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The Sahara Desert in North Africa is the largest hot desert in the world and is one of the hottest, driest and sunniest places on Earth. Located just south of the Sahara is a narrow semi-desert steppe (a semi-arid region) called the Sahel , while Africa's most southern areas contain both savanna plains , and its central portion, including the ...
The date shown when humanity reaches 1.5 °C will move closer as emissions rise, and further away as emissions decrease. An alternative view projects the time remaining to 2.0 °C of warming. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] The clock is updated every year to reflect the latest global CO 2 emissions trend and rate of climate warming. [ 1 ]
Climate change in Africa is an increasingly serious threat as Africa is among the most vulnerable continents to the effects of climate change. [1] [2] [3] Some sources even classify Africa as "the most vulnerable continent on Earth". [4] [5] Climate change and climate variability will likely reduce agricultural production, food security and ...
Earth is approximately 290 K (17 °C; 62 °F), so its radiation peaks near 10,000 nm, and is much too long to be visible to humans. Because of its temperature, the atmosphere emits infrared radiation. For example, on clear nights Earth's surface cools down faster than on cloudy nights.
[29] [30] [31] Scientifically, global warming refers only to increased surface warming, while climate change describes both global warming and its effects on Earth's climate system, such as precipitation changes. [28] Climate change can also be used more broadly to include changes to the climate that have happened throughout Earth's history. [32]
Earth's energy budget (or Earth's energy balance) is the balance between the energy that Earth receives from the Sun and the energy the Earth loses back into outer space. Smaller energy sources, such as Earth's internal heat, are taken into consideration, but make a tiny contribution compared to solar energy.
Over the years the Earth's eccentricity has varied between 0.005 and 0.0607, today the eccentricity of Earth's orbit is approximately 0.0167. [5] While the value of eccentricity does impact the distance of the Earth from the Sun, its primary impact on insolation comes from its modulating effect on the procession cycle.
The five components of the climate system all interact. They are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the cryosphere, the lithosphere and the biosphere. [1]: 1451 Earth's climate system is a complex system with five interacting components: the atmosphere (air), the hydrosphere (water), the cryosphere (ice and permafrost), the lithosphere (earth's upper rocky layer) and the biosphere (living things).