Some Background Information

About Climate

On climate
Whats the difference between
weather and climate?

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On climate
Weather: state of the atmosphere in
a given place over a short period of
time (minutes to months)
Climate: how the atmosphere
behaves over relatively long periods
of time (usually measured over 30
years or so)
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On climate
Whats the greenhouse effect?

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On climate
Greenhouse effect:
when certain gases in
the air trap radiation
coming from Earths
surface

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On climate

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On climate
Whats the difference between
climate change and global
warming ?

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On climate
Climate change: deviation from
climate normals (mostly, changes in
temperature and precipitation
averages in a given place for a
period of time)
Global warming: rise in the average
temperature of the Earth
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

On climate
References:
Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA)
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA)
National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA)
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

Global climate change is

Global climate change refers to the
significant changes in temperature,
precipitation, wind and other measures of
climate lasting through an extended period
of time, which may be caused by human
activities and natural processes (EPA,
2010).

Global climate change may involve

Increase in average global
temperature
Intensified weather disturbance
Threats from vector-borne diseases
Problems on food security
Ocean acidification
Sea-level rise
Coral bleaching

 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC) (2002) projects that the
globally averaged surface temperature
will increase by 1.4 to 5.8 C from 1990
to 2100, with land areas warming more
rapidly than the global average.

 Francis and Hengeveld (1998) posit that

greenhouse warming causes increase in
extreme weather conditions, such as
tropical storms and hurricanes, as these
result from changes in the distribution of
heat and flow of energy.

 Food security is also at risk with global

climate change by potentially affecting
plant growth, plant susceptibility to
diseases and crop yield. Elevated carbon
dioxide levels result in changed plant
structure and that elevated temperature
induces stress resulting in wilting, leaf
burn, leaf folding, and changes in
metabolism.

Coral Bleaching
reduced/no skeletal growth and
reproductive activity, and a lowered
ability to shed sediments and disease
resistance (Glynn, 1996).
Ocean acidification reduces ocean
carbonate ion concentrations and the
ability of corals to build skeletons
(Carpenter et al., 2008).

Sea Level Rise

Thermal expansion
Melting of glaciers and the Antarctic and
Greenland ice sheets
average of 65 cm (approximately 6 cm
per decade) (IUCC).
from 2 to 12 ft (0.6-3.6 meters) by the
year 2100 (IUCC).

Cryosphere
composed of freshwater
glaciers, sea ice, and
continental ice sheets and
caps,
is one of the four major
spheres that regulate our
climate.

 Glaciers are masses of land ice

which flow downhill under gravity
and form by the accumulation of
snow at high altitudes (IPCC).
Sea ice is any major ice mass
found at sea that has originated
from the freezing of sea water
(IPCC) and is therefore already part
of the oceans total volume.

 Ice sheets are large masses of

land ice that cover most of the
underlying bedrock of the
continents which they are found
on; ice caps are defined similarly,
but are considerably smaller
(IPCC). There are only three large
continental ice sheets found in the
modern world: two in Antarctica
and one in Greenland (IPCC).