Documentos de Académico
Documentos de Profesional
Documentos de Cultura
and
Climatic
Change
Climate
Influences everything
Housing -- where we live, heating/cooling
Clothing -- what we wear
Agriculture -- food supply and cost
Flora and Fauna -- palm trees to tundra
Lifestyle -- choice of activities
Climate is defined as:
(1) the aggregate of weather conditions over an
extended time period (1970-2000) and
(2) the frequency of extreme weather events (such
as thunderstorms, tornadoes, hurricanes,
lightning strikes, etc.)
Two Branches of Climatology
Applied Theoretical
Older Newer
Explorers Meteorologists
Geographers Climate Modelers
Empirical Deductive
Descriptive Dynamic
Plant distribution Physical principles
Classification Feedback
What Why
Climate Classification
Vladimir Köppen (1918), father-in-law of Alfred Wegener.
Pattern of world climate classifications still used today.
Based on Temperature, Precipitation.
Related to vegetation types
A. Tropical rainy, cool month > 18o C
B. Dry, desert
C. Mid-latitude rainy, mild winter
D. Mid-latitude rainy, cold winter
E. Polar, warmest month < 10o C
H. Highland, above 15,000 feet
Climate Dynamics (Air masses)
Climate Change
Evidence of Past Climates
(Anthes fig. 7.9)
1. Remote sensing from satellites (since 1979) -- no change
2. Instrumental surface record (since 1860) -- 0.6 C warming
3. Diaries, written records of flood, harvest, ice (1 Ka)
4. Proxy records
Tree Rings or dendrochronology (100 - 5 Ka)
Lake Cores, Packrat Middens (100 a - 10 Ka)
-- sediments, varves, pollen, seeds, C14 (5730 a)
Ice Cores (100 a - 100 Ka)
-- CO2 bubbles, dust deposits, δ O18
Loess Deposits (100 a - 100 Ka)
-- aeolean dust, strata
Ocean Cores (1 Ka - 1 Ma)
-- sediments, mud, Isotopes
Sedimentary Rocks (1 Ka - 100 Ma)
-- fossils, strata
C14 dating proxy
Radioactive C14 is produced in the atmosphere by cosmic ray
bombardment.
It has a half-life of 5730 years and constitutes about one percent of
the carbon in an organism.
When an organism dies, its C14 continues to decay.
The older the organism, the less C14.