Leadership

Both climate forcing mechanisms and the response of the climate system operate over a variety of different time scales. Response to forcing may be linear, quasi-linear or non-linear. Non-linearity in climatic change is the result of a complex interaction of feedback processes. It should be appreciated that different primary forcing […]

It is the fluxes principally of energy but also of moisture, momentum and mass, which determine the state of our climate. Factors which influence these on a global scale may be regarded as causes of global climate change. So far, however, only the fluxes in and out of and within […]

Biogenic sea floor sediments are called oozes, and are usually either calcareous or siliceous in nature. Calcareous oozes consist mainly of the carbonate tests (skeletons) of millions of marine organisms, whilst siliceous oozes are made up of their silicate counterparts. For palaeoclimatic purposes, the most important materials are the tests […]

This section discusses some of the various external forcing mechanisms operating over time scales of 10 years to 109 years. 2.5.1. Galactic Variations The orbit of the Solar System about the centre of the Galaxy has been considered as a possible external climate forcing mechanism (Huggett, 1991). During the course […]

The global climate change organization informs you about the conventional explanation of the amplification of global warming by snow and ice feedback is that a warmer Earth will have less snow cover, resulting in a lower global albedo and consequent absorption of more radiation, which in turn causes a further […]

Other trace gases such as the nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have little direct radiative impact on the atmosphere, but they can indirectly influence the chemistry and concentrations of certain greenhouse gases, particularly ozone. The major sources of these compounds are technological (fossil […]

General circulation models (GCMs) represent the most sophisticated attempt to simulate the climate system. The 3-D model formulation is based on the fundamental laws of physics: a) conservation of energy; b) conservation of momentum; c) conservation of mass, and; d) the Ideal Gas Law. These are the same physical laws […]

GCM models suggest an increase in global-mean precipitation, as one might expect from the associated increase in atmospheric temperature. However, because the spatial variability of rainfall is much greater than for surface temperature, regional and local details of changes are highly uncertain (IPCC, 1990a). Instrumental data from which long-term changes […]

The fifth and final component of the global climate system is the geosphere, consisting of the soils, the sediments and rocks of the Earth’s land masses, the continental and oceanic crust and ultimately the interior of the Earth itself. These parts of the geosphere each play a role in the […]

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is produced by both biological mechanisms in the oceans and soils, and by anthropogenic means including industrial combustion, vehicle exhausts, biomass burning and the use of chemical fertilisers. It is destroyed by photochemical reactions (involving sunlight) in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere) (Prather et al., 1995).