What is the Difference Between Anthropogenic and Natural Climate Change

The main difference between anthropogenic and natural climate change is that anthropogenic climate changes occur due the human impact on Earth’s climate whereas natural climate changes occur due to the natural climate cycles continuously occurring throughout the Earth’s history. 

Anthropogenic and natural climate change are two components of climate change involved in the determination of the changes in climate on Earth. Anthropogenic climate changes are directly linked to the amount of fossil fuels burnt, the amount of aerosols released, land alteration due to agriculture and deforestation, etc. while natural climate changes are directly linked to the amount of incoming and outgoing energy of the Earth. 

Key Areas Covered 

1. What is Anthropogenic Climate Change
     – Definition, Causes, Importance
2. What is Natural Climate Change
     – Definition, Causes, Importance
3. What are the Similarities Between Anthropogenic and Natural Climate Change
     – Outline of Common Features
4. What is the Difference Between Anthropogenic and Natural Climate Change
     – Comparison of Key Differences

Key Terms 

Anthropogenic Climate Change, Global Warming, Greenhouse Gases, Natural Climate Change

What is Anthropogenic Climate Change 

Anthropogenic climate change is the climate change brought by human activities. These activities include fossil fuel burning, deforestation, and intensive agriculture. However, this change began to occur with the beginning of the industrial revolution, showing major spikes in the temperature levels. Generally, the burning of fossil fuel emits greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, which traps heat, causing the greenhouse effect. Moreover, methane is another greenhouse gas emitted due to agriculture. 

Figure 1: Contribution to Global Warming

Furthermore, although both anthropogenic and natural climate change collectively contributes to climate change in the Earth, anthropogenic climate change has a great influence. Moreover, climate change is associated with global warming as it causes the greenhouse effect. 

What is Natural Climate Change 

Natural climate change is climate change that occurs due to the natural climate cycles of the Earth. Moreover, the changes in the natural climate cycles change the balance of incoming and outgoing energy of the Earth. Generally, the major factor that contributes to the natural climate change is the Earth’s orbit around the sun. Additionally, other factors include the output of energy from our sun, the ocean’s natural cooling and warming cycles and the constant variability in volcanic activity.

Figure 2: Earth’s Energy Budget

Moreover, as a result of natural climate change, the glaciers periodically advances and retreats. Therefore, the significance of natural climate change is that the pattern or the reoccurrence of climate change is continuous. However, this type of climate change has a less significant effect on global warming when compared to anthropogenic climate changes. 

Similarities Between Anthropogenic and Natural Climate Change 

• Anthropogenic and natural climate change are the two causes of climate change. 
• Both these climate changes change the energy level of the Earth. 
• Moreover, they have influences on animals and plants on Earth. 

Difference Between Anthropogenic and Natural Climate Change 

Definition 

Anthropogenic climate change refers to the emission of greenhouse gases by human activities while natural climate change refers to the climate changes caused by many natural factors including the changes in the sun, volcanoes, Earth’s orbit. Thus, this is the fundamental difference between anthropogenic and natural climate change.

Causes  

Anthropogenic climate changes are directly linked to the amount of fossil fuels burnt, the amount of aerosols released, land alteration due to agriculture and deforestation, etc., while natural climate changes are directly linked to the amount of incoming and outgoing energy of the Earth. 

Time Period 

Also, another difference between anthropogenic and natural climate change is that anthropogenic climate change occurred over the last few hundred years, while natural climate change has continuously occurred throughout the Earth’s history. 

The pattern of Climate Change 

The pattern of climate change is not continuous in anthropogenic climate change, while the pattern of climate change is continuous in natural climate change. 

Contribution to the Total Climate Change 

Moreover, anthropogenic climate change has a higher contribution to the total climate change, while natural climate change has a lower contribution to the total climate change. 

Contribution to Global Warming 

Anthropogenic climate change has a higher contribution to global warming, while natural climate change has a lower contribution to global warming. 

Conclusion 

Basically, anthropogenic climate change is the change in the climate due to human activities. Moreover, these activities include the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, and intensive agriculture. Additionally, it occurs over a few hundreds of years. On the other hand, natural climate change is the change in the climate due to natural climate cycles of the Earth, occurring throughout its history. Moreover, they result in changing Earth’s incoming and outgoing energy balance through the changes in the sun, volcanoes, etc. Therefore, the main difference between anthropogenic and natural climate change is their source.   

References:

1. J.M.K.C. Donev et al.“Natural vs Anthropogenic Climate Change.” Energy Education, University of Calgary, Available Here.
2. Joos, Fortunat, and Renato Spahni. “Rates of change in natural and anthropogenic radiative forcing over the past 20,000 years.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America vol. 105,5 (2008): 1425-30. doi:10.1073/pnas.0707386105.

Image Courtesy:

1. “Climate Change Attribution” Av Robert A. Rohde – This figure was created by Robert A. Rohde from published data (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia   
2. “The-NASA-Earth’s-Energy-Budget-Poster-Radiant-Energy-System-satellite-infrared-radiation-fluxes” By NASA – quoting Loeb et al., J. Clim 2009 & Trenberth et al, BAMS 2009 (Public Domain) via Commons Wikimedia