...Climate Change and the IPCC o What is the IPCC? - Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change, created in 1988, first assessment report in 1990 launched global awareness of climate change issue. How the IPCC works - Thousands of scientists contribute to writing and reviewing reports. Does not carry out new research or monitor climate related data. There are 3 working groups and a special tasks force. Terminology – 99%-100% (Virtually Certain) 90%-100% (Very Likely) 66%-100 (Likely) 33%-60% (About as likely as not) 0%-33% (Unlikely) 0%-10% (Very Unlikely) 0%-1% (Exceptionally Unlikely) o Causes of climate change Relative forcing components – Long-live greenhouse gases (Global), Ozone (Continental to Global), Stratospheric water vapor from methane (Global), Surface albedo, Aerosol (Direct Affect, Cloud Albedo Affect, Surface to Continental), Linear Contrails (Continental) , Solar irradiance (Global) Earth’s energy budget & human use Quadrillion BTU 100% Incoming Solar Energy Wood 64% - Radiated to space Coal 51% - Absorbed by land and oceans Oil &Gas 23% - Carried to clouds Hydropower &Nuclear (1900-) 20% - Reflected by clouds 16% - Absorbed by atmosphere 15% - Radiation absorbed by atmosphere 7% - Conduction and rising air 6% - Reflected by atmosphere 6% - Radiated directly into space 4% - Reflected from Earth’s surface 3% - Absorbed by clouds Greenhouse gases (types and impact)...
Words: 2013 - Pages: 9
...Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions (i.e., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change is caused by factors such as biotic processes, variations in solar radiation received by Earth, plate tectonics, and volcanic eruptions. Certain human activities have also been identified as significant causes of recent climate change, often referred to as "global warming". Scientists actively work to understand past and future climate by using observations and theoretical models. A climate record — extending deep into the Earth's past — has been assembled, and continues to be built up, based on geological evidence from borehole temperature profiles, cores removed from deep accumulations of ice, floral and faunal records, glacial and periglacial processes, stable-isotope and other analyses of sediment layers, and records of past sea levels. More recent data are provided by the instrumental record. General circulation models, based on the physical sciences, are often used in theoretical approaches to match past climate data, make future projections, and link causes and effects in climate change. Terminology The most general definition of climate change is a change in the statistical properties of the climate system when considered over long periods...
Words: 4109 - Pages: 17
...thumb for climate change turned upside down: Wet and dry regions recalculated Date: September 14, 2014 Source: ETH Zurich Summary: With a new analysis of land regions, climate researchers are challenging the general climate change paradigm that dry regions are getting drier and wet regions are getting wetter. In some regions they are encountering divergent trends. Share This Email to a friend Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Google+ Print this page With a new analysis of land regions, ETH climate researcher are challenging the general climate change precept that dry regions are getting drier and wet regions are getting wetter. In some regions they are encountering divergent trends. Related Articles Climate Dune Global climate model Season Desert Savanna Based on models and observations, climate scientists have devised a simplified formula to describe one of the consequences of climate change: regions already marked by droughts will continue to dry out in the future climate. Regions that already have a moist climate will experience additional rainfall. In short: dry gets drier; wet gets wetter (DDWW). However, this formula is less universally valid than previously assumed. This was demonstrated by a team of ETH climate researchers led by Peter Greve, lead author of a study recently published in Nature Geoscience. Traditional analyses use technology that can comprehensively describe climate characteristics above the ocean, but is problematic over land. While this...
Words: 619 - Pages: 3
...Climate change From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia For current and future climatological effects of human influences, see global warming. For the study of past climate change, see paleoclimatology. For temperatures on the longest time scales, see geologic temperature record. [pic] |Atmospheric sciences | |[pic] | |Aerology | |Atmospheric physics | |Atmospheric dynamics (category) | |Atmospheric chemistry (category) | |Meteorology | |Weather (category) · (portal) | |Tropical cyclone (category) | |Climatology | |Climate (category) | |Climate change (category) | |Global warming (category) · (portal) | |v · d · e | Climate change is a long-term change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions or the distribution of events around that average (e.g., more or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region or may occur across the whole Earth. |Contents ...
Words: 3883 - Pages: 16
...latitude, a long term factor. The effect of latitude on the heat budget can be seen all over the globe, but the most striking examples are that the annual amount of insolation in the Arctic region, located 66° north of the equator, is 75 W/m2 however it is 275 W/m2 in Egypt, located 26° north of the equator. Latitude holds such a large effect on insolation because a variation in latitude means variations in the altitude of the sun. Altitude of the sun affects insolation because as the angle of the sun in the sky decreases and becomes more oblique, the land area to be heated up by the rays and the depth of atmosphere they must travel through increase. Therefore the amount of insolation lost through absorption, scattering and reflection increases. Areas in lower latitudes have higher temperatures than those in higher latitudes, because the sun is at a higher angle of incidence. One might expect the highest amount of insolation to be found on land directly below the equator, due to the sun’s highest angle of incidence being located here, meaning the equator receives more energy as solar radiation strikes the Earth head-on. However, as a...
Words: 2388 - Pages: 10
...GEOGRAPHY UNIT 1 WORLD AT RISK WORLD AT RISK GLOBAL HAZARDS Hazard – Potential threat to human life or property Natural Hazards – Caused by natural processes e.g. lava flow from volcanic eruption Hydro-meteorological Hazards – Caused by climatic processes (droughts, floods, tropical cyclones and storms Geophysical Hazards – Caused by land processes (volcanic eruptions, earthquakes) Disaster – When a hazard seriously affects humans Risk – Likelihood that humans will be seriously affected by a hazard Vulnerability – How susceptible a population is to the damage caused by a hazard. Disaster Risk Equation Risk (R) – Hazards (H) * Vulnerability (V) / Capacity to Cope (C) Risk increases if: * Frequency or severity of hazards increase * People vulnerability increase * Capacity to cope decreases (Capacity to cope is the ability to deal with the consequences of a hazard) e.g. people in remote areas are further from help in central areas, so have lower capacity to cope) * Global Warming – greatest global hazard * Recent increase in average global temp – climate change * Causes other types of climate change * Context hazard – global in scale (affects all parts of environment) – potential to trigger other hazards or make them worse * Chronic Hazard (Long term) * People who aren’t causing the problem are mostly affected * Difficult to find solutions * Hydro-meteorological hazards becoming more frequent * Increasing...
Words: 10391 - Pages: 42
...reefs is under threat as oceans absorb greater quantities of carbon dioxide, says Rod Salm. In this week's Green Room, he says we must accept that we are going to lose many of these valuable ecosystems, but adds that not all hope is lost. I've been privileged to see many of the world's finest and least disturbed reefs. Mine were the first human eyes to see many of the remotest reefs at a time when we really could describe them as pristine. I would never have dreamed that they were at risk from people, far less than from something as remote then as climate change. Today, despite the doom and gloom one reads so much about, one can still find reefs that are vibrant, thriving ecosystems. But sadly, too, there are more and more that look like something from the dark side of the Moon. These degraded reefs have been ravaged by destructive fishing, bad land use practices that smother them with silt, and pollutants that foster disease and overgrowth by seaweeds. More alarmingly, there are large areas that are killed off and degraded by warming seas linked to climate change. We've all read that global warming poses a tremendous threat to our planet, and that coral reefs will face an uphill battle to survive in warmer waters. Yet the greatest threat to our oceans and to all of its wonders is little known, nearly impossible to see, and potentially devastating. This is not climate change, but does stem from the excess carbon dioxide emissions that contribute to climate change. Changing chemistry...
Words: 1172 - Pages: 5
...Paul C. Knappenberger in A U.S. Carbon Tax Wouldn't Slow Down Global Climate Change, says a US carbon tax wouldn't slow down global climate change, because based on mainstream estimates, of the approximately three degrees Celsius of global warming that is being projected to occur between now and the end of the century as a result of human related carbon emissions, the U.S. contribution will only be about 0.2°C, or about seven percent of the total warming. A carbon tax would harm the economy, reduce economic growth, and hinder job creation. Plus it would just enhance America's overspending problem. We are already in debt and a tax would just make it worse. Carbon hurts the Earth on land, in the ocean, and in the atmosphere. Every action of a modern life involves using fossil fuel, therefore emitting carbon, so the only way to get any change is to send a price signal through the matrix; we should plead a carbon tax. Our Earth is dying exponentially and we must put forth effort to slow down the death of the only thing we...
Words: 1677 - Pages: 7
...Boom, thod, rawr! Wow, a dinosaur! Well, that what I would have said if I heard those noises. Dinosaurs were the first living organism to walk the earth. Their dynasty lasted for 200 million years and was separated into three different periods: the Triassic, Jurassic, and Cretaceous. The Cretaceous period was the final period of the dinosaurs and to have a better understanding of this period we must look at the climate and the geographical landscape, then we must have knowledge on the many things that lived during this time (dinosaurs and unique sea animals), and finally how the Cretaceous came to an end. The Cretaceous was made up of tropical and subtropical climate throughout the globe. These two types of climates controlled the Earth causing it to have hottest temperatures during the...
Words: 543 - Pages: 3
...ideas and concepts from the chapter. (Points : 5) Monsoons are not affecting eastern Oregon. In monsoons you need a great amount of water to be lifted from the ocean and that water drop on land. Eastern Oregon is more than 400 miles from a water source large as the amount need like the size of ocean. A monsoon pattern is where heating of land and ocean differ. The difference happens in the summer mostly due to the need heating. On land the air is heated quicker than the ocean and producing a greater pressure difference between the land and the water. A low area of pressure forms over the land. As the water is heated more water is able to be carried in the clouds. As the cloud move towards the lower pressure i.e. the land, we have an up rise in land mass. You have great rains and greater amount flooding as the climbing air mass has to move at higher elevation. This cools the air mass and water condensates over that land (rain) depositing great amount of water causing flooding. In a micro climate of the Columbia River can produce more rain over an area depending on the land mass shape. The land mass must rise greatly and the heating of the water be enough with little wind (due to evaporation) to create an air mass with higher relative humidity. Then as this air mass moves over the increasing altitude of the land you have above normal rain levels. I think an example would be the Washington side of the river across from The Dallas. The area has a greater amount of rain. Most...
Words: 368 - Pages: 2
...Outline for Climate Change Introduction: Why does climate change matter? Biochemically speaking, why is temperature so important? Temperature is critical to biochemical reactions, because it determines the effectiveness of the enzymes controlling the reactions. What is an ectotherm? ectotherms, organisms whose body temperature depends on the surrounding environment. What is the connection between performance and temperature in ectotherms? For these organisms, how fast they grow,1 how quickly they move,2,3 and almost everything else about their behavior and functioning is affected by external temperatures. What is the Goldilocks principle? And to what can it be applied when it comes to temperature? Goldilocks principle when the temperature is just right, enzyme activity is maximized. It is the optimum temperature, where an enzyme or things work at its best. Can be applied to enzymes, performance, population growth rates. How does temperature relate to species richness? As temperature increases the species richness (the number of species in a given area) increases So, what’s the big deal? many biological processes exhibit the same basic hump-shaped relationship with temperature, in which temperatures that are too low or too high impair or sometimes even terminate critical biological processes.1This is why climate change is the focus of so much scientific research. Part 1: Detecting climate change What is the difference between weather and climate? How is this...
Words: 2956 - Pages: 12
...An organization of the government published in its website the article, “Global Climate Change Indicators.” Global average temperature shows an increase of approximately 1.4o F since the early 20thCentury2. To support this statement global average temperatures were measures from land and oceans from 1935 to 2010. The advances in technology makes more accessible to measure the changes in the temperature. Equally, there are some famous organizations in the government that have the technology to watch the changes in the temperature, for example, NASA. The NASA states that the year 2014 ranks as the warmest on record3. The evidence provided in these two articles support that in effect the temperature has...
Words: 750 - Pages: 3
...Globally, biodiversity levels vary widely across land and oceans. Both physical and human factors influence levels of biodiversity and these factors operate at a variety of scales from local to global. Global physical factors such as variations in climate, play a major role in controlling the presence or absence of limiting factors, such as: • Temperature • Availability of light • Humidity • Nutrient supply • etc. An absence of limiting factors leads to high levels of primary productivity and the energy produced leads to high levels of biodiversity. Conversely, where limiting factors are strongly evident, e.g. in cold temperatures such as the Arctic, arid regions like deserts, darkness, etc. this will lead to low levels of biodiversity. The size of the area is another key factor, as the larger the continuous area the more species that can flourish in it. Hence the recent ‘size matters’ mantra, and the creation of huge transnational conservation areas such as the Peace Parks of Africa. Locally, there are numerous factors that may have an impact on biodiversity: • Disturbance from a natural disaster e.g. hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis on both land and ocean ecosystems, Asian tsunami 2004 – destroyed some mangrove forests • Quasi-natural disasters, e.g. wildfires (Victoria, Australia 2009), hunting, fishing, slash and burn farming • Eutrophication from high-tech agricultures Physical factors Human factors • Climate, e.g. temperature, rainfall, amount of light (limiting...
Words: 712 - Pages: 3
...The fundamental physical laws and observations are basis of Climatic models. A consensus on the existence of climatic change cannot be reached due to the non-existence of long term historical climate data. Climate change was considered to be a myth till the twentieth century but the current studies and evidence reflects that natural systems are already being affected by regional climatic change. Availability of food and water is affected by the risings temperature, changes in precipitation patterns and natural disasters leading to rise in poverty, increased volatility in food prices, and heightened regional tensions, affecting international stability and security. All of the changes in physical parameters stand as the global dimensions of...
Words: 887 - Pages: 4
...industrial plants, mean more greenhouse gases that will be emitted into the atmosphere, some will return causing the planet’s surface to warm. Greenhouse gases in turn leads to Global Climate change. Three most environmental negatives to me are first the growing population. People wanting larger families, technology is more advance, which leads to better medicine and people living longer. The more people the less resources we will have to survive with. Two triggers that had an increase of population we went from hunter to gather lifestyle to an agricultural life style. The agricultural revolution began around 10,000 years ago with people growing their own crops and raise animals for consumption. It was easier for the people to meet their nutritional needs and in turn they began to live longer and produce more children. Second, Greenhouse gases are atmospheric gases that absorb infrared radiation, caused by the industrial revolution. The building of power plants, cars and buses, are some of the reasons of greenhouse gases. Pounds and Crump (1994) hypothesized that hot, dry condition was the main reason for such high adult mortality and breeding issues in other species. Due to greenhouse gases, the warming of the oceans were said to be caused by human release of carbon dioxide, and other gases. Warmer oceans caused the clouds to be higher, so the clouds contact with the trees diminished, causing the forest to dry up. Pounds and two other associates (1999) wrote in the journal of Nature...
Words: 1120 - Pages: 5
