnitude that they are now. While this is an abbreviated list, you can find more information on NASA’s website!