Global Climate Change

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? water vapor methane Any gases that cause the “greenhouse effect!” carbon dioxide nitrous oxide Imagine… a car on a cool but sunny day…

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. How do they create their reports? It’s a multi-step process…

15. IPCC – Words Used in Reports • When they discuss data: • Very high confidence to very low confidence that the data is accurate • When they discuss the likelihood of something occurring: • Virtually certain to exceptionally unlikely

16. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE Well, what does the data say?

17. ObservedChanges and Effects

18. 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

20. Temperature Change Data 1880-1884

21. 1880-1884 1886-1890

22. 1896-1900

23. 1906-1910

24. 1916-1920

25. 1926-1930

26. 1936-1940

27. 1946-1950

28. 1956-1960

29. 1966-1970

30. 1976-1980

31. 1986-1990

32. 1996-2000

33. 2003-2007

34. 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

35. 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

36. Human-Produced Greenhouse Gas Levels

37. Causes of Change

38. 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.

39. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE What's going to happen?

40. Warming and sea level rise will continue and will probably occur more quickly than what we’ve already seen • Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized, this will probably continue to occur for centuries • Some effects may be permanent Possible Future Effects

41. Effects on Ecosystems • Coral systems cannot handle higher temperatures well • Wildfires will increase • Up to 30% of species will be at increased risk for extinction due to the rapid changes in their ecosystems Possible Future Effects

42. Effects in North America • Warming in western mountains: several effects • Increased rain: will actually help some crops • Heat waves will increase in number, length, and intensity • Coastal communities will be affected by increased flooding and storms Possible Future Effects

43. GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE So.. What can we do?

44. There are several types of options… • Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases • Attempt to develop alternatives energies • Allow emission to continue, but prepare for global climate changes • Allow emissions to continue as normal and leave preparations up to individual countries • Combine any of these ideas • Come up with your own unique plan!

45. 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>.