Global Warming

This page is about the current warming of the Earth's climate system.

Global warming is the long-term rise in the average temperature of the Earth's climate system. It is a major aspect of current climate change, and has been demonstrated by direct temperature measurements and by measurements of various effects of the warming.[1][2] The term commonly refers to the mainly human-caused increase in global surface temperatures and its projected continuation.[3][4] In this context, the terms global warming and climate change are often used interchangeably,[5] but climate change includes both global warming and its effects, such as changes in precipitation and impacts that differ by region.[6] There were prehistoric periods of global warming,[7] but observed changes since the mid-20th century have been much greater than those seen in previous records covering decades to thousands of years.[1][8]