page_title: Global warming
section_title: History of climate change science
hierarchical_section_title: Global warming / History of climate change science
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Svante Arrhenius (* 19. Februar 1859 auf Gut Wik bei Uppsala; † 2. Oktober 1927 in Stockholm)
context_page_description: Global warming is the temperature of Earth's surface, oceans and atmosphere going up over tens to thousands of years. Average temperatures today are about 1 °C higher than before the Industrial Revolution, which started around 1750, during the Little Ice Age, an abnormally cold period. But in some parts of the world it is less than this and some more. Some scientists say that by the year 2100 temperatures will be 1.5 °C to 5 °C higher than they were before 1750. The most noticeable changes because of this increase in temperature is the melting of ice caps all around the world. Sea level is rising steadily because of continental ice melting into the sea. Many cities will be partly flooded by the ocean in the 21st century.
  Among the greenhouse gases, the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is one of the causes of global warming, as predicted by Svante Arrhenius a hundred years ago, confirming the work of Joseph Fourier more than 200 years ago. When people burn fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas this adds carbon dioxide into the air. This is because fossil fuels contain lots of carbon and burning means joining most of the atoms in the fuel with oxygen.
context_section_description: As early as the 1820s a lot of scientists were finding out about climate change. Joseph Fourier believed that light from the sun can enter the atmosphere, but cannot leave nearly as easily. He tried to prove that air can absorb the infrared radiation and will be given back to the Earth’s surface. Later in 1859, John Tyndall discovered that water vapor and CO₂ trap heat waves given by the sun. In 1896, Svante Arrhenius tried to prove that it would take thousands of years for the industrial production of CO₂ to raise the Earth’s temperature 5-6°C.  But throughout the early 20th century many people did not believe this idea because it was too simple. In the mid 20th century, scientists worked out that there was a 10% increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the 19th century, which made it a little bit warmer. It was at this time that people believed the emissions of CO₂ would increase exponentially in the future and the oceans would absorb any surplus of greenhouse gases. In 1956, Gilbert N. Plass decided that greenhouse gas emissions will have an effect on the Earth’s temperature and argued that not thinking about GHG emissions would be a mistake. Soon after, scientists studying all different kinds of science began to work together to figure out the mystery of GHG emissions and their effects. As technology advanced, it was in the 1980s that there was proof of a rise in CO₂ levels. An ice core, captured through drilling, provided clear evidence that carbon dioxide levels have risen.
caption: Svante Arrhenius; believed climate change would take many years
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