Unit 3 pp #5
- 1. Global Climate Change Created as part of National Science Foundation ITEST Grant #0833706. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
- 2. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE What is it?
- 3. 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
- 4. What causes Earth’s climate to change? Changes in the atmosphere Natural processes Volcanoes Tectonic plate movement Changes in the sun Human activities – any activity that releases “greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere
- 5. What are greenhouse gases? Any gases that cause the “greenhouse effect!” carbon dioxide nitrous oxide methane Imagine… a car on a cool but sunny day… water vapor
- 8. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Who's researching it?
- 9. 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?
- 10. 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
- 11. 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
- 12. 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
- 13. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Well, what does the data say?
- 14. Observed Changes and Effects
- 15. 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
- 17. Temperature Change Data 1880-1884
- 19. 1896-1900
- 20. 1906-1910
- 21. 1916-1920
- 22. 1926-1930
- 23. 1936-1940
- 24. 1946-1950
- 25. 1956-1960
- 26. 1966-1970
- 27. 1976-1980
- 28. 1986-1990
- 29. 1996-2000
- 30. 2003-2007
- 31. 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
- 32. Human-Produced Greenhouse Gas Levels
- 33. Causes of Change
- 34. Most of the observed increase in global average temperature since the mid-20 th 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.
- 35. 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>.