Transcript Climate Changes

By: Carlos Cedeño
• Describe how variations in the flow of energy into and out of
Earth’s systems result in changes in climate.
• Discuss the causes of climate change and how they vary by
time scales
• The time scales range from 1-10 years to 10-100 millions of
years
• Climate change is determined empirically through changes in
surface temperatures, precipitation patterns, glacial ice
volumes, sea levels, and biosphere distribution
• Weather is what’s happening now or over some short time
period (hour, day, week) in the atmosphere near the ground
• The temperature, pressure, cloudiness, precipitation, and winds
• It is raining today in Valencia is an example of weather
• Climate is the average weather and usually refers to average
weather conditions over long periods (seasons, years or
decades)
• Venezuela has hot weather throughout most of the year is an
example of climate
• Climate can also be determined by altitude and how near to
the coasts they are
• Tectonic events
• Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis (associated with earth movements)
• Ocean circulation
• Covers 71% of planet. Large scale movements of waters in the ocean basins.
• Volcanic activity
• Gases and dust particles thrown into the atmosphere
• Glaciers
• Can observe historic climates and know about past ice ages
• Melting more and more, this raises the volume of the oceans and releases held gases
• Vegetation
• Covers 20% of planet. They absorb and emit energy
• They process and release water vapor necessary for cloud formation
• Human activities
• Burning fossil fuels
• Currently most impacting on climate
• Changes in the sun’s energy output or Earth’s orbit
• Solar cycles (radionuclides show if sun was hotter or colder)
• Increasing sunspots increase heat but earth should be cooler
• Earth’s orbit affect climate in long term right now there is less solar output
• Also Determined by
• Electromagnetic radiation from the sun (sunlight)
• This is what warms the earth through the greenhouse effect
• The Earths:
•
•
•
•
Reflection
Absorption
Storage and redistribution among the atmosphere, ocean, and land systems
This energy’s re-radiation into space
• Large volcanic eruption
•
•
•
•
•
Gases and dust particles thrown into the atmosphere
Also releases CO2
Other gases that increase the greenhouse effect
Can also release dust that may cause cool climate below the cloud
Some volcanoes have particles that reflect sunlight and may cause cooling since less
sunlight comes in
• Mostly are short term only really big eruptions can change climate drastically
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RleDV5tzIZo
• Ocean Circulation
• Wind drives surface circulation while the cooling and sinking of waters in the polar
regions drive deep circulation
• Water has the highest heat-storage capacity of any compound
• Ocean conveyor belt (northward movement)
• El Niño
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UuGrBhK2c7U
• Changes in human activity
• Increase in greenhouse gases
• Burning of fossil fuels
• From the Industrial Revolution
• Ocean circulation
• Oceans also absorb a lot of the CO2 on earth and water becomes acidic
• El Niño and climate. The upward current form Peru stops and circulation
stops. Every seven years and affects global climate
• Solar output
• Solar cycles (radionuclides show if sun was hotter or colder)
• Increasing sunspots increase heat but earth should be cooler
• Changes to Earth’s orbit
•
•
•
•
This goes through a long term cycle
Changes from an almost circle to an oval shape
Planet is sometimes closer to earth receiving more heat
Earth’s orbit affect climate in long term right now there is less solar output
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9H_8g80V6U
• The orientation of Earth’s axis
• This also goes through a long term cycle
• Taking approximately 41,000 years to shift between a tilt of 22.1° and
24.5° and back again.
• When it increases the sun during summers is more and during winter its less
• The opposite happens when the tilt decreases
• This have altered the intensity and distribution of sunlight falling on the earth
• These phenomena cause a cycle of ice ages
• Gradual climate changes.
• Long-term changes in atmospheric composition
• Earths first atmosphere had a composition similar to that of gases of the
planetary nebula
• Earths second atmosphere was when things cooled down and water started
condensing and with rain oceans were formed
• Earths third atmosphere was when Monocellular life proliferated with little
oxygen, here the luminosity of the sun increased by 85%
• This is also when lots of oxygen got released
• Now our present atmosphere came to be
• This marked the abundance of multicellular life
• Most of the major groups of animals first appeared at this time
• Vegetation covered the surface of the Earth, and oxygen accounted for 30%
of the atmosphere
• Earth’s future atmosphere look like it will be filled with lots of fossil fuel gases
• Changes in the atmosphere due to human activity have increased carbon
dioxide concentrations and thus affect climate.
• Destroying forests
• The most impacting is burning fossil fuels
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VUPIX7yEOM
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEX2J_sAdGs
• Climate changes are hard to study since climate changes
constantly
• Climate can be seen in different time scales to understand it
better
• Causes of climate change can be natural or caused by human
activity
• Climate is greatly affected by human activity and people
ignoring the reality of global warming
• Climate never stops changing and unexpected natural events
can also change the climate drastically
• The current climate problem should be looked into and
everyone should try to change and be more conscious
• Climate is the average weather and usually refers to average
weather conditions over long periods (seasons, years or
decades)
• Human Activity
• Near the equator
• They actually do both
• El Niño
• Solar Cycles and Earth’s orbit around it
• Conveyor Belt
• Milankovitch Cycles
• Droughts and Floods