1 / 13

Natural Mechanisms of Climate Change

Natural Mechanisms of Climate Change. How do we know about past climates?. Paleoclimatology - the study of the history of the earth’s climate Using: ice cores, tree rings, and lake bottom sediment. External Forces – beyond earth. Solar Energy- changes in 3 ways:

honorato-cunningham
Download Presentation

Natural Mechanisms of Climate Change

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Natural Mechanisms of Climate Change

  2. How do we know about past climates? • Paleoclimatology- the study of the history of the earth’s climate • Using: ice cores, tree rings, and lake bottom sediment

  3. External Forces – beyond earth • Solar Energy- changes in 3 ways: • 1. Shape of earth’s orbit – sometimes circular, sometimes elliptical • 2. Changes in earth’s tilt – currently at 23.5 degrees • Varies from 22-25 degrees over 41,00 yr cycle • Smaller the tilt means less seasonal variation.

  4. 3. Changes in earth’s spin – it wobbles sometimes.

  5. Ocean, Atmosphere and Land Forces of Climate Change

  6. Ocean Causes Changes • Change climates along the coasts theyu flow • Change in temp • Change in the Great Ocean Conveyor

  7. Volcanic Activity • Releases SO2 which forms sulfic acid and reflects sunlight • Releases huge amounts of ash and dust -blocks the sun • Short tem

  8. Atmospheric Albedo • The reflective property of the atmosphere (amount of sunlight atmosphere reflects) • An ↑ in clouds means an ↑ in reflection • A ↓ in clouds means a ↓ in reflection • The more sunlight that reaches Earth the temp ↑

  9. Surface Albedo • Earth’s reflective capacity • Includes land, snow, water, and ice • Ice and snow reflect, land absorbs • As ice and snow melt, less sunlight is reflected, more is absorbed, temp ↑

  10. Asteroids and Meteoroids • If huge ones impact Earth, large amounts of dust and debris in atmosphere • May block out the sun • Leading theory on what killed the dinosaurs

  11. Plate tectonics • Changes where glaciers can form • Changes the flow of currents • Changes the climates on different continents • Redistributes the areas of absorption of solar radiation

More Related