Global Warming

The Intergovernamental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
1. Concluded that:
  1. "Human race influences on global warming".
  2. "Our ability to alter the atmosphere is incontestable".
The Greenhouse Effect
1. I. The incoming sunlight
  1. Strikes the Earth's surface
    1. And emites infrared waves.
      1. II. Heat travels unimpeded.
        III. Due to the Atmosphere:
        A fraction of the heat
        Makes it back to space
        The rest
        Trapped in lower air layers
2. This affects:
  1. Climate.
    1. Climate depends on:
      1. combination of factors
        Interacting in complex ways.
    2. + Heat = + Water Evaporation
    3. Warmer atmosphere holds + water vapour
Gases:
1. Natural gas:
  1. Principal ingredient:
2. Methane.
  1. Generated from:
    1. Bacterias in rice fields.
    2. Decomposing garbage.
    3. Cattle Ranching.
    4. Fossil fuel production.
3. Nitrous oxide.
  1. Produced by:
    1. Agriculture.
    2. Industry.
4. CFCs, Chlorofluorocarbons, etc
Models and Uncertainty
1. Scientists use computers simulations of:
  1. Interactions among:
    1. Land
    2. Air
    3. Water
    4. Ice
    5. Sunlight
  2. These are General Circulation Models (GCMs)
    1. They consist of:
      1. Equations representing the know laws of:
        Atmospheric physics.
        Ocean circulation.
    2. They calculate:
      1. Effect of such factors as:
        Air temperature.
        Earth's rotation.
        Surface friction on sea level.
        Rainfall.
    3. They are aproximated.
A Case of Missing Carbon
1. A part of what we release of CO2
  1. goes "Missing".
    1. Of that "missing" amount
      1. The oceans remove a part.
2. Clouds shade Earth's surface.
  1. Promoting cooling.
  2. While they trap outgoing heat.
    1. Promoting warming.
3. Aerosols encourage water vapour
  1. That's in the air
    1. To condense into tiny droplets.
      1. They form 'clouds'
        Are dense and shiny.
4. Quoting:
  1. "Aerosol effects may help explain the odd mid-century cooling."
5. High concentrations of CO2
  1. Fertilizing effect
    1. Good for farmers.
As the World Warms
1. Warming of the magnitude
  1. Prompts widespread calamity.
2. Frequency of rain increase slightly.
  1. or snowfall
3. In areas where there's:
  1. I. Prone to Flooding.
  2. II. Erosion
  3. III. Both
    1. May be a dire prognosis.
4. Increased precipitations
  1. Would be extremely uneven.
5. Heat waves + serious
  1. Land - chance to cool overnight.
Anticipating the future
1. Abrupt collapse in:
  1. Atlantic's "Conveyor belt" system
    1. Brings warm water north
      1. From the Equator.
        Europe several degrees warmer.
        Evaporation of this incoming flow =
        The belt with
        + Salt content
        Fed by substantial freshwater runoff
        From continental watersheds.
        The belt cools =
        Becomes denser.
        Travels far below the surface
        In 'South-moving return flow'.

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