Jacob Duchac, “Natural Climate Change”
Mentor: Phillip Owens, College of General Studies – Mathematics & Natural Sciences

The past century has shown a significant increase in the average global temperature. The source of this temperature change, however, is not fully understood. I approached this topic by looking into the different natural causes of climate change and how impactful they might be. Natural processes, such as Milankovitch cycles, solar cycles, carbon cycles, and ocean oscillations affect the global climate in different ways. Some have a short-term effect, and some have a long-term effect. For example, phytoplankton and other forms of vegetation found all around the globe greatly affect short-term climate change, whereas plate tectonic cycles have major effects on long-term climate change. Greenhouse gases, including water vapor (H20), carbon dioxide (CO2), tropospheric ozone (03), and methane (CH4), play a crucial role in climate change because of their effects on Earth’s energy balance.

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