Global Climate ChangeGlobal Climate Change

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Global Climate Change

• Identifiable change in the climate of Earth as a whole that lasts for an extended period of time (decades or longer) – When due to natural processes, it is usually

referred to as global climate variability– Usually refers to changes forced by human

activities that change the atmosphere

What causes Earth’s What causes Earth’s climate to change?climate to change?

Changes in the atmosphereChanges in the atmosphere Natural processesNatural processes

Volcanoes Volcanoes Tectonic plate movementTectonic plate movement Changes in the sunChanges in the sun

Human activities – any activity that releases Human activities – any activity that releases “greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere“greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere

What are What are greenhouse gases?greenhouse gases?

Any gases that cause the “greenhouse Any gases that cause the “greenhouse effect!”effect!”

Imagine… a car on a cool but sunny day…

Research

• Almost 1000 studies dealing with different aspects of climate change have been conducted and published

• So… how do we make sense of all this?

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Why was it created? Created in 1988 by

the United Nations Environmental Program

Established to provide policy-makers with an objective source of information about climate change

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Who is it? Governments

Members of the UN Participate by naming

experts and reviewing the reports before they’re published

Scientists Close to 1000 scientists Climatologists,

ecologists, atmospheric physicists, and others

Dr. Susan Solomon, a NOAA atmospheric chemist, an IPCC member and one author of IPCC summary

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

What do they do? Review current scientific and

technical literature relevant to global climate change

Provide reports on their findings at regular intervals

Reports are designed to be politically neutral and of high scientific and technical standards

ObservedChanges and Effects

Warming of Climate

• Warming of the climate is definitely occurring and can be observed by the:– Increases in global sea and air temperatures – Widespread melting of snow and ice– Rising global sea level

Temperature Change Data

1880-1884

1880-18841886-1890

1896-1900

1906-1910

1916-1920

1926-1930

1936-1940

1946-1950

1956-1960

1966-1970

1976-1980

1986-1990

1996-2000

2003-2007

Other Observed Changes and Effects

• 89% of current changes in ecosystems are consistent with changes expected due to global climate change

• Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide levels in atmosphere have increased greatly due to human activities since 1750 and now far exceed previous levels

• Carbon dioxide has increased by approximately 80% since 1970

Human-Produced Greenhouse Gas Levels

Causes of Change

Most of the observed increase in global average temperature since the mid-20th century is very likely

due to the observed increase in human-caused

greenhouse gas concentrations and human

influences have very likely contributed to sea level

rise, too.

References• IPCC Summary Report for Policy Makers. November 2007• "About IPCC." IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change. 20 Apr. 2009 <http://www.ipcc.ch/about/index.htm>.

• "Climate Change | U.S. EPA." U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 20 Apr. 2009 <http://epa.gov/climatechange/index.html>.

• Rischard, J. F. High noon twenty global problems, twenty years to solve them. New York: Basic Books, 2002.

• "SVS Animations." NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization Studio. 20 Apr. 2009 <http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003400/a003490/index.html>.