The planet’s climate has been constantly changing over geological time in the planets 4.5 billion-year-history. However, scientists are now increasingly concerned about the rapid warming of Earth caused by human-engineered greenhouse gases pollution. These gasses in Earth’s atmosphere – which includes Carbon Dioxide – allow light from the Sun to come in, but trap a portion of the outward-bound infrared radiation and warm the air.
Former US Vice President Al Gore revealed during his book “An Inconvenient Truth” how he first learnt of the true extent of this problem.
He wrote in 2006: “This image first caused me to think about – and then become intently focused on – global warming.
“It was shown in the mid-1960s to a small undergraduate class I took taught by Roger Revelle.
“Professor Revelle was the first scientists to propose measuring CO2 in the Earth’s atmosphere.
“He and the scientist he hired to run the study – Charles David Keeling – begun taking daily measurements in the middle of the Pacific Ocean over the big island of Hawaii in 1958.”
Mr Gore, who was was Bill Clinton’s running mate in 1992 and 1996 admitted he was shocked by the find.
He added: “After the first few years, they had enough data to produce the graphic image which Professor Revelle showed to my class.
“It was clear even at this early stage of their experiment that the concentration of CO2 throughout the Earth’s atmosphere was going up at a significant rate.
“I asked Revelle why the line marking CO2 concentration goes up sharply and then down once each year.
“He explained that the vast majority of the Earth’s land mass – as illustrated in this picture – is north of the Equator.”
Mr Gore went on to explain how this works in both ways.
He continued: “As a result, when the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun during the spring and summer, the leaves come out, and as they breathe in CO2, the amount of CO2 decreases worldwide.
“When the Northern Hemisphere is tilted away from the Sun in the fall and winter, the leaves fall, and as they disgorge CO2, the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere goes back up again.
“Its although the entire Earth takes a big breath in and out once each year.”
It comes after Mr Gore also revealed “warning signs” discovered on the icy continent of Antarctica.
He explained how a scientist warned him years ago to keep an eye on the Larsen-B ice shelf in the Northwest part of the Weddell Sea.
Mr Gore wrote in 2006: “John Mercer was a scientist whose work I first saw when I was investigating global warming as a member of Congress.
“He said in 1978: ‘One of the warning signs that a dangerous warming trend is underway in Antarctica will be the break-up of the Antarctic Peninsula, starting with the northernmost and extending gradually southward’.”
Discussing a photo revealing the ice shelf disappearance, he added: “Here is the Antarctica Peninsula, each orange splotch represents an ice shelf the size of Rhode Island or larger that has broken up since Mercer issued his warning.
“The red splotch marked 2002 is the Larsen-B, also portrayed in the photograph to the left – which illustrates the massive size of the ice shelves, rising roughly 700 feet above the ocean surface.”
Mr Gore went on to discuss how this thick chunk of ice vanished in little over a month, stunning scientists.
He continued: “The Larsen-B ice shelf, as photographed below, was about 150 miles long and 30 miles wide.
“When you look at the black pools on top of it, it seems as if you are looking through the ice to the ocean beneath.
“Actually those are pools of melting water collecting on top of the shelf.
“Scientists thought this ice shelf would be stable for at least another century – even with global warming.
“But starting on January 31, 2002, within 35 days, it completely broke up, scientists were absolutely astonished, they couldn’t figure out how in the world this happened so quickly.”