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Global Climate Change: Course Teacher

The lecture discusses global climate change, focusing on the dynamics of the Earth, including atmospheric and ocean circulation, vegetation, and the carbon cycle. It highlights the impact of phenomena like El Niño and La Niña on weather patterns and emphasizes the role of snow and ice in influencing the Earth's energy balance. The document concludes with a definition of climate change and notes the unusual levels of warming and CO2 in the 21st century compared to natural variability.

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Raiyan Zaman Adrey
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12 views26 pages

Global Climate Change: Course Teacher

The lecture discusses global climate change, focusing on the dynamics of the Earth, including atmospheric and ocean circulation, vegetation, and the carbon cycle. It highlights the impact of phenomena like El Niño and La Niña on weather patterns and emphasizes the role of snow and ice in influencing the Earth's energy balance. The document concludes with a definition of climate change and notes the unusual levels of warming and CO2 in the 21st century compared to natural variability.

Uploaded by

Raiyan Zaman Adrey
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Global climate change

Lecture 2

Course Teacher:
Dr. Fahmida Parvin
Associate professor
Department of Environmental Science
Jahangirnagar University
Email: fahmidaprvn497@juniv.edu
Google Scholar ID: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Jume6GUAAAAJ&hl=en
Research gate ID: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Parvin_Fahmida
Global Energy Flows (W/m2)
Dynamics of the Earth

• Atmospheric Circulation
• Ocean Circulation
• Land Surface Processes
• Vegetation
• Carbon Cycle
• Snow and Ice
General Atmospheric Circulation
• The atmospheric convection cells
play to convey heat from the warm
equatorial region to the cold polar
regions.
• Warm air rises near the equatorial
latitudes.
General Atmospheric Circulation
• When the rising warm air reaches the
peak of the troposphere, it moves
toward the poles, and when the air
cools, it flows and becomes dense
enough to sink at latitudes of about
30oN or 30oS.
• When this cold air reaches the Earth's
surface, it is moved toward the
equator, and it then warms and rises.
Coriolis Effect
Although wind blows from areas of high pressure to
areas of low pressure, it doesn't blow in a straight
line. That's because the earth is rotating.

In the northern hemisphere, the spin of the earth


causes winds to curve to the right (to the left in the
southern hemisphere). This is called the coriolis
effect.

So in the northern hemisphere, winds blow


clockwise around an area of high pressure and
counter-clockwise around low pressure.
Dynamics of the Earth

• Atmospheric Circulation
• Ocean Circulation
• Land Surface Processes
• Vegetation
• Carbon Cycle
• Snow and Ice
Ocean Circulation has A Large Effect on
Weather and Climate
Ocean Circulation
• The oceans play a large part of in determining the existing
climate of the Earth.
• Ocean and atmosphere are close interactions and have a
strong system.
• Oceans have high capacity to contain heat compared with
the atmosphere driving to gradually raise temperature in the
oceans.
• Oceans redistribute heat throughout the climate system
through their internal circulation.
El Niño and Global Warming

• El Niño in general occurs in every 3 to 7 years


and appears around Christmas period.
• Droughts and floods occurring almost all
continents are associated with El Niño.
• ENSO (El Niño Southern Oscillation) is caused
by the shift of the atmospheric-oceanic
conditions, due to the way the oceans store and
transport heat.
Near the
equator, in the
Pacific Ocean,
the sun shines
especially hot
and the water at
the surface is
warmer.

In a normal year, the trade winds blow westward, pushing


warm water along the coast of Australian and New Guinea.
Eventually, coastal waters become warm enough to cause the
atmospheric pressure above it to decrease.
What is the impact of El Nino in the climate ?

Weather is greatly influenced by the oceans’ surface


temperatures. When the ocean is warm, such as during
an El Nino, more clouds form leading to more rain.
These clouds dump their excess water in South and
Central America, as well as in the United States. Rainfall
increases drastically in Ecuador and northern Peru,
contributing to coastal flooding and erosion.

El Niño can cause droughts in Indonesia and Australia.


These droughts threaten the region’s water supplies, as
reservoirs dry and rivers carry less water, severely
impacting agriculture yield
During an El Nino event, the easterly trade winds become
weaker and in some cases blows in the opposite direction.
The Pacific Ocean during El Niño becomes warm; gains heat
and pushes eastward. Hence, the winds push the warm
waters eastward, moving it along the coast of South America
La Niña
This phenomenon
occurs when the
easterly trade winds
get stronger and blow
more warm water west
allowing cold water
below the sea’s
surface to push
towards the top near
the South American
coast to replace the
warm water.

.
This, therefore, means that the
easterly trade winds are to be blamed
for partly causing La Niña. El Niño is
the opposite of La Niña
Dynamics of the Earth

• Atmospheric Circulation
• Ocean Circulation
• Land Surface Processes
• Vegetation
• Carbon Cycle
• Snow and Ice
Vegetation - Carbon

Carbon only affects climate when it is in the


atmosphere
Gases move through the Earth reservoirs:
– Atmosphere
– Biosphere (living things)
– Lithosphere (solid earth)
– Hydrosphere (freshwater and oceans)
Carbon Cycle
Dynamics of the Earth

• Atmospheric Circulation
• Ocean Circulation
• Land Surface Processes
• Vegetation
• Carbon Cycle
• Snow and Ice
Snow and Ice

The presence or Changes in snow and


absence of snow and ice cover affect
ice affects warming and freshwater availability,
cooling over the Earth’s air temperatures, sea
surface, influencing the levels, ocean currents,
Earth’s energy balance. and storm patterns.
Reductions of Snow and Ice

A reduction in snow cover and ice


causes the Earth’s surface to absorb
more energy from the sun (decreased
albedo), which is a positive feedback,
causing stronger warming

Albedo is the
"whiteness" of a
surface
What is Climate Change?
IPCC, 3rd Assessment Report:
Climate change: a statistically significant variation in either
the mean state of the climate or in its variability, persisting
for an extended period (typically decades or longer).

Climate change may be due to natural internal processes or


external forcings, or to persistent anthropogenic changes in
the composition of the atmosphere or in land use .
Global Temperatures 1880 – 2010
Goddard Institute for Space Studies
Increasing Global Mean Surface
Temperatures
How do Current Changes Compare to
Natural Climatic Variability?
UNUSUAL in 21st
CENTURY:
✔ Extreme warming
✔ High atmospheric
CO2
✔ Human footprint,
population growth

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