Earth System Science

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Earth System Science
Climate and Global Change Lecture Three 50-min
classes or two 1-hr and 15-min classes for a
semester Labs One 2-hr lab per week during the
semester Course Description Introduction to
the Earths atmosphere and climate system.
Structure and interaction of the components of
this system. Natural and human-induced changes
in these components, including the greenhouse
effect, ozone depletion, air pollution, acid
rain, biodiversity, and climate
change. Possible The Earth System (2nd
edition) Text by L.R. Kump, J.F. Kasting and
R.G. Crane Many other options
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Listening
Level 1 - Involvement in the Discussion At this
level, listeners evaluate the speakers words
attempting to make connections with their own
experiences, concepts from other courses, and
ideas previously presented in this course. Some
characteristics of level 1 listening include
taking in main ideas acknowledging and
responding not letting oneself be distracted
paying total attention to the speaker and the
topic. It also requires that the listener show
both verbally and nonverbally that he or she is
truly listening. Level 2 - Hearing Words, But
Not Really Listening At this level, people stay
at the surface of the communication and do not
listen to make connections and develop
understanding of what is being said. They try to
hear what the speaker is saying, but make little
effort to understand the speakers intent. Level
2 listeners tend to listen logically, but remain
emotionally detached from the subject. Level 2
listening can lead to dangerous misunderstandings
because the listener is concentrating only
slightly on what is said.
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Listening
Level 3 -Listening in Spurts Tuning in and
tuning out, being only somewhat aware of the
communication, mainly paying attention to other
things. Level 3 listening is quiet, passive
listening without responding. Often a person
listening at this level is faking attention while
thinking about unrelated matters. The listener
may display a blank stare.
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Introduction
Course Quote 1 As a crab moves on the
ocean-bottom, but is of the water, so man rests
his feet upon the earth - but lives in the air.
Man thinks of the crab as a water-animal
illogically and curiously, he calls himself a
creature of the land. As water environs the
crab, so air surrounds, permeates, and vivifies
the body of man. If traces of noxious gas mingle
with it, he coughs and his complexion turns
deathly gray. If it becomes overcharged with
water-droplets, he gropes helplessly in fog. If
it moves too fast, he becomes a pitiable
wind-swept creature, cowering in cellars and
ditches. Even for rain he is dependent on air.
If actually removed from air, he dies
immediately. Physicists describe the air as
tasteless, odorless, and invisible. It could not
well be otherwise. But these are not so much its
qualities as adjustments of man. For if air
impressed the senses, being at the same time
all-pervasive, it would necessarily obscure all
other tastes, odors, and sights. George Stewart,
"Storm", Modern Library, Random House, p. 19.
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Introduction
Course Quote 2 Despite mans pretensions to art
and civilization, mans existence depends on 4
inches of topsoil and the fact that it
rains. Author Unknown Course Quote 3 Treat the
Earth well it was not given to you by your
parents it was loaned to you by your
children. We do not inherit the Earth from our
ancestors we borrow it from our children.
Author Unknown
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Introduction
Course Quote 4 1854 Chief Sealth of the Duwamiah
Tribe (the Puget Sound Indians by another
account) was asked to sell a large area of land
in what is now Washington State. Seattle, a
corruption of the chiefs name, is built in the
heart of the Duwamish land. He and his people
were promised a reservation by President Franklin
Pierce. The following is a condensation of the
reply written in 1855 and remains one of the most
eloquent statements ever made in appreciation of
the environment. The great chief in Washington
sends word that he wishes to buy our land. How
can you buy or sell the sky, the warmth of the
land? The idea is strange to us. If we do not own
the freshness of the air and the sparkle of the
water, how can you buy them? Every part of the
earth is sacred to my people. Every shining pine
needle, every sandy shore, every mist in the dark
woods, every clearing and humming insect is holy
in the memory and experience of my people. The
sap which courses through the trees carries the
memories of the red man. We are part of the earth
and it is part of us. For the land is sacred to
us.
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Introduction
Course Quote 4 (Cont) The shining water that
moves in the stream and the river is not just
water, but the blood of our ancestors. The rivers
are our brothers, they quench our thirst. The
rivers carry our canoes and feed our children. If
we sell our land then you must remember, and
teach our children, that the rivers are our
brothers and yours, and you must henceforth give
the rivers the kindness that you would give any
brother. And what is there to life when man
cannot hear the lonely cry of the poor
whippoorwill or the arguments of the frogs around
a pool at night? The Indian prefers the soft
sound of the wind darting over the face of a pond
and the smell of the wind itself, cleansed by the
rain or scented by the pinion pine. The air is
precious to the red man for all things share the
same breath the beast, the tree, the man, they
all share the same breath.
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Introduction
Course Quote 4 (Cont) You must teach your
children that the ground beneath their feet is
the ashes of our grandfathers. So that they will
respect the land, tell your children that the
earth is rich with the lives of our kin. Teach
your children what we have taught our own
children, that the earth is our mother. Whatever
befalls earth, befalls the sons of earth. Man did
not weave the web of life, he is merely a strand
in it. Whatever he does to the web, he does to
himself. Even the white man, whose God walks and
talks with him as friend to friend, cannot be
exempt from the common destiny. We may be
brothers after all. We shall see. One thing we
know, which the white man may one day discover
our God is the same God. You may think that you
own Him as you wish to own the land but you
cannot. He is the God of man and His compassion
is equal for the red man and the white. The earth
is precious to Him, and to harm the earth is to
heap contempt on its Creator.
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Course Roadmap
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Introduction
Science Concepts
Climate and Global Change What is
Climate? What is Global Change or Global
Warming? Earths Climate System Variability of
the Earth System Budgets and Cycles External
Forcing
The Earth System (Kump, Kasting and
Crane) Chap. 19 (p. 290) Chap. 1
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Climate
The study of climate can assume
many forms.... We will regard climate in a very
broad sense in terms of the mean physical state
of the climate system. The climate can be
defined as a set of averaged quantities completed
with the higher moment statistics (such as
variances, covariances, correlations, etc.)
that characterize the structure and behavior of
the atmosphere, hydrosphere, and cryosphere
over a period of time. (Peixoto and Oort 1992)
Climatology is the study of the
exchanges of energy and mass at the interface
between the atmosphere and the surface of the
Earth. (Lydolph 1985)
What is climate?
Climate is the synthesis of
the weather in a particular region. (Hartman
1994)
The average course or condition of the
weather at a place over a period of years as
exhibited by temperature, wind velocity, and
precipitation. (Websters New Collegiate
Dictionary 1975)
Climate is a summary of weather
conditions over a period of years, including
how temperature and rainfall vary with the
seasons. (Krauskopf and Beiser 1997)
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Climate Elements
Air temperature - The degree of hotness or
coldness of a substance as measured by a
thermometer. It is also a measure of the average
kinetic energy of the atoms and molecules in a
substance. Humidity - A general term that
refers to the airs water vapor content (e.g.,
specific humidity, relative humidity,
etc.). Air pressure - Atmospheric pressure is
felt as the force that the air molecules exert
of a surface. The magnitude of this force per
area equals the weight of the air above that
surface area. Clouds - A collection of many
liquid water droplets or ice crystals (or both)
in the atmosphere. Precipitation - Any form
of water particles, liquid or solid, that falls
from the atmosphere and reaches the
ground. Wind - Air in motion relative to the
Earths surface. Note wind is a vector and
has both speed and direction.
What parameters make up climate?
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Climate
Alabama Annual Average Temperature
Data Source http//www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/divp
lot1_form.pl?0106
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Climate
Alabama Annual Average Precipitation
Data Source http//www.wrcc.dri.edu/cgi-bin/divp
lot1_form.pl?0106
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Global Topography
Worlds Mountain Ranges Highest topography in
red blue lowest topography
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Climate
Koppen Climate Classifications Western
hemisphere
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By State Through 2000 Alabama highest
temperature 112F (9/5/1925 in Centerville)
Record Maximum Temperature
http//www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/ climate/severeweathe
r/a-thigh.gif
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Record Minimum Temperature
By State Through 2000 Alabama lowest
temperature -27F (1/30/1966 in New Market)
By State Through 1996
http//www.ncdc.noaa.gov/img/ climate/severeweathe
r/a-thigh.gif
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Huntsville Temperature Climate
Huntsville Mean Monthly Temperature Mean
Annual Temperature 60.6F (1971-2000)
Record High 102F Record Low -11F
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Philadelphia Vs Chicago Temperature
Mean Monthly Average Temperature Chicago Mean
Average Annual Temperature 49.1F
(1971-2000) Philadelphia Mean Average Annual
Temperature 55.3F (1971-2000)
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Huntsville Precipitation Climate
Huntsville Mean Monthly Precipitation Mean
Annual Precipitation 57.51 in (1971-2000)
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Philadelphia Vs Chicago Precipitation
Mean Monthly Average Precipitation Chicago
Mean Annual Accumulated Precipitation 36.27 in
(1971-2000) Philadelphia Mean Annual
Accumulated Precipitation 42.05 in
(1971-2000) Salt Lake City Mean Annual
Accumulated Precipitation 16.5 in (1971-2000)
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Philadelphia Vs Chicago Humidity
Mean Monthly Average Relative Humidity Huntsvil
le Mean Annual Relative Humidity
(1971-2000) - Morning 85 Afternoon 62
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Philadelphia Vs Chicago Humidity
Mean Monthly Average Relative Humidity Chicago
Mean Annual Relative Humidity Morning 80
Afternoon 62 Philadelphia Mean Annual
Relative Humidity Morning 76 Afternoon
55 Salt Lake City Mean Annual Relative
Humidity Morning 67 Afternoon 42
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Climate
Climate is Dynamic, changing,
non-stationary Physics, mathematics,
chemistry, biology, meteorology, oceanography,
etc. Multidisciplinary Complex and
non-linear with complicated feedbacks
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The Earths Climate System
What do we mean by the Earths climate
system? Is this a picture of the
climate system?
http//earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/ BlueMa
rble/Images/land_shallow_topo_2048.jpg
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The Earths Climate System
Blue Marble Image Much of the information
contained in this image is derived from
NASAs Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer, or MODIS that is flying
over 700 km above the Earth onboard the
Terra satellite
http//earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/BlueMarb
le/BlueMarble_2002.html
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The Earths Climate System
http//learners.gsfc.nasa.gov/mediaviewer/ Hurrica
nesWithJeff/Segment3/
Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and
Hurricanes Advanced Microwave Scanning
Radiometer (AMSR-E) Aqua satellite SST image
GOES cloud data Three-day average of SSTs for
Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean
6/8/05-8/29/05 Warm (orange red) ocean
waters fuel hurricanes - Areas in yellow,
orange or red represents 27.8C (82F) or
above Hurricane Dennis path Arlene (Jun
8-13) / Bret (Jun 28-29) / Cindy (Jul 3-7) /
Dennis (Jul 4-12) / Emily (Jul 11-21) Franklin
(Jul 21-29) / Gert (Jul 23-25) / Harvey (Aug 3-8)
/ Irene (Aug 7-18) / Jose (Aug 22-23) Katrina
(Aug 23-30) / Lee (Aug 31-Sep 1) / Maria (Sep
2-10) / Nate (Sep 5-10) / Ophelia (Sep
7-18) Phillipe (Sep 17-23) / Rita (Sep 18-24) /
Stan (Oct 2-5) / Tammy (Oct 5-6 ) / Vince (Oct
9-11 ) Wilma (Oct 17-25) / Alpha (Oct 22-24) /
Beta (Oct 27-30) / Gamma (Nov 18-20) / Delta (Nov
23-28) Epsilon (Nov 29-Dec 8th) / Zeta (Dec 30
2005-Jan 6 2006)
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The Earths Climate System
Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and
Hurricanes Note cooling after passage
http//learners.gsfc.nasa.gov/mediaviewer/Hurrican
esWithJeff/Segment30/
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The Earths Climate System
Sea Surface Temperature (SST) and Hurricanes
(Cont)
http//learners.gsfc.nasa.gov/mediaviewer/Hurrican
esWithJeff/Segment3/