Introduction: Planetary Climate, Ecosystems and Human Society CLIM 101 // Fall 2011 George Mason...

Introduction: Planetary Climate, Ecosystems

and Human Society

CLIM 101 // Fall 2011

George Mason University

30 Aug 2011

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2011

Our Place in the Universe:You Are Here

Artist’s conception - Not to scale, orbits are invisible, planetary alignment almost never happens

American Museum of Natural History Digital Universe Project: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U&feature=related

You are here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17jymDn0W6U&feature=related


Our Place in the Universe:Humans on Earth

National Geographic Special Issue: 7,000,000,000 People on Earth:

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/player/the-magazine/7-billion/

IndiaAfrica USA

Run movie


Our Place in the Universe:Habitable Earth

U.K. Meteorological

Office: Weather and

Climatehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjwmrg__ZVw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjwmrg__ZVw




Global Well-Being sustainability, security

and the future of civilization

The Global Challenge

Inequality and Extreme Poverty

Human PopulationGrowth

EnvironmentalDegradation

Courtesy J. Shukla


What is Weather? What is Climate?

Weather is what you get, climate is what you expect.

E. N. Lorenz

Weather =ExpectedWeather

+Unexpected

Weather

Climate


Questions• What is “expected” weather? Why do we expect one

type of weather in one place & different weather elsewhere? – E.g. why does it get cold at night? What determines how cold? – E.g. why is Guam warmer on average compared to Fairbanks?

• What is “unexpected” weather? – Why can’t we predict the weather forever?

(like the tides or the movement of planets) – How accurate is the weather forecast? – What about the Farmer’s Almanac?– Is the average departure from normal predictable? – What about global warming?


Fairbanks

Guam

Washington, DC

Oklahoma City


Temperature for September 2010 toAugust 2011




http://capitalclimate.blogspot.com/





GUAM

14F

77F

86F

95F


Local Climate: Features and Factors

• Features– Average temperature– Temperature range– Total rainfall– Sunshine/cloudiness– Variability (month to

month, year to year)– …

• Factors– Location, location,

location• Latitude• Altitude• Proximity to ocean• Proximity to mountains

– Vegetation


Whence the Seasons?


1. Energy from the Sun(energy from the interior)

2. Planetary Albedo

3. Speed of Planet’s Rotation

4. Mass of the Planet

5. Radius of the Planet

6. Atmospheric Composition

7. Ocean-Land, Topography

S (depends on Sun itself and distance from Sun)

M

a

H2O, CO2, O3, clouds

h*

The Climate of a Planet Depends On …



1. Energy from the Sun(energy from the interior)

2. Planetary Albedo

3. Speed of Planet’s Rotation

4. Mass of the Planet

5. Radius of the Planet

6. Atmospheric Composition

7. Ocean-Land, Topography

S (depends on Sun itself and distance from Sun)

M

a

H2O, CO2, O3, clouds

h*

The Climate of a Planet Depends On …

Albedo and Composition vary from place to place and time to time in response to changes in the weather, climate, ecosystems and human activities

1, 3, 4, 5, 7 cannot be influenced appreciably by weather, climate or life


Weather, Climate and Global Society

General Principles


What is aGreenhouse Gas?

Global Warming

Buildup ofGreenhouse

Gases

Greenhouse

Effect

Natural Sources

AnthropogenicSources

20th CenturyClimate Change

21st Century Climate Projections

Paleoclimate

Natural ClimateVariability

Monitoringclimate change

ClimateModels

SensitivityTippingPoints

Feedbacks

Hurricanes

Sea level

Snow Pack, Glaciers, Water SupplyDrought, Heat Waves, Fires

Climate Impacts

Ecosystems

Ocean Acidification

Extreme Events

Climate vs.Weather

Fossil fuelreserves

CarbonCycle

Oil, Coal, Tar sands, Natural Gas,

Methane hydrates

Adaptation

Costs

Increasing resilience

Vulnerability

MigrationChanging Practices

Costs

Mitigation

Societal Choices

Business as usual

Energy Efficiency Carbon Sequestering

Alternative Energy Sources

GeoengineeringConservationConsumptionBiofuels, Wind, Solar Photovoltaic,

Nuclear Fission, Geothermal, TidalNuclear Fusion

indirect aerosol effectstratospheric

aerosolsmirrors in space

Personal choices

Production

Courtesy of Prof. M. Wallace, U. Washington


Ecosystems

WeatherClimate

Humans

Organizing Schema


What is an Ecosystem?• A system of living organisms, consisting of all plants, animals

and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area interacting with each other and their physical environment.

• The boundaries of what could be called an ecosystem are somewhat arbitrary, depending on the focus of study, ranging from the very small scale to the entire planet Earth.

• Examples:– Coral reef– River catchment– Rain forest– Estuary– Desert– Yellowstone National Park


Example: Hypercycle• Each member of an ecosystem may depend on the presence or actions of

another element, so that the members thrive in each others’ presence• For example, fish eat water fleas. Birds eat fish. Birds provide guano, which

assists the blooms of algae on which water fleas flourish.

feeds

feeds

guanofeeds

feeds


Summary(points we’ll take up later)

• Global well-being for humans and the rest of Earth’s organisms is challenged by environmental degradation, extreme poverty and human population growth

• Weather and climate are related but different• Climate depends on several factors, some of

which can be influenced by human activities• Climate, humans and ecosystems interact

and influence each other


Reading

• Rough Guide – pp 3-19

• Atlas of Climate Change – pp 9-13– pp 17


REMINDER

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6 September 2011

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Introduction: Planetary Climate, Ecosystems and Human Society CLIM 101 // Fall 2011 George Mason...

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