Climatic Change: Volcanoes, Man-Made Pollution, and Carbon Dioxide

The causes of climatic change are summarized with emphasis on what appear to be the three most important factors external to atmospheric processes controlling climate on the scale of decades. These are 1) high level stratospheric particles injected by volcanic eruptions, 2) the increase in carbon dioxide due to an increase in industrial activity, and 3) generation of lower atmospheric particles directly caused by man. A historical perspective on each of these begins with the earliest discoveries and ends with current state of the art knowledge. The impact of these factors on climate is examined using the model of Bryson and Dittberner [30]. Results show that these three factors can indeed simulate, remarkably well, the past behavior of hemispheric climate as best we know it. The most important implication to emerge from this study is that climate is affected not only by nature, but also by man through the burning of fossil fuels and the subsequent production of carbon dioxide and particulates.