Global Climate Change
 Created as part of National Science
Foundation ITEST Grant #0833706.
 Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed
in this material do not necessarily reflect the views of the National
Science Foundation.
Global Climate
Change
• Identifiable change in the climate of
Earth as a whole that lasts for an
extended period of time (decades or
longer)
– When due to natural processes, it is usually
referred to as global climate variability
– Usually refers to changes forced by human
activities that change the atmosphere
What causes Earth’s
climate to change?
 Changes in the atmosphere
 Natural processes
 Volcanoes
 Tectonic plate movement
 Changes in the sun
 Human activities – any activity that releases
“greenhouse gases” into the atmosphere
What are
greenhouse gases?
Any gases that cause the “greenhouse
effect!”
Imagine… a car on a cool but sunny day…
Research
• Almost 1000 studies
dealing with different
aspects of climate change
have been conducted and
published
• So… how do we make
sense of all this?
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
 Why was it
created?
 Created in 1988 by
the United Nations
Environmental
Program
 Established to
provide policymakers with an
objective source of
information about
climate change
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
 Who is it?
 Governments
 Members of the UN
 Participate by naming
experts and reviewing the
reports before they’re
published
 Scientists
 Close to 1000 scientists
 Climatologists, ecologists,
atmospheric physicists, and
others
Dr. Susan Solomon, a NOAA atmospheric chemist,
an IPCC member and one author of IPCC summary
Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC)
 What do they do?
 Review current scientific and technical
literature relevant to global climate change
 Provide reports on their findings at regular
intervals
 Reports are designed to be politically
neutral and of high scientific and technical
standards
How do they create their
reports?
It’s a multi-step process…
IPCC – Words Used in Reports
 When they discuss data:
 Very high confidence to very low
confidence that the data is accurate
 When they discuss the likelihood of
something occurring:
 Virtually certain to exceptionally unlikely
Observed
Changes and Effects
Warming of Climate
• Warming of the climate is definitely
occurring and can be observed by the:
– Increases in global sea and air temperatures
– Widespread melting of snow and ice
– Rising global sea level
Temperature Change Data
1880-1884
1886-1890
1880-1884
1896-1900
1906-1910
1916-1920
1926-1930
1936-1940
1946-1950
1956-1960
1966-1970
1976-1980
1986-1990
1996-2000
2003-2007
Other Observed Changes and Effects
• 89% of current changes in ecosystems are
consistent with changes expected due to global
climate change
• Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide
levels in atmosphere have increased greatly due
to human activities since 1750 and now far
exceed previous levels
• Carbon dioxide has increased by approximately
80% since 1970
Other Observed Changes and Effects
• 89% of current changes in ecosystems are
consistent with changes expected due to global
climate change
• Carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide
levels in atmosphere have increased greatly due
to human activities since 1750 and now far
exceed previous levels
• Carbon dioxide has increased by approximately
80% since 1970
Human-Produced Greenhouse Gas Levels
Causes of Change
Most of the observed
increase in global average
temperature since the mid20th century is very likely
due to the observed increase
in human-caused greenhouse
gas concentrations and
human influences have very
likely contributed to sea
level rise, too.
• Warming and sea level rise will
continue and will probably occur more
quickly than what we’ve already seen
• Even if greenhouse gases are stabilized,
this will probably continue to occur for
centuries
• Some effects may be permanent
• Effects on Ecosystems
–Coral systems cannot handle higher
temperatures well
–Wildfires will increase
–Up to 30% of species will be at increased
risk for extinction due to the rapid
changes in their ecosystems
• Effects in North America
– Warming in western mountains: several
effects
– Increased rain: will actually help some crops
– Heat waves will increase in number, length,
and intensity
– Coastal communities will be affected by
increased flooding and storms
There are several types of options…
• Reduce emissions of greenhouse gases
• Attempt to develop alternatives energies
• Allow emission to continue, but prepare for
global climate changes
• Allow emissions to continue as normal and
leave preparations up to individual countries
• Combine any of these ideas
• Come up with your own unique plan!
References
• IPCC Summary Report for Policy Makers. November 2007
• "About IPCC." IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate
Change. 20 Apr. 2009
<http://www.ipcc.ch/about/index.htm>.
• "Climate Change | U.S. EPA." U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency. 20 Apr. 2009
<http://epa.gov/climatechange/index.html>.
• Rischard, J. F. High noon twenty global problems, twenty
years to solve them. New York: Basic Books, 2002.
• "SVS Animations." NASA Goddard Scientific Visualization
Studio. 20 Apr. 2009
<http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a003400/a003490/ind
ex.html>.