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Climate change and the atmosphere

Climate change and the atmosphere. Esteban Cubillos CPSP218L Fall 2008. Presentation Outline. Atmosphere review The importance of the atmosphere The mutual relation between the atmosphere and climate change Carbon Cycle Water Cycle Global Energy Transfer Summary Works used.

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Climate change and the atmosphere

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  1. Climate change and the atmosphere Esteban Cubillos CPSP218L Fall 2008

  2. Presentation Outline • Atmosphere review • The importance of the atmosphere • The mutual relation between the atmosphere and climate change • Carbon Cycle • Water Cycle • Global Energy Transfer • Summary • Works used

  3. The Atmosphere • Thermosphere: The outer layer of the • atmosphere, where most of the sun’s • energy is stored, it is divided in two layers: • The ionosphere and the exosphere. • Mesosphere: Separated from the • thermosphere by the mesopause, it is the • coldest of the atmospheric layers ,this is • where meteors burn up. • Stratosphere: Contains the Ozone layer. • Troposphere: lowest layer, where we live and • all the earth’s weather occurs http://www.williamsclass.com/EighthScienceWork/Atmosphere/atmosphereLayers.gif

  4. Why the atmosphere is important to us • The atmosphere protects us from harmful UV rays • Contains the gases that allow life on earth • Keeps the earth at habitable temperatures • Protects the earth from a strike by most foreign objects like meteors • Influences all weather systems

  5. Relation between the atmosphere and climate change • The atmosphere has a balance of gases • Humans have thrown the balance off • The disturbed balance is causing the Earth’s climate to change. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/

  6. The atmosphere also contains millions of microscopic particles called aerosols, which scatter sunlight. This can affect the amount of energy stored in the atmosphere, and therefore the Earth's climate. • Disturbing the amount of these “aerosols” would affect our climate

  7. Relation between the atmosphere and climate change • The Carbon Cycle: http://www.koshland-science-museum.org/exhibitgcc/carbon03.jsp

  8. Relation between the atmosphere and climate change • Increase of atmospheric carbon: • A 50% increase in carbon dioxide levels • coincided with a 5°C rise in global • average surface temperature.

  9. Hydrologic Cycle http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/atmos/hydro_cycle.htm

  10. Hydrologic Cycle: • Increased temperatures cause an increase in water vapor. • Feed back loop: more water vapor in the air causes an even larger increase in temperature, which causes even more water to evaporate • Ocean Water contains Carbon dioxide, warming of the water releases it back into the atmosphere: another loop.

  11. Hydrologic Cycle • Increased global cloudiness, as for increased global evaporation and precipitation, would be an expected consequence of higher global temperatures. Annual mean cloudiness has been found to have increased over Europe (6% / 80 years), Australia (8% / 80 years), the Indian sub-continent (7% / 50 years) and North America (10% / 90 years) (Henderson-Sellers, 1986, 1989).

  12. http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/atmos/energy.htm Clouds reflect heat back to the surface, an increase in cloud cover creates an Increase in temperature.

  13. Global Energy transfers: http://www.ace.mmu.ac.uk/Resources/gcc/Climate_Change_Study_Guide.pdf

  14. What is happening to the atmosphere? • Climate change is causing the atmosphere’s outer layer to reduce in density: 3% reduction by 2017 • CO2 emmissions warm the lower layers but cool the outer layer (thermosphere) this cooling reduces its density • Tropospheric and stratospheric temperatures are changing and are central to the problem of greenhouse warming, models predict that temperature changes due to increase in concentrations of greenhouse gases will cause warming in the mid-troposphere and cooling in the much of the stratosphere.

  15. Effects on Atmospheric Circulation • The atmospheric circulation is the main control behind regional changes in wind, temperature, precipitation, moisture and other climatic variables. Variations in many of these are quite strongly related through large-scale features of the atmospheric circulation. Changes in a number of circulation features, including El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events in the south-east Pacific, mid-latitude Northern Hemisphere westerlies and the location and intensity of the Aleutian low pressure system in the North Pacific, may all be related to the more general global warming of the twentieth century (Follandet al., 1990).

  16. Summary: • Greenhouse gases are increasing at a high rate, the natural cycles cannot keep up. • The changing weather is changing the atmosphere • More heat is creating more water vapor • The changing atmosphere is changing the weather • More clouds= more heat retention • Affects weather systems

  17. Works Cited: Warren, S.G., Hahn, C.J., London, J., Chervin, R.M. & Jenne, R.L., 1988. Global distribution of total cloud cover and cloud type amounts over the oceans. NCAR Tech. Note TN 317+STR, 44pp, Boulder, Colorado, USA. Folland, C.K., Karl, T.R. & Vinnikov, K.Ya., 1990. Observed climate variations and change. In: Climate Change: The IPCC Scientific Assessment, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Houghton, J.T., Jenkins, G.J. & Ephraums, J.J. (eds.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 195-238. IUCN. "How Does Climate Change Affect The Water Cycle?." ScienceDaily 27 October 2008. 11 November 2008 <http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2008/10/081013143031.htm>. United States Geological Survey. "Century Of Data Shows Intensification Of Water Cycle But No Increase In Storms Or Floods." ScienceDaily 17 March 2006. 11 November 2008 <http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2006/03/060317114727.htm>. Yao, M.-S., and Del Genio, A.D.: Effects of cloud parameterization on the simulation of climate changes in the GISS GCM, J. Climate, 12, 761-779, doi:10.1175/1520-0442(1999)012<0761:EOCPOT>2.0.CO;2, 1999. National Weather Service. “JetStream-Online School of Weather” http://www.srh.noaa.gov/srh/jetstream/atmos/energy.htm 09 nov 2008

  18. JinhoAhn* and Edward J. Brook “Atmospheric CO2 and Climate on Millennial Time Scales During the Last Glacial Period” Originally published in Science Express on 11 September 2008 . Science3 October 2008:Vol. 322. no. 5898, pp. 83 – 85 DOI: 10.1126/science.1160832 10 nov 2008 Bill Stockwell“Ozone chemistry is at the heart of atmospheric chemistry” http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Tango/ 08 nov 2008 Rudolf Deckert and Martin Dameris. “ATMOSPHERIC SCIENCE:FromOcean to Stratosphere” Science 3 October 2008:Vol. 322. no. 5898, pp. 53 – 55 DOI: 10.1126/science.1163709 .08 nov 2008

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