Global Warming

What is the effect of different parameters on the climate model, and what are these parameters?

(1) "Natural forcing": Looking at projections that focus the cause of climate change only on solar variations and volcanic activity (2) "Anthropogenic Forcing": Looking at projections that focus the cause of climate change on human-caused phenomenon only; greenhouse gases strictly (3) Both "Anthropogenic and Natural Forcing": Combining both natural and human causes for global warming as the insert for parameters Most accurate: Both Least accurate: Natural only Somewhat accurate: Human only

Name 3 fossil fuel emissions

(1) Coal (2) Oil (3) Natural gas

What is the problem with the Kyoto Protocol?

(1) Even if all 38 countries actually reduced their emissions to these levels, this is still too small of a reduction to significantly slow the rate of global warming (2) These proposed reductions in emissions do not significantly account for the role of developing nations

What are the steps to climate modeling using computer modeling?

(1) Observe a problem --> The temperature increase data that is high on the "known" side; i.e. from the pinched graph (2) Create a mathematical model to express the observation (3) Input parameters: Uncertainties that complicate things --> ICPP makes these decisions, uncertainties add up to determine how much the temperature will go up (4) Predict expected data. In order to evaluate the research, test to see if the PREDICTION matches the OBSERVATION

What are the 9 elements to the "Global Warming Checklist"?

(1) Temperature Rising: Known (2) CO2 Rising: Known (3) Greenhouse Effect: Known (4) Fossil Fuel Emissions: Known (5) Link between CO2 rising and temperature rising: Known (6) Caused by human activity: Extremely likely (7) How much more of a temperature increase? Somewhat known (8) Consequences? Somewhat known (9) Public policy: Debated

What are the details and goals of the Paris Agreement?

(1) To keep global temperatures "well below" two degrees above pre-industrial times and endeavor to limit them even more, to 1.5 degrees (2) To limit the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by human activity to the same levels that trees, soil, and oceans can absorb naturally, beginning at some point between 2050 and 2100 (3) To review each country's contributions to cutting emissions every five years so they can "scale up" to the challenge (4) For rich countries to help poorer nations by providing "climate finance" to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy

List three unanswered questions about global warming

(1) What is the effect of water vapor in the atmosphere? (2) How do clouds affect global warming? (3) Understanding the details of the nature of climate change

What percent of the atmosphere is CO2?

.04%

Explain the example of falling objects and gravity in relation to computerized models

1. Things fall at a certain rate 2. The mathematical equation for such is y = 5t^2 3. Parameters would be wind and the force of gravity 4. If the observed rate of falling for an object cannot be accurately predicted with this equation and the set parameters, either the equation needs to be changed (unlikely, considering) or the parameters, like wind resistance, need to changed

What is the hottest year on record?

2016

What was the outcome of the Kyoto Protocol?

38 individual countries agreed to reduce their emissions to below 1990 levels by 2012, with different levels of reduction for different countries

What was the overall average in reduction cut in greenhouse gases, across the board?

5%

How much did the US agree to cut?

7%

What if the prediction does not match the data? (Step 4?)

A) Change the parameters B) Change the model

Name the greenhouse gases

Carbon dioxide, water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone

What is the Paris Agreement?

Deal unites all the world's nations in a global agreement greenhouse gas emissions is regarded by many observers as an achievement in itself hailed as historic

Public policy implications?

Debated -Role of developing nations? The populations are increasing in these countries and as their standard of living increases, their greenhouse gas emissions are increasing

What is the IPCC Forecast

Even if we completely stopped putting CO2 into the atmosphere, the temperature would continue to somewhat increase

What does the IPCC say the chances humans are the cause of climate change is, as of 2013?

Extremely likely (95%)

What does the IPCC stand for, and what are they?

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Through the IPCC, thousands of experts from around the world synthesize the most recent developments in climate science, adaptation, vulnerability, and mitigation every five to seven years.

What are the consequences of global warming?

Not entirely known... -Severe droughts -Heat waves -Coastal city floods -Storms (ex. Hurricane Harvey?) -Rising sea levels -Farming implications

How much more of a temperature increase will there be?

Scientists are still working on the problem of predicting how much more (if any) Earth will continue to warm... Yet even if we rapidly transition to cleaner energy, the temperature will continue to increase

What is the link between CO2 rising and the temperature rising?

Scientists are still working on understanding the details of the link between the increase in carbon dioxide and the observed increase in temperature, the current consensus among climate scientists seems to be that the observed global warming is due to this increase in CO2

CO2

Scientists have demonstrated that the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased dramatically since the beginning of the industrial revolution in the 1800s

Temperature Increase

Scientists have shown that the average temperature near the surface of the earth has increased by about 1 degree Celsius during the past 100 years

How long has the weather been warming for?

Since the late 1800s Rapid growth of industrialization resulted in an increased use of fossil fuels

The US has about ___% of the world's population, and is responsible for about ___% of the world's emissions from CO2

The US has about 5% of the world's population, and is responsible for about 18% of the world's emissions from CO2

How likely is it that global warming is caused by human activity?

The United Nations Climate Change report published concludes that it is "extremely likely" (95%) that human activity accounts for at least half of global warming observed since the 1950s

How do we get our record of CO2 levels?

The record since 1958 comes from direct measurements, the record for the past 400,000 years prior to direct measurements come from air bubbles trapped in ice cores in glacial ice

What is the safety limit for CO2 and what is the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere?

The upper safety limit is 350 parts per million, the current level is 407.98 parts per million

Briefly describe the greenhouse effect

There is a well-known phenomenon where CO2 traps heat in the atmosphere and warms up the earth

United Nations Climate Change Conference

This conference negotiated the Paris Agreement, a global agreement on the reduction of climate change

What is the goal of the Kyoto Protocol?

To slow global warming by developing an international treaty that sets limits on how much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases could be released by industries, machines, and vehicles