What does anthropogenic mean in terms of climate change?

Question

Ivy Ackerman · Accepted Answer

Anthropogenic in terms of climate change refers to the impact humans have had on climate change, primarily through emissions of greenhouse gasses.

Greenhouses gasses such as carbon dioxide #("CO"_2)# or methane #("CH"_4)# can be produced naturally in the environment through things like volcanoes or other geothermal sources. Throughout history, greenhouse gas concentrations have risen and fallen significantly over long periods of time. The difference nowadays is that greenhouse gas emissions are increasing at a rate far beyond any sort of natural fluctuations. We know this by observing historical proxy data through things like ice core sampling, which allows us to compare historical data such as #"CO"_2# concentrations with modern #"CO"_2# levels. Thus, "anthropogenic climate change" would be defined as a change in climate that is caused by, or at least greatly exacerbated by, human activity, including industrialization.

Roman Acosta · Answer

undefined Anthropogenic means "caused or produced by human activities." In terms of climate change, anthropogenic factors refer to those aspects of climate change that are directly attributable to human activities, such as the burning of fossil fuels, deforestation, industrial processes, and agriculture. These activities release greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O), into the atmosphere, which contribute to the warming of the Earth's climate system.