Scientists need to know how much of the Earth's present warming is due to natural factors and how much is due to human activity. They also need to know at what rate climatic changes are happening. By knowing how much human and natural factors influence climate, scientists can suggest a plan of action to postpone global warming or help people adapt to it.
Just as the Earth's climate
changes, the earth's surface changes too, as this slide shows. The earth's
surface is constantly shaped and reshaped by incredibly powerful processes
such as earthquakes. This 5-meter high colony of coral (Pavona clavus)
is from the Galapagos Islands off the coast of Ecuador in the Pacific
Ocean. This reef, once underwater, was lifted high and dry during a turbulent
period of earthquake activity in 1954. Examples such as this terrestrial
reef are evidence that our planet is always changing. Most of these environmental
changes however, are less dramatic than the rise of the ocean floor or
the eruption of a volcano. One less dramatic change that we are able to
investigate is the rate at which coral grows. By examining the growth
rate of coral, scientists are able to determine what the climate was like
when the coral was submerged and alive in the ocean.
Photo Credits:
Jerry Wellington
Department of Biology, University of Houston
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