Introduction to
Climate Change
You take the blue pill and the story ends. You wake in your bed and you believe whatever you want to believe."
"You take the red pill and
you stay in Wonderland and I'll show you how deep the
rabbit-hole goes."
A planet's climate is decided by its mass, its distance from the sun and the composition of its atmosphere. Mars is too small to keep a thick atmosphere. Its atmosphere consists mainly of carbon dioxide, but the atmosphere is very thin. The atmosphere of the Earth is a hundred times thicker.
Over the last 400,000 years the Earth's climate has been unstable, with very significant temperature changes, going from a warm climate to an ice age in as rapidly as a few decades. These rapid changes suggest that climate may be quite sensitive to internal or external climate forcings and feedbacks.
3. The greenhouse effect
The Earth has a natural temperature control system. Certain
atmospheric gases are critical to this system and are known as
greenhouse gases.
4. Radiative forcing
Radiative forcing is the change in the balance between radiation
coming into the atmosphere and radiation going out.
5. The main greenhouse
gases
The table lists some of the main greenhouse gases and their
concentrations in pre-industrial times and in 1994; atmospheric
lifetimes; anthropogenic sources; and Global Warming Potential.
6. CO2
Concentration in the atmosphere: Mauna Loa curve
CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere have been measured at an altitude
of about 4,000 meters on the peak of Mauna Loa mountain in Hawaii
since 1958.
7. Global
atmospheric concentration of CO2
Atmospheric CO2 has increased from a pre-industrial concentration of
about 280 ppmv to about 367 ppmv at present (ppmv= parts per million
by volume).
8. CO2 emissions
from industrial processes
This map depicts the unequal distribution of industry in the world.
The significant part of carbon dioxide emissions comes from energy
production, industrial processes and transport.
9.CO2 emissions
from land use change
Emissions of carbon dioxide due to changes in land use mainly come
from the cutting down of forests and instead using the land for
agriculture or built-up areas, urbanisation, roads etc.
10.
Emissions of CO2 - selected countries (1995)
The rich countries of the world historically has emitted most of the
anthropogenic greenhouse gases since the start of the industrial
revolution in the latter half of the 1700s. Per capita, the
significant emissions still are produced by the OECD countries
11. The present carbon
cycle
The global carbon cycle shows the carbon reservoirs in GtC (gigatonne=
one thousand million tonnes) and fluxes in GtC/year.
12. The cooling factors
The amount of aerosols in the air has direct effect on the amount of
solar radiation hitting the Earth's surface. Aerosols may have
significant local or regional impact on temperature.
13. The UN Convention
on Climate Change (UNFCCC)
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Convention is the
foundation of global efforts to combat global warming.
14. Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
In 1988, UNEP and WMO jointly established the Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change (IPCC) as concern over climate change became a
political issue. The purpose of the IPCC was to assess the state of
knowledge on the various aspects of climate change including science,
environmental and socio-economic impacts and response strategies.
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