“If global warming is real, why is it cold?”

While searching for my latest ocean-related blog idea, I came across the headline “If global warming is real why is it cold?” I thought about it and realized I didn’t completely know the answer.

Much of the public seem to believe that climate and weather are directly linked. They are related because they both have to do with atmospheric conditions, but the difference between weather and climate is a measure of time. “Weather is what conditions of the atmosphere are over a short period of time, and climate is how the atmosphere “behaves” over relatively long periods of time,” NASA stated.

Then why is the weather cold? The Times Online describes how this winter has been a ‘blocking high’ over Greenland and Baffin Island that has raised temperatures above normal in these areas, and brought cold weather to the surrounding regions – Northern Europe, the UK and the north east coast of America.

Just because here in parts of North America we seem to be freezing, which makes it hard to comprehend ‘Global Warming’, other parts of the world are sweltering. The Christian Science Monitor tells us that Globally, the 2000′ s were the hottest decade on record.

Global warming is the increase of the Earth’s AVERAGE surface temperature due to a build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Just because we have record cold weather, doesn’t mean global warming isn’t occurring.

“We believe global warming exists because scientists have stated that it has been the ten hottest years on record started in 1991, sea levels are rising, ice caps are melting and the connection between man-made emissions and global warming is well established.”

And to tie in with last weeks beat story, even the Coral are finding new ways to adapt to protect themselves from global warming. Corals around the world, already threatened by pollution, are widely likely to be first and most threatened species as the earth’s climate warms.

“The scientists, from Penn State University and elsewhere, have produced new evidence that some algae that live in partnership with corals are resilient to higher ocean temperatures.”

Corals and algae live together in what scientists call a ‘symbiotic relationship’. Coral polyps shelter the algae and as these plants photosynthesize they produce sugars the corals rely on for food. With this heat-resilient algae binding to the corals, they will have a better chance of surviving for longer. Although this algae will not save the coral in these reefs, it will definitely buy some time.