Transcript 4/30 - Utexas

Today: Global
Climate Change
~20% of the final
exam (5/14 9amnoon) 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
short
long
http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html
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.
Fig
54.15
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
Relative contributions to Global Warming
~300 m people
~500 m people
~2.5 b people
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
No projections of
future CO2 levels
predict a reduction
over the next 100
years.
http://www.esr.org/outreach/climate_change/basics/basics.html
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-ofwhale-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”
“Ocean
Geoengineering
Scheme May Prove
Lethal”
http://news.discovery.com/earth/geoengineering-carbonsequestration-phytoplankton.html
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/03/24/iron-dumping-experiment-is-a-bust-it-feeds-crustaceans-doesnt-trapcarbon/
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