Paleoclimatology

Climate

Average temperature and precipitation (sometimes wind) that occurs over a particular time period in a particular location.

Why are corals natural recorders in proxy data?

Corals build hard skeletons from CaCO3 calcium carbonate from the sea water. The CO3 carbonate contains isotopes of oxygen and trace metals that can be used to determine the temperature of the water in which the coral grew. The temperature recordings can be use to reconstruct climate.

The temperature of the planet is....

Energy Absorbed balances Energy Lost

How does higher than expected Earth surface temperatures result?

Energy that is trapped and recycled in the lower atmosphere decreases the amount reaching higher elevation and escaping to space. Radiation emitted by the Earth is partly absorbed by water vapor and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

What does the study of past climate help us understand?

How humans influence the Earth's climate system.

How have proxy records helped preserve climate?

In tree rings, locked in the skeletons of tropical coral reefs, extracted as ice cores from glaciers and ice caps, and buried in laminated sediments from lakes and the ocean.

Why don't satellites and instrumental records provide much perspective on the changing climate?

Satellites and instrumental records are too short, satellites have only records about 20 years old and instrumental records only date back to the 19th century.

How do scientists study past climates?

Satellites, instrumental records, historical records, and proxy data

Paleoclimatology

Study of climate prior to the widespread availability of records of temperature, precipitation, and other instrumental data.

How is the climate system powered?

Sun's radiation

What is the one thing paleoclimatic records show?

The Earth is always changing.

Why do higher than expected Earth surface temperatures occur?

The greater the trapping of greenhouse gases, the higher the surface temperature must be to drive the Earth's emission towards a balance with incoming solar radiation.

What are types of instrumental records are there?

Thermometers, rain gauges, historical documents

What does the energy being radiated toward Earth do?

Warms the planet and radiates energy back into space.

What is a steady state?

When the Earth's temperature reaches a balance (Energy Absorbed by the earth= Energy Emitted by the earth)

How much radiation is absorbed by the Earth's surface? How much is absorbed by the atmosphere?

~ 50% ~ 20%

What are the three basics that dictate Earth's climate and our environment?

1. Solar heating of the planet balanced by energy loss to space 2. Atmosphere, ocean, land, and ice responses to heating which mitigate or accentuate planetary temperature changes 3. Regional environmental systems which have innate patterns of climate variability dictated by their unique physical-chemical-biological conditions