CHAPTER 12

CLIMATE CHANGE
 What is Climate?
• The long term weather patterns
prevailing over a given area of the
planet.
• A Greek word “klinein” meaning slope.
• Evolved into klima, connoting a zone or
region of the Earth as characterized by
atmospheric conditions.
• The orb of the sun stood at a high angle in
the sky at noontime as ships sailed toward
north,
• And day time temperature of the air get
colder.
• Interaction between the sun and the
Earth.
 What is Climate Change?
• It is a change in the pattern of weather, and related
changes in oceans, land surfaces and ice sheets, that
occurs over time scales of decades or longer.
• Climate change may be due to natural processes, such
as sun’s radiation, volcanoes or internal variability in
climate system.
• Human influences such as changes in composition of
atmosphere or land use.
• Weather is the state of atmosphere, its temperature,
humidity, wind, rainfall and so on-over hours or week.
EARTH’S MOVEMENT AROUND THE SUN

• The orbit remains an ellipse, and its

orientation changes over time.
• Earth spins around its own axis.
• The Earth could then be imagined like a
spinning top or trumpo, turning and
wobbling in its path around the sun.
 EARTH’S MOVEMENT AROUND THE SUN
Elements in this interaction between the sun and the
Earth are defines as:
1. Aphelion refers to the point in the orbit of the
Earth farthest from the sun.
2. Perihelion is the point in the orbit of the Earth
closest to the sun.
3. Earth’s axial tilt is the inclination angle of the
Earth’s rotational axis in relation to a line
perpendicular to its orbital plane.
4. Precession is the change of the
orientation of the rotational axis of the Earth.
5. Equinox refers to the time the sun at noon
is directly over the equator.
6. Solstice happens when sun at noon sits
above the Tropic of Cancer or Tropic of
Capricorn.
7. Precession of the Equinox refers to the
motion of the equinoxes relative to precession
of earth’s axis of rotation.
 MILANKOVITCH PARAMETERS
• Is it possible that the 21st century
may introduce yet another
dramatic changes in climate?
• Is there enough information to
answer the age-old question of
“what will the weather be
tomorrow?” (Cilberto, 2015)?
• There is a growing body of data suggesting that
the climate is changing all over the world.
• Many scientists have asked if the Earth is
headed for another Ice Age (Sparks &
Hawkesworth, 2004).
• It was addressed as early as 1930s by Slovak
scientist and meteorologist Milutin
Milankovitch.
• The distance from the sun to the Earth is
constant as shown by the orbital radius of the
earth.
 MILANKOVITCH PARAMETERS
• The tilt of the North Pole of the Earth has always
relative to the plane of the solar system.
• North Pole of the Earth is also relative to stars of the
Earth circles the sun over many years.
• His contemporary scientists critiqued his work,
saying that the effects of the change in the radius of
the Earth’s orbit , the change in tilt of the spin, are so
small that they could not alter the amount of sunlight
to cause a phenomenon like Ice Age.
 MILANKOVITCH PARAMETERS
• The mathematical expressions of the Law of Nature
as first enunciated by Isaac Newton in the 17th
century have some subtle features that help to
explain the role of the Milankovitch parameters in
changing climate.
• The equations of the Laws of Nature allow for
cumulative or summative effects.
• But, French mathematical physicist Henri Poincare
showed that mathematically, this simple cumulative
process need to be as straightforward as it might
seem (Zeh, 2007).
• Using the computer, scientist went back to the
mathematical equations that described how the sun-
Earth relationship causes the climate to change over
thousand or millions of years.
• Milankovitch parameters over along period of time
can have a cumulative effect far greater it appears at
first glance.
• This discovery is part of what has been called “new”
science called Chaos theory (Gleick, 1987).
The evidence for rapid climate change is
compelling:

• Global Temperature Rise

• Warming oceans

• Sea Level Rise

• Extreme events

• Ocean acidification
 GLOBAL WARMING
• Scientist agree that the average temperature of
Earth’s atmosphere has been increasing over
90% in the latter part of 20th century.
• Two opposing arguments on the issue whether
or not global warming is just “natural”.
• One side states that nature, simply acting
according to its law with no reference to human
beings and their action is the reason.
• The other side maintains that global
warming is caused by the actions of human
beings.
• The oft-cited fact to understand the global
warming is the temperature versus the
amount of carbon dioxide in the
atmosphere.
 GREENHOUSE GASES
• Greenhouse effect refers to how certain gases in the
atmosphere trap the heat of the sun.
• As early as 1859, British engineer John Tyndall wrote:
As a dam built across a river causes a local
deepening of the stream, so out atmosphere, thrown
across the terrestrial rays, produces a local heightening
of the temperature at the Earth’s surface (quoted in
Weart, 2003, p.4).
• Atmosphere contains certain gases that naturally
capture the heat from the sun and hold it in.
 GREENHOUSE GASES
• In 19th century, Tyndall noted that the most
prevalent of these greenhouse gases is the
water vapour.
• Industrialization is the conversion of an agrarian
economy into an industrialized one on a large
scale.
• Machines are primarily used in an industry,
production of electricity by burning fossil
fuel(coal) increases.
• With the Second World War and changes in
geo-political arena, industrialization of
nations directly affected the amount of
carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

• Charles David Keeling , an American scientist,

find out if the increased burning of fossil fuel
and subsequent release of CO2 in
atmosphere changing the global temperature
of atmosphere.
 GREENHOUSE GASES
• He begun to measure the amount of Co2 in
the atmosphere far away from industrialized
nations.
• Extinct volcano on the island of Hawaii in the
Pacific Ocean.

• The Keeling curve is a graph that plots the

continuous measurements of data taken at
the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii.
 FUTURE ACTIONS
• A computer model is only as good as the data
used to do the calculations.
• Scientist take the issue by setting “tripping
points”, specifying values of meteorological
parameters which is irreversible changes will
takes place.
• This issue has implications on the environment
and on the economy
• Burning of fossil fuels is one of the major
sources of electricity, leads to higher amounts
of CO2.
• Science has given humanity a tool for
modernization.

• It allows for the emergence of technology

that spreads and applies knowledge for
the attainment of good life.
 QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION
1. Why does the average temperature of the
atmosphere rise? What might have caused the
unprecedented increase in its level?

2. Aside from the rise in mean temperature and CO2

levels, what are some other pieces of evidence for
global warming?

3. How does climate change affect biodiversity?

4. What can people and nations do to fix global
warming?
Give five contributions you can personally
achieve and three potential contributions on
a national or international scale.

5. If climate change denial persists, what could possibly

happen to the Earth and humanity after 20, 50, and 100
years considering the current trend?