Climate Change

Climate: What you expect, average of weather over long periods (average) (sum of all changes in temp and precipitation patterns resulting from global warming) Weather: What you get, atmosphere over short periods (current)

Natural climate (forcing) physical processes influencing temperature • eccentricity of earths orbit varies over long time from .005-.058 • Earths axial tilt (obliquity) varies from 22.1-24.5 degrees • Precession (earths wobbling) These together contribute to Milankovitch cycles: influences temperature every 100000 yrs, correlates with glacial and inter glacial periods

Natural climate (forcing) physical processes influencing temperature Radiation earth outputs varies

• earths orbit • suns output • Volcanic eruptions • Plate tetonic

(burning fossil fuels, deforestation) 5. Greenhouse gasses

Correlation between rise of CO2 at atmosphere and rise of temp after post Industrial Age Incoming solar light is absorbed by earth while some is reflected as infra-red(heat). Green gases trap infrared, so less heat is radiated from atmosphere to space, warming earth.

More carbon dioxide causes acidic oceans: • slow skeletal growth in coral and coral bleaching • mass death of shell-critters Sea level rise: • temperature increase causes ice sheet melting leading to rise in sea level • ex:glacial retreats on mt. Killimanjaro Effect on animals and plants: • disrupt migration,hibernation, and reproductive cycles • birds, insects moving north (higher altitudes) • higher latitude+mountain tops running out of habitat • permafrost thaws microbes and decomposes organic material and convert to methane (greenhouse gas)