The Water, Weather, and Climate

Systems

Water, Weather And Climate

Systems

Climate Systems and Climate

Change

Climate
z Climate

is weather over time

z Climatic

regions are areas with similar

weather statistics

z Climatology

is the study of climate

Earths Climate System

Internal Processes Are Energized By Insolation

Figure 10.1

Figure 10.1

External Processes Affect Climatic Balance And

Force Climatic Change

Climatic Relationships

Figure 10.1

Figure 10.3

Tropical Climates

World Climate Classification

z

Rain forest:
Climate is constantly moist and warm
Rainy all year
Convectional thunderstorms triggered by local heating and

trade wind convergence

z

Monsoon:
Principally along coastal areas
Rainfall from 6-12 months of the year brought by the ITCZ
Dry season lasts one or more months

Savanna:
ITCZ dominates during summers with wetter conditions
Dry conditions when ITCZ shifts away and high pressure

dominates

Fig. 7.2
Figure 10.4

Fig. 7.4

Tropical Rain Forest

Tropical Monsoon
Fig. 7.3

Fig. 7.5

Mesothermal Climates
z

Humid subtropical:
Hot summers, mild winters
Maritime tropical air masses produce

convectional showers over land during summer

Frontal activity with polar air masses in winter
z

Marine west coast:

Warm to cool summers, mild winters
Affected throughout the year by weather

systems formed along polar front

z

Intense dry periods; plants

adapted to seasonally dry
water budgets

Mediterranean:
Dry summers, mild winters
Large-scale agriculture requires irrigation

Tropical Savanna Climate

Humid subtropical hot-summer

climate, rainy all year

Humid subtropical
winter-dry climate

Fig. 7.6

Fig. 7.7

Affected by
cyclonic
storms all year

Marine west coast climate

Fig. 7.9

Dry summers dominated by

subtropical high;
Wetter winters affected by cyclonic
storm tracts

Mediterranean climates
Fig. 7.10

Microthermal Climates
z

Humid continental:
Hot to warm summers, cold winters
Maritime tropical air masses influence both

humid continental moist-all-year and winter-dry

climates
In North America, conflict between maritime
tropical and continental polar in winter
z

Subarctic:
Cool summers to very cold winters

Humid-continental hotsummer climates

Boreal forests (fir, spruce, etc.) thin out to the

north to the more open woodlands and tundra

Soils thin in areas once scoured by glaciers

Fig. 7.11

Fig. 7.12

Humid-continental hotsummer climates

Humid-continental mild-summer climate
Fig. 7.11

Fig. 7.13

High pressure dominates

Churchill during cold
winter

Subarctic cool summer,

cold winter climate

Extreme subarctic cold

winter climate

Fig. 7.14

Polar Tundra

Polar Climates
z

Tundra:

High latitude or high elevation

Land under continuous snow cover 8-10 months
Never warms above 10 oC
Small plants appear in spring

Ice caps and ice sheets:

Perpetually frozen
All months below freezing

Polar marine:
More moderate than polar continental
No month averages below -7 oC

Polar Marine Climate, South Georgia Island, Antarctica

Earths Ice Sheets

Antarctic Sound

West Greenland
Fig. 7.16

Fig. 7.17

Fig. 7.18

Desert Climates
z Arid deserts:
Tropical, subtropical hot
Midlatitude cold
z Semiarid steppes (flat grassland)
Tropical, subtropical hot
Midlatitude cold occurs poleward of 30o

latitude

Midlatitude Cold Desert Climate

Tropical, Subtropical Hot Desert Climates

Fig. 7.20

Fig. 7.19

Midlatitude Cold
Steppe Climate

Tropical, Subtropical
Hot Steppe Climate
Fig. 7.21

Fig. 7.22

Global Warming

Climate Change
z

Release of greenhouse gases into the

z Global

warming
z Paleoclimatology
z Climate models
z Future temperatures

Causes of recent global warming?

atmosphere due to burning of fossils fuels?
Recent temperature rise is just part of the

natural cycle?
z

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate

Change (IPCC) was created in 1988 to
coordinate global climate-change
research, climate forecasts, and
formulation of policies

Greenhouse Gases
z Carbon

The Greenhouse Effect

dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4)

and water vapor are essential
warmers of the planet:

Without them the Earth would be an ice

ball, 35o C colder

z But

can our burning of fossil fuels

upset the balance and cause the
Earth to warm too much?

Suns energy enters the Earths

atmosphere at relatively short
wavelengths (mostly within visible range)
Some of this energy heats Earths surface
Surface heat is then reradiated outward at
longer wavelengths (infrared)
Greenhouse gases absorb and re-emit
some of this long wavelength energy back
to the surface, warming the atmosphere

The Recent Past (60 years)

z The

concentration of carbon dioxide

has increased steadily since 1958
with smaller, annual variations
z The smaller variations can be
explained by seasonal changes in
the biosphere
z The longer trend shows increasing
carbon dioxide concentrations:
Increasing CO2 from burning of fossil

fuels

Increase in Atmospheric Carbon-Dioxide since 1955

Recent Past (Continued)

z Temperatures

have also increased

over the last 50 years!
BUT is the temperature increase related

to the increase in CO2?

z Large

temperature changes have also

occurred in the geologic past, so it is
not clear!
Global temperatures during the Middle

Fig. 2.18

Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic were

higher than today

Temperature Anomalies For 2010 Compared To The Base

Period Of 1951-1980
Fig. 7.25

1951-1980 global average

Fig. 7.25
Figure 10.30

Paleoclimatology
z Temperature

changes over the last

few thousand years must be
obtained indirectly in what are known
as proxy recorders:
Trapped atmospheric gases in ice cores
Oxygen isotope changes in ice cores

Figure 10.30

1000 Years
Of CO2 And
Temperatures

Fig. 7.23

Earth today is
close to equaling
the highest
average
temperature of the
past 125,000 years

Oxygen isotope and other changes in

fossils in oceans and lakes

Figure 10.29

Climatic Models And Future

Temperatures
10,000 Years Of
Greenhouse
Gases From Ice-Core
And Modern Data

Predicting The Extent And

Consequences Of Global
Warming

Fig. 7.27
Figure 10.32

Computer Model Comparison of Anthropogenic and

Natural Forcing (red) vs. Only Natural Forcing (blue)

General Circulation Models

z

Scientists developed a complex computer

climate model known as a General
Circulation Model (GCM)
A GCM contains several sub-model
programs for the following:
Atmosphere
Ocean
Land surface
Cryosphere
Biosphere

Fig. 7.26
Figure 10.31

General Circulation Models

z

Variables in GCMs include the following:

Temperature
Precipitation
Air Pressure
Relative Humidity
Wind
Sunlight intensity

GCMs calculate scenarios of future

climate change based on input parameters
and variables

A General
Circulation Model
consists of a grid of
boxes, each
representing a
different location
on Earth; Each box
consists of multiple
layers and interacts
with adjoining
boxes

Input parameters for

an atmospheric layer

Atmospheric layers

Fig. 7.28
Figure 10.33

Reasons For Concern

Different scenarios take into

account economics, population,
global cooperation and
greenhouse gas emissions

Holding emissions at
2000 concentrations

Fig. 7.29

Overall Effects Of Climate

Change

Dynamic
equilibrium is
disrupted, tipping
point is reached
and the system
spasms to a new
equilibrium state:
disruptions
include melting
of mountain and
continental
glaciers, sea-level
rise, and ocean
acidification

Loss of glaciers
(global
warming), coral
reefs (ocean
acidification),
barrier islands
and small islands
(rising sea level):
ecosystems
migrate and
species become
extinct
Melt-water from
melting glaciers
flow into the
oceans, causing
sea level to rise

Fig. 7.24
Figure 10.34

Oceans acidify due to

absorption of
increasing amounts of
atmospheric CO2

Fig. 7.24
Figure 10.34

Magnitude and
frequency of
extreme weather
events increase:
precipitation and
floods intensify:
hurricane and
tornado
intensities
increase: more
heat waves,
droughts, and
wildfires

Climate change
results in
monetary damage
due to crop
failures and
diminishing
water supplies:
lives are changed
or lost; poorer
countries might
not adapt
successfully

Fig. 7.24
Figure 10.34

Impacts are
greatest in lowlatitude and lessdeveloped
countries due to
shifts in crop
patterns and spread
of diseases. At
high latitudes,
indigenous people
of the circumpolar
Arctic will be
affected by rapid
melting of ice
sheets/permafrost.

Fig. 7.24
Figure 10.34

Fig. 7.24
Figure 10.34