Today: Global Climate Change

Today: Global Climate Change

~20% of the final exam (5/14 9am-noon) will be from these last 4 lectures

Fig 54.14 Carbon cycle

Solar energy: incoming and outgoing

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

Sunlight shifts wavelength from short to long

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

short

long

CO2 and other greenhouse gases keep heat from radiating back into space

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

CO2 levels in Hawaii and average global temp.

Fig54.15

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

Gases trapped in ice core bubbles can tell us about past climate conditions.

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

370

~500 m people~300 m people ~2.5 b people

Relative contributions to Global Warming

Effects of global warming are already visible

http://www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org/pages/glaciers.html

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

Precipitation changes 1900 to 2000

http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html

No projections of future CO

2 levels

predict a reduction over the next 100 years.

Geoengineering is purposeful human alteration of the environment.

Farmland and cities are small to medium scaled geoengineered landscapes

Ideas for using Geoengineering to lessen the impacts of Global Climate Change

Local climate management has been/ is being carried out in Russia and China...

Moscow’s plan is to disperse a mixture of silver iodide, liquid nitrogen and cement powder into clouds to trigger precipitation. The goal is to minimize snowfall in the city, but results in increased snowfall in the areas just outside Moscow where the clouds empty their load.

http://www.nextnature.net/2009/11/moscow-wont-let-it-snow/

Controlling the weather in Moscow is nothing new. Ahead of the two main holidays celebrated in the city each year — Victory Day in May and City Day in September — the often cash-strapped air force is paid to make sure that it doesn't, rain. Cost ~$2-3 million

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1930822,00.html

Beijing's weather was modified to keep the 2008 Olympics dry. In China there are 31 provincial or municipal weather-modification offices in China. The administration employs 52,998 people by its own count.

http://www.plentymag.com/magazine/the_peoples_weather.php?page=1

Ideas for using Geoengineering to lessen the impacts of Global Climate Change... The Ocean

Before commercial whaling began, baleen whales may have been the source of almost 12 percent of all the iron in the Southern Ocean’s surface water.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/04/23/a-novel-geoengineering-idea-increase-the-oceans-quotient-of-whale-poop/

Efforts to test the effectiveness of adding nutrients to the ocean have met with limited success.“Iron-Dumping Experiment Is a Bust: It Feeds Crustaceans, Doesn’t Trap Carbon”

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/03/24/iron-dumping-experiment-is-a-bust-it-feeds-crustaceans-doesnt-trap-carbon/

“Ocean Geoengineering Scheme May Prove Lethal”http://news.discovery.com/earth/geoengineering-carbon-sequestration-phytoplankton.html

Ideas for using Geoengineering to lessen the impacts of Global Climate Change... Block incoming sunlight

Reflect sunlight from upper atmosphere/space

What does it take to change the climate?Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull Volcano is not enough

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/18/iceland-volcano-pictures_n_541994.html

What does it take to change the climate?Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991

What does it take to change the climate?Mt. Pinatubo eruption in 1991

Lowered global temp. by about 0.5oC

What does it take to change the climate?Mt. Tambora erupted in 1815. The eruption was so large the volcano went from ~14,000 ft. to ~9,000 ft.

This is not Tambora, it is Pinatubo

Tambora in 1815:

Tambora's volcanic cloud lowered global temperatures by as much as 3oC. Even a year after the eruption, most of the northern hemisphere experienced sharply cooler temperatures during the summer months. In parts of Europe and in North America, 1816 was known as "the year without a summer."

http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Outreach/AboutVolcanoes/do_volcanoes_affect_weather.html

Next:Who is affected by Global Climate Change