Transcript Climate Change

Climate Change
Climate Change
Indicators and effects
Global warming
• Increase in global average temperature
• Changes in average temperature causes or
influences all climate change effects.
http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/science/pastcc.html#last
Changing polar ice and the impacts
• Decreasing ice cover and volume reinforce
warming temperature data.
• Impacts of melting sea ice are:
– Raising sea levels
– Animal habitat (seals and polar bears for example)
– Inuit lifestyles and safety
Changes in polar ice volume and cover
Other effects
• Health:
– Warmer temperatures increase risk of transimition of disease
through insects, rodents, and birds
– Risks to safetly and long term survival due to effects listed below
• Droughts, floods and storms
– Loss of agicultural land, property damage, loss of life, risk of
disease, water shortage
• Deforestation
– Increased forest fires and insect infestation
• Shrinking wetlands
– Loss of water storage and filtering, imporatant habitata and
removal of carbon dioxide from the air
Climate Change
Energy Transfer
Engergy transfer by thermal energy
(heat)
In the atmosphere
In the Oceans
• Ocean currents drive water
circulation around the
globe distributing thermal
energy
• Called thermohaline
circulation
• Caused by wind, salinity
and heat (temperature)
• Cold and salty = dense
• Warm and less salty = less
dense
• Remember dense will sink
and less dense will rise
Ocean circulation and climate on land
• Val D’or, Quebec… average temperature 2 C
• Paris, France… Average temperature 12 C
Affects of Global warming on Ocean
Currents
• Desalinization by melting fresh water in
northern waters
• Increased salinization in tropical waters due to
increased evaporation
• Ultimatly reducing the thermohaline
circulation
Earth’s Energy budget
30 % of solar radition is reflected and 70 % of it is absorbed by the earth.
The 70 % that is absorbed eventually gets lost back to space. This is how
the earth stays at a relatively constant temperature.