Climate

Change
Presented by: Group 10
BSIT 1-A
Introduction
All biomes are universally affected by global conditions, such as climate, that
ultimately shape each biome’s environment. Scientists who study climate have
noted a series of marked changes that have gradually become increasingly evident
during the last sixty years. Global climate change is the term used to describe
altered global weather patterns, especially a worldwide increase in temperature and
resulting changes in the climate, due largely to rising levels of atmospheric carbon
dioxide.

Climate and Weather

A common misconception about global climate change is that a specific weather
event occurring in a particular region (for example, a very cool week in June in
central Indiana) is evidence of global climate change. However, a cold week in June
is a weather-related event and not a climate-related one. These misconceptions
often arise because of confusion over the terms climate and weather.
 Climate refers to the long-term,
predictable atmospheric conditions of a
specific area. The climate of a biome is
characterized by having consistent
temperature and annual rainfall ranges.
Climate does not address the amount of
rain that fell on one particular day in a
biome or the colder-than-average
temperatures that occurred on one day. In
contrast, Weather refers to the conditions
of the atmosphere during a short period of
time. Weather forecasts are usually made
for 48-hour cycles. Long-range weather
forecasts are available but can be
unreliable.
 To better understand the difference between climate and weather, imagine you're
planning to visit Manila, the capital of the Philippines, during the summer.

Weather: You check the weather forecast for the day of your arrival and see a 70% chance
of thunderstorms in the afternoon, with temperatures around 90°F (32°C). This tells you
what to expect on that specific day—maybe you’ll need an umbrella, and it’ll be hot and
humid.

Climate: The Philippines has a tropical climate, characterized by high temperatures, high
humidity, and plenty of rainfall throughout the year. The country has two main seasons:
the wet season (June to November) and the dry season (December to May). Knowing this,
you understand that if you visit Manila in August, it’s likely to be rainy and humid, while if
you visit in February, you can expect drier, but still warm, weather.

In this example, weather is the specific condition (a rainy afternoon in Manila on the day
you arrive), while climate is the general pattern (the tropical, wet-and-dry season cycle in
the Philippines).
 Global Climate Change
Climate change can be understood by
approaching three areas of study:

-evidence of current and past global climate

change
-drivers of global climate change
-documented results of climate change

It is helpful to keep these three different aspects

of climate change clearly separated when
consuming media reports about global climate
change. It is common for reports and discussions
about global climate change to confuse the data
showing that Earth’s climate is changing with the
factors that drive this climate change.
Evidence for Global Climate Change
Since scientists cannot go back in time to directly measure
climatic variables, such as average temperature and
precipitation, they must instead indirectly measure
temperature. To do this, scientists rely on historical evidence of
Earth’s past climate.

Antarctic ice cores are a key example of such evidence. These

ice cores are samples of polar ice obtained by means of drills
that reach thousands of meters into ice sheets or high
mountain glaciers. Viewing the ice cores is like traveling
backwards through time; the deeper the sample, the earlier the
time period. Trapped within the ice are bubbles of air and other (Figure 10.1 a)
biological evidence that can reveal temperature and carbon
dioxide data. Antarctic ice cores have been collected and analyzed to indirectly estimate the temperature
of the Earth over the past 400,000 years (Figure 10.1 a). The 0 °C on this graph refers to the long-term
average. Temperatures that are greater than 0 °C exceed Earth’s long-term average temperature.
Conversely, temperatures that are less than 0 °C are less than Earth’s average temperature. This figure
shows that there have been periodic cycles of increasing and decreasing temperature.
 Before the late 1800s, the Earth has been as much as
9 °C cooler and about 3 °C warmer. Note that the
graph in Figure 10.1 b shows that the atmospheric
concentration of carbon dioxide has also risen and
fallen in periodic cycles; note the relationship between
carbon dioxide concentration and temperature. Figure
10.1 b shows that carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere have historically cycled between 180 and
300 parts per million (ppm) by volume. Figure 10.1 Ice
at the Russian Vostok station in East Antarctica was
laid down over the course 420,000 years and reached
(Figure 10.1 b)
a depth of over 3,000 m. By measuring the amount of
CO2 trapped in the ice, scientists have determined
past atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Temperatures
relative to modern day were determined from the
amount of deuterium (an isotope of hydrogen)
present.
 Figure 10.1 a does not show the last 2,000 years with enough detail to compare the changes of
Earth’s temperature during the last 400,000 years with the temperature change that has
occurred in the more recent past. Two significant temperature anomalies, or irregularities, have
occurred in the last 2000 years. These are the Medieval Climate Anomaly (or the Medieval Warm
Period) and the Little Ice Age. A third temperature anomaly aligns with the Industrial Era. The
Medieval Climate Anomaly occurred between 900 and 1300 AD.

During this time period, many climate scientists think that slightly warmer weather conditions
prevailed in many parts of the world; the higher-than-average temperature changes varied
between 0.10 °C and 0.20 °C above the norm. Although 0.10 °C does not seem large enough to
produce any noticeable change, it did free seas of ice. Because of this warming, the Vikings were
able to colonize Greenland.

The Little Ice Age was a cold period that occurred between 1550 AD and 1850 AD. During this
time, a slight cooling of a little less than 1 °C was observed in North America, Europe, and
possibly other areas of the Earth. This 1 °C change in global temperature is a seemingly small
deviation in temperature (as was observed during the Medieval Climate Anomaly); however, it
also resulted in noticeable changes. Historical accounts reveal a time of exceptionally harsh
winters with much snow and frost
 The Industrial Revolution, which began around 1750,
was characterized by changes in much of human
society. Advances in agriculture increased the food
supply, which improved the standard of living for
people in Europe and the United States. New
technologies were invented and provided jobs and
cheaper goods. These new technologies were
powered using fossil fuels, especially coal. The
Industrial Revolution starting in the early nineteenth
century ushered in the beginning of the Industrial Era. (Figure 10.2 )

When a fossil fuel is burned, carbon dioxide is released.

With the beginning of the Industrial Era, atmospheric
carbon dioxide began to rise (Figure 10.2).
Current and Past Drivers Global Climate Change
Since it is not possible to go back in time to directly observe and measure climate, scientists use
indirect evidence to determine the drivers, or factors, that may be responsible for climate change.
The indirect evidence includes data collected using ice cores, boreholes (a narrow shaft bored into
the ground), tree rings, glacier lengths, pollen remains, and ocean sediments. The data shows a
correlation between the timing of temperature changes and drivers of climate change: before the
Industrial Era (pre-1780), there were three drivers of climate change that were not related to human
activity or atmospheric gases.

The first of these is the Milankovitch cycles. The Milankovitch cycles describe the effects of slight
changes in the Earth’s orbit on Earth’s climate. The length of the Milankovitch cycles ranges
between 19,000 and 100,000 years. In other words, one could expect to see some predictable
changes in the Earth’s climate associated with changes in the Earth’s orbit at a minimum of every
19,000 years.

The variation in the sun’s intensity is the second natural factor responsible for climate change. Solar
intensity is the amount of solar power or energy the sun emits in a given amount of time. There is a
direct relationship between solar intensity and temperature. As solar intensity increases (or
decreases), the Earth’s temperature correspondingly increases (or decreases). Changes in solar
intensity have been proposed as one of several possible explanations for the Little Ice Age.
 Finally, Volcanic eruptions are a third natural driver of climate change. Volcanic eruptions can
last a few days, but the solids and gases released during an eruption can influence the climate
over a period of a few years, causing short-term climate changes. The gases and solids released
by volcanic eruptions can include carbon dioxide, water vapor, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen sulfide,
hydrogen, and carbon monoxide.

Generally, volcanic eruptions cool the climate. This occurred in 1783 when volcanos in Iceland
erupted and caused the release of large volumes of sulfuric oxide. This led to haze-effect cooling,
a global phenomenon that occurs when dust, ash, or other suspended particles block out
sunlight and trigger lower global temperatures as a result; haze-effect cooling usually extends
for one or more years. In Europe and North America, haze-effect cooling produced some of the
lowest average winter temperatures on record in 1783 and 1784.

Greenhouse gases are probably the most significant drivers of the climate. When heat energy
from the sun strikes the Earth, gases known as greenhouse gases trap the heat in the
atmosphere, as do the glass panes of a greenhouse keep heat from escaping. The greenhouse
gases that affect Earth include carbon dioxide, methane, water vapor, nitrous oxide, and ozone.
Approximately half of the radiation from the sun passes through these gases in the atmosphere
and strikes the Earth.
 This radiation is converted into thermal radiation on the Earth’s surface, and then a portion of that
energy is re-radiated back into the atmosphere. Greenhouse gases, however, reflect much of the
thermal energy back to the Earth’s surface. The more greenhouse gases there are in the atmosphere,
the more thermal energy is reflected back to the Earth’s surface. Greenhouse gases absorb and emit
radiation and are an important factor in the greenhouse effect: the warming of Earth due to carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Evidence supports the relationship between atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide and
temperature: as carbon dioxide rises, global temperature rises. Since 1950, the concentration of
atmospheric carbon dioxide has increased from about 280 ppm to 382 ppm in 2006. In 2011, the
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration was 392 ppm. However, the planet would not be
inhabitable by current life forms if water vapor did not produce its drastic greenhouse warming
effect.

Scientists look at patterns in data and try to explain differences or deviations from these patterns. The
atmospheric carbon dioxide data reveal a historical pattern of carbon dioxide increasing and
decreasing, cycling between a low of 180 ppm and a high of 300 ppm. Scientists have concluded
that it took around 50,000 years for the atmospheric carbon dioxide level to increase from its low
minimum concentration to its higher maximum concentration. However, starting recently,
atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations have increased beyond the historical maximum of 300
ppm.
The current increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide have
happened very quickly—in a matter of hundreds of years rather
than thousands of years. What is the reason for this difference in
the rate of change and the amount of increase in carbon
dioxide? A key factor that must be recognized when comparing
the historical data and the current data is the presence of
modern human society; no other driver of climate change has
yielded changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels at this
rate or to this magnitude.

Human activity releases carbon dioxide and methane, two of

the most important greenhouse gases, into the atmosphere in
several ways. The primary mechanism that releases carbon
dioxide is the burning of fossil fuels, such as gasoline, coal, and (Figure 10.3 )
natural gas (Figure 10.3). Deforestation, cement manufacture,
animal agriculture, the clearing of land, and the burning of forests are other human activities that
release carbon dioxide. Methane (CH4) is produced when bacteria break down organic matter under
anaerobic conditions. Anaerobic conditions can happen when organic matter is trapped underwater
(such as in rice paddies) or in the intestines of herbivores. Methane can also be released from natural
gas fields and the decomposition that occurs in landfills.
Another source of methane is the melting of
clathrates. Clathrates are frozen chunks of ice
and methane found at the bottom of the
ocean. When water warms, these chunks of ice
melt and methane is released. As the ocean’s
water temperature increases, the rate at which
clathrates melt is increasing, releasing even
more methane. This leads to increased levels
of methane in the atmosphere, which further
accelerates the rate of global warming. This is
an example of the positive feedback loop that
is leading to the rapid rate of increase of global
temperatures.
Documented Results of Climate Change: Past and Present
Scientists have geological evidence of the consequences of long-ago climate change.
Modern-day phenomena such as retreating glaciers and melting polar ice cause a continual
rise in sea level. Meanwhile, changes in climate can negatively affect organisms.

Geological Climate Change

Global warming has been associated with at least one planet-wide extinction event during
the geological past. The Permian extinction event occurred about 251 million years ago
toward the end of the roughly 50-million-year-long geological time span known as the
Permian period. This geologic time period was one of the three warmest periods in Earth’s
geologic history. Scientists estimate that approximately 70 percent of the terrestrial plant and
animal species and 84 percent of marine species became extinct, vanishing forever near the
end of the Permian period.

Organisms that had adapted to wet and warm climatic conditions, such as annual rainfall of
300–400 cm (118–157 in) and 20 °C–30 °C (68 °F–86 °F) in the tropical wet forest, may not have
been able to survive the Permian climate change.
Present Climate Change
A number of global events have
occurred that may be attributed to
climate change during our lifetimes.
Glacier National Park in Montana is
undergoing the retreat of many of
its glaciers, a phenomenon known
as glacier recession. In 1850, the
area contained approximately 150
(Figure 10.4 )
glaciers. By 2010, however, the park
contained only about 24 glaciers
greater than 25 acres in size. One of these glaciers is the Grinnell Glacier (Figure 10.4) at
Mount Gould. Between 1966 and 2005, the size of Grinnell Glacier shrank by 40 percent.
Similarly, the mass of the ice sheets in Greenland and the Antarctic is decreasing:
Greenland lost 150–250 km3 of ice per year between 2002 and 2006. In addition, the size
and thickness of the Arctic sea ice is decreasing.
This loss of ice is leading to increases in the global sea level. On average, the sea is rising at a rate of
1.8 mm per year. However, between 1993 and 2010 the rate of sea level increase ranged between 2.9
and 3.4 mm per year. A variety of factors affect the volume of water in the ocean, including the
temperature of the water (the density of water is related to its temperature) and the amount of water
found in rivers, lakes, glaciers, polar ice caps, and sea ice. As glaciers and polar ice caps melt, there is a
significant contribution of liquid water that was previously frozen.

In addition to some abiotic conditions changing in response to climate change, many organisms
are also being affected by the changes in temperature. Temperature and precipitation play key roles
in determining the geographic distribution and phenology of plants and animals. (Phenology is the
study of the effects of climatic conditions on the timing of periodic lifecycle events, such as
flowering in plants or migration in birds.)

Researchers have shown that 385 plant species in Great Britain are flowering 4.5 days sooner than
was recorded earlier during the previous 40 years. In addition, insect-pollinated species were more
likely to flower earlier than wind-pollinated species. The impact of changes in flowering date would
be mitigated if the insect pollinators emerged earlier. This mismatched timing of plants and
pollinators could result in injurious ecosystem effects because, for continued survival, insect-
pollinated plants must flower when their pollinators are present.
Thank
you