The engenders for climate change
include those which are natural, as well as those which are incited by humans.
When it comes to natural causes, I can only name a few, viz., variations in
solar radiation, variations in the Earth's orbit and variations in the
reflectivity (i.e., the ratio of reflected radiation from the surface to
incident radiation upon it) of the continents and oceans. But, when it comes to
artificial causes, I can, unfortunately, name so many, like deforestation,
usage of fossil fuels in vehicles, factories etc., dumping of harmful waste
into the oceans, nuclear wars, etc.
The aim of this article is not to
pin-point the reasons for climate change, but to discuss the usage of
space-technologies in its investigation. In my first article, 'The need for
space exploration', I mentioned that there are 1071 operational satellites
orbiting the Earth. I ought to mention here that out of these, 18 are surveying
the miscellaneous effects of climate change by studying the Earth's ozone, air
quality, and climate though observations of composition, chemistry, and
dynamics of the atmosphere, keeping track of the size and thickness of the
Earth's ice sheets, monitoring the color of the Earth's oceans, etc.
DSCOVR was the latest climate-research satellite launched in early 2015.
Its primary objective is to examine and study disparate solar activities, like
changes in the Sun's magnetic field, the composition & intensity of the
solar wind, fluctuations in solar radiation etc., that would, directly or
indirectly, affect the Earth's climate.
We continue to
devise new technologies to contrive better devices for studying the Earth's
climate. But to keep this furtherance going, we need young pioneers to
instigate and incorporate new ideas into such technologies to revamp the
analysis of climate change. Maybe one day, we would invent a surreal device
which would have discovered a new and obscured cause for climate change which
we weren't even aware of before, or perhaps could even undo its undesirable
effects. Now whether or not this happens is all left to you guys. So, it's time
for some diligence, hard work and dedication to ameliorate our world and plan
for a better future.
Shreyas Dahale
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