Global Warming — Scientific Facts, Problems and Possible Scenarios

Abstract

Climatology is a branch of atmospheric sciences concerned with the study of climates of the Earth and analyzing the causes and practical consequences of climatic changes. Until the 19th century climatology was closely linked with meteorology. The concept of climate appeared first in ancient Greece. Aristotle (384–322 BC) wrote “Meteorologica” – the first scientific book about the atmospheric (meteorological and climatic) phenomena. The understanding of climate by Aristotle and Hippocrates (460–377 BC) remained very influential until well into the 18th century [38]. The medieval Chinese scientist Shen Kuo (1031–1095) was probably the first person who asserted that climate can change in the course of time. Enlightenment in Europe gave a new pulse to the development of both weather and climate research. The invention of meteorological devices – thermometer (Galileo in 1603), mercury barometer (Torricelli in 1643), barometer-aneroid (Leibnitz in 1700) – opened a new era in meteorology. Appreciable milestones in both meteorology and climatology were reached in the 19th century. In 1817 A. Humboldt (1769–1859) – one of the pioneers in scientific climatology – constructed the first map of global annual isotherms using the data from 57 weather stations. In 1848 H.W. Dove (1803–1879) constructed maps of the isotherms of January and July. The first isobars based on data on prevailing winds of the entire globe were constructed by Buhan in 1869. Francis Galton (1822–1911) invented the term anticyclone. Moreover, in 1896 S. Arrhenius (1859–1927) claimed that fossil fuel combustion may eventually result in a global warming. He proposed a relation between atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations and global tempera‐ ture. These among numerous other findings laid the foundation for modern climatology.