Английский язык

When one of outstanding climatologists of the United State James Hansen from NASA declared to the Congress in 1988 that with a high degree of reliability warming (increase in the mean global temperature by around 0.5 ⁰C in this century) can be connected with the anthropogenic greenhouse effect, he stirred up a storm of critics. «It is time to stop waffling so much and say the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here». – he said in his interview to a journalist from New York Times. This, the statement of Hansen had an unusual political effect and drew many scientists and politicians of the world to this problem.

At that time many climatologists did not agree with Hansen and considered that recent hot years were normal deviation from mean temperatures. However data confirming the opinion of Hansen are being accumulated. And in 1989 A. Strong from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration reported that the measurements of the ocean surface temperatures conducted from a satellite during 1982-1988… showed that the world's oceans gradually but noticeably grew warmer by about 0.1 ^oC a year. Later on, some scientists agreed with Hansen that physical manifestations of the anthropogenic greenhouse effect are already definite. Richard Houghton and George Woodwell stated that the heat and drought that affected North America and other regions of the Earth in resent years concurred with the predictions of possible global warming. There were also other signs of increasing warming. These included information on decreasing size of the area of permafrost in Alaska and Canadian Arctic, on rising mean temperatures in Canadian laces, on decreased maximum yearly extension of ice cover in Antarctica and Arctic, as well as on the diminishing number of icebergs in Europe and other regions. Unusual climatic phenomena in recent years – the Hugo Hurricane, floods in Africa and South – Eastern Asia, storms in Europe, – have given rise to the warming that is «a signal» of the growing greenhouse effect. According to ex-director of the US National Center of Atmospheric Research Dr. Walter Roberts [Source: Robert, Walter Orr, «It is time to Prepare for Global Climate Changes». Conservation Foundation Letter, April 1983.], «the dust bowl in the USA in the middle of 1930s was the greatest climate disaster in the history of our country. However it could seem a childish game in comparison with the dust bowl of the 2040s. As a result of warming natural precipitation can decrease by 40 %, summers get hotter, evaporation from the earth's surface will increase, soils will dry out, and winds will raise soils to the sky».

In December 1988, having revised the strategy for the policy of climate change, the UN General Assembly approved the establishment of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And in 1989 at an annual meeting the heads of seven large democratic states recognized the necessity of adopting a world convention on global climate change aimed at mitigation of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

For millenniums one natural human desire was to change the environment. At present all of a sudden we find ourselves on the verge of huge climate change resulting from human activities. Unfortunately these climate changes are unplanned and often uncontrolled and can entail catastrophic effects.

Climate on the Earth is determined by intricate interactions between the atmosphere, world oceans, ice caps, animals, vegetation and sedimentary rocks. When speaking of "a climate system" scientists mean all natural factors, which form the climate in interaction. This systems includes at least four main components: atmosphere, hydrosphere, lithosphere and biosphere. When a climatic system is in equilibrium – as it had been before the technological revolution – the solar radiation absorbed is balanced by the surface radiation of the earth and atmosphere. The anthropogenic factors that produce an accumulation of solar energy impact the thermal balance, changing the climate. The factors, which actively influence the solar energy balance, include technological gases called greenhouse gases.

(From Internet)

EXERCISES:

1. Form verbs from the following nouns and translate them into Russian:

Consumption, consideration, concentration, assumption, reduction, emission, extension, mitigation, circulation, precipitation, evaporation, accumulation.

2.Find in the text the English equivalents for the following words and word – combinations: