Climate change and global warming

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Climate change and global warming

• Aiming Wu
• Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences
• University of British Columbia
• Vancouver, BC, Canada
• December 2004

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Outline

• What is climate and climate change?
• What is global warming and its effects?
• Why the earth is getting warmer?
• What climate will be in the future?
• What shall we do to protect our Earth?

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What is climate ?
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Weather
sunny
cloudy
rainy
snowy
snow (daytime)
snow (overnight)
fogy
rain or snow
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Weather what is happening outdoors in a given
place at a given time. Weather changes from
minute to minute, and place to place.
How to describe weather?
Weather forecast

• 2 hours later
• this evening
• tomorrow

• Temperature
• Precipitation
• Wind
• Humidity
• Visibility

(cold, cool, warm, hot)
(rainy, snowy, sunny)
(light, strong)
(dry or wet)

• TV, radio
• newspaper

(fogy, dusty)
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Climate ? Weather
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Climate An average of all weather occurring over
a period of time in a given place
Monthly, seasonal (or annual) mean temperature
or precipitation (dont look at the weather on a
specific day) tells us what it's generally or
usually like May talks about 10 millions
years ago, 10 years ago, this season, this year,
next year or 100 years later Climate also
depends on time and place
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Different places have different climate
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Sahara, Africa Max. summer 58oC annual
precipitation 76mm
Victoria, Canada summer 21oC winter 8oC
annual precipitation 1250cm
Dry, hot
mild
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In winter
Tropical forests
Europe
Warm wet
Cold
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Climate also changes with time
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Changes with season
Temperature precipitation
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Global warming
Global mean surface temperatures have
increased about 1oF since the late 1800s The
Earth is getting warmer !
G
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The warming is GLOBAL !
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Temperature changes 1895-1995 British Columbia
(Canada)
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What are the effects of global warming?
Good or bad to us ?
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• Human Health
• Extreme hot weather can directly cause death
  (over 40oC) normal human body temperature ?
• Several serious diseases only appear in warm
  areas virus or bacteria like warm place to live
• Warm temperatures can increase air and water
  pollution

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• Severe drought or flood
• more water evaporates, soil will become drier
  desert will expand lake or river levels will
  drop or even get dried,
• flood in some other places

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• Sea level rise
• Seas, oceans expand
• Antarctic, Greenland ice melt
• low-lying coastal lands drown
• (many people lose their homes)
• large area of farmland be ruined

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• Farming
• Some plants and crop cannot grow under higher
  temperatures
• Drought makes plants crop die (need water)
• people have no enough food, die because of
  starvation

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• Animal, forest-fire
• Some animal will die when the temperature
  changes
• More and more forest fires

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So, global warming is causing serious problems
to our environment and our lives . . .
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Why is the climate getting warmer?
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Atmosphere
Other includes Argon (Ar, 0.9) Water vapor
(H2O) Carbon Dioxide (CO2, 0.03 ) Ozone (O3),
CFCs Methane (CH4) Also called greenhouse gas
Earth
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How to grow plants in winter?
greenhouse
(a) Let sunlight come in (b) keep heat from
going out
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The greenhouse effect
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Greenhouse gas molecules absorb infrared
radiation and emit it again
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Greenhouse gases let the sun rays come in
absorb infrared radiation and emit it back to the
Earth
Make the earth warmer
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Atmospheric CO2 is increased rapidly in the
recent 100 years !
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Global warming happened only in the recent 100
years
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So the global warming is mainly caused by the
increase of CO2 in the atmosphere
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Who causes CO2 increase ?
Human
Vehicle pollution
Industrial pollution
Forest cut
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Natural pollutions
Volcanic ash (works like the greenhouse gases)
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What is in the future ?
It is estimated that CO2 will double from
pre-industrial levels in 50-100 years
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Global temperature
Sea level
By 2050 5-30 cm By 2100 10-90 cm
By 2050 0.6-2.5ºC By 2100 1.4-5.8ºC
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What can we do to protect our Earth ?

• Read and learn about the environment science

• Save energy (turn off lights, TV, computer)

• Use bike, bus, walk or car pool

• Plant trees (plants absorb CO2, vapor )

• Recycle (papers, cans, plastic bags, bottles)

• Use solar energy

• Talking to your family and friends (let them
  know)

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Summary

• The global climate is getting warmer since the
  late 1800s
• The global warming is making our environment
  worse and threatening out lives
• Global warming is mainly caused by human
  activities (industry, transportations etc)
• However, everyone can do something to protect
  our Earth ??

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The end, thank you.
Questions comments ?