Global Warming and Climate Change

What Makes the Earth Warm?

Almost all the energy from the sun in a wide range of electromagnetic radiation with Long to short
wavelengths. Most of the radiation that reaches the Earth is in the visible and near infrared (400-
750nm)

Under typical conditions Earth’s atmosphere

o Reflects ~30% of the electromagnetic energy that comes in from the sun
o Absorbs ~25% by the atmosphere
o The remaining ~45% gets to the surface Radiates back to the atmosphere or into outer space

How Earth’s Atmosphere and Land Affect Climate?

Transparency of atmosphere to radiation affects the temp of the Earth

o From the sun coming in

o From the Earth’s surface going out

Dust and aerosols can cause cooling or warming

o Volcanoes, forest fires and farming put dust into the atmosphere

Albedo effects is the reflectivity of an object—darker surfaces absorb heat; lighter surfaces reflect heat

Approximate Earth albedos: Earth, as a whole, is 30% Clouds, depending on type and thickness, 40–90%

Fresh snow, 85% Glacial ice, 20–40% A pine forest, 10% Dark rock, 5–15% Dry sand, 40% A grass-
covered meadow, 15%.
The Greenhouse Effect

o Each gas in the atmosphere has its own absorption spectrum

o Certain gases are especially strong absorbers in the infrared absorbing radiation emitted by the
warmed surfaces of the Earth
o They then re-emit this radiation
o This increases the temperature of the Earth’s surface through Natural phenomenon of Major
greenhouse gases like Water vapor, Carbon dioxide, Methane, Some oxides of nitrogen, CFCs

Global Warming: temperature increase in troposphere and hence earth’s surface temperatures as well
due to the presence of greenhouse gases

Climate Change: long term changes in earth’s climate including temperature, precipitation, storms.

Causes of Climate Change

Periodic changes in the amount of sunlight reaching the Earth

 Milankovitch cycles
 Obliquity – Tilt : earth is tilted while rotating
 Eccentricity – axis either come near or away from the sun
 Presession – Polaris : circle in space, wobbling
  Solar Cycles : temperature of sun varies with cycles
 Atmospheric Transparency Affects Climate and Weather: if particles e.g., due to dust storm is
present in the atmosphere, particles will reflect sunlight back
 Albedo Effect: amount of sunlight reflected back by the object or surface, e.g., black surface has
least reflection but greatest absorption
 Earth Surface: rough surface, air near the surface will have friction as compare to a plain land.

These factors don’t account for all climate variations

Most scientists conclude that greenhouse gases are causing climate change

Climate Change and Feedback Loops

Negative Feedback

o Warm temperatures lead to increased evaporation. Evaporation leads to more cloud formation
which reflects more sunlight which could cool the surface
o As the temperature warms up, more evaporation occurs, warmer air carrying moisture moves
towards poles, moisture condenses there and precipitation occurs in the form of snow. More
snow and ice buildup could reflect more solar energy away from the Earth’s surface, causing
cooling
o Increased CO2 concentration with might stimulate growth of land plants, leading to increased
CO2 absorption and reducing the greenhouse effect

Positive Feedback

o Warm temperatures lead to increased evaporation but instead of clouds forming, remains as
water vapor. Water vapor is a greenhouse gas. The warmer it gets the more water vapor, and the
process continues.
o In warming climates, people use more air-conditioning and thus more fossil fuels (for electricity).
The resulting increase in carbon dioxide could lead to additional global warming.
o Replacing some of the summer snowpack or glacial ice with darker vegetation and soil surfaces
decreases the albedo (reflectivity) increasing the absorption of solar energy, further warming
surface.

The Oceans and Climate Change

Water has the highest heat capacity of any compound and large amount of heat energy is stored in
oceans. Ocean absorbs dissolved CO2: as CO2 increases in atmosphere it also increases in the oceans.

Ocean Conveyer Belt: regulation of temperature (Atlantic and Pacific Ocean)

Heat loss takes place in colder region that results in maintenance of temperature in places like Canada

o Warm water from warmer countries moves towards colder countries

o Movement of hot water results in evaporation that increases the salt concentration.
o Once it reaches the colder countries, the warm water which is now denser and colder will settle
down and following a convection it will follow a cycle by going back to the warmer countries.
(The central ice cap on Antarctica is growing, as Earth warms, more snow falls on Antarctica

The rate of melting of the Greenland ice sheet has doubled since 1998)

Changes in Biological Diversity

“Approximately 2–20% of species assessed so far are likely to be at increased risk of extinction as global
mean temperatures exceed a warming of 2 to 3°C above preindustrial levels”

Black guillemots: Birds that nest on Cooper Island, Alaska, the abundance of this species has decreased

Parent birds feed on Arctic cod found under the sea ice, distance from feeding grounds to nest

Adjusting to Potential Global Warming

Two ways mankind can adjust

o Adapt: Learn to live with future global climatic change

o Mitigate: Work to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases

How can carbon dioxide emissions be reduced?

o Energy planning that relies heavily on energy conservation and efficiency

o Use of alternative energy sources or natural gas
o Use of mass transit
o Greater economic incentives to energy-efficient technology
o Higher fuel economy standards

Burning forests to convert land to agriculture

o Accounts for ~20% of anthropogenic emissions of carbon dioxide

o Reduce this by minimizing burning and protecting the world’s forests

Reforestation

Planting more trees Increase sinks for carbon dioxide

Geologic sequestration of carbon is another possible mitigation measure

o Capture carbon dioxide from power plants and industrial smokestacks

o Compress the gas and change it to a mixture of both liquid and gas Inject it deep underground

International Agreements to Mitigate Global Warming

Two major approaches

International agreements in which each nation agrees to some specific limit on emissions

Carbon trading

o A nation agrees to a cap (points) of carbon emissions

o Then corporations and other entities are issued emission permits, allowing a certain quantity of
emissions
o These can be traded