1

Contents

Department of pharmacy: Geography

Assignment
...................................................................................................................................................................... 2
What is Climate Change? .............................................................................................................................. 3
What Cause of Climate change? ................................................................................................................... 4
1. NATURAL CLIMATE CHANGE ............................................................................................................. 4
 Volcanic eruptions ........................................................................................................................ 4
 Ocean currents .............................................................................................................................. 5
Earth orbital changes ............................................................................................................................ 6
 Solar variations.............................................................................................................................. 7
2. Human Activity .................................................................................................................................. 8
Burning fossil fuels ................................................................................................................................ 8
Deforestation ........................................................................................................................................ 9
Agriculture ............................................................................................................................................ 9
Effect of climate change ......................................................................................................................... 10
Drought ............................................................................................................................................... 10
Storm................................................................................................................................................... 11
Rising sea levels................................................................................................................................... 12

Figure 1 Climate change................................................................................................................................ 3

Figure 2 Volcanic eruptions .......................................................................................................................... 4
Figure 3 Ocean currents ................................................................................................................................ 5
Figure 4 Earth orbital changes ...................................................................................................................... 6
Figure 5 Solar variations................................................................................................................................ 7
Figure 6 Human Activity ................................................................................................................................ 8
Figure 7 Burning fossil fuels .......................................................................................................................... 8
Figure 8 Deforestation .................................................................................................................................. 9
Figure 9 Agriculture....................................................................................................................................... 9
Figure 10 Drought ....................................................................................................................................... 10
Figure 11 Storm........................................................................................................................................... 11
Figure 12 Rising sea levels........................................................................................................................... 12
 2

Department of pharmacy: Geography

Assignment
 3

What is Climate Change?

Climate change is a long-term change in the average weather patterns that have come to define
Earth’s local, regional and global climates. These changes have a broad range of observed effects
that are synonymous with the term.

Changes observed in Earth’s climate since the early 20th century are primarily driven by human
activities, particularly fossil fuel burning, which increases heat-trapping greenhouse gas levels in
Earth’s atmosphere, raising Earth’s average surface temperature. These human-produced
temperature increases are commonly referred to as global warming. Natural processes can also
contribute to climate change, including internal variability (e.g., cyclical ocean patterns like El
Niño, La Niña and the Pacific Decadal Oscillation) and external forking’s (e.g., volcanic activity,
changes in the Sun’s energy output, variations in Earth’s orbit).

Figure 1 Climate change

 4

What Cause of Climate change?

1. NATURAL CLIMATE CHANGE

The natural variability and the climate fluctuations of the climate system have always been part of the
Earth’s history. To understand climate change fully, the causes of climate change must be first identified.
The earth’s climate is influenced and changed through natural causes like volcanic eruptions, ocean
currents, the Earth’s orbital changes, solar variations and internal variability.

 Volcanic eruptions - The main effect volcanoes have on the climate is short-term cooling. Volcanic
eruptions pump out clouds of dust and ash, which block out some sunlight. Because the ash particles are
relatively heavy, they fall to the ground within about three months, so their cooling effect is very short-
lived. But volcanic debris also includes sulfur dioxide. This gas combines with water vapor and dust in the
atmosphere to form sulfate aerosols,

Figure 2 Volcanic eruptions

Which reflect sunlight away from the Earth’s surface? These aerosols are lighter than ash particles and can remain in
the atmosphere for a year or more. Their cooling effect outweighs the warming caused by volcanic greenhouse gases
– the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 caused a 0.5 °C drop in global temperature. Volcanic eruptions spew out
lava, carbon dioxide (CO2) ash and particles. Although CO2 has a warming effect, average volcanic CO2 emissions
are less than 1% of emissions from current human activities. .Large volumes of gases and ash can influence climatic
patterns for years by increasing planetary reflectivity causing atmospheric cooling.
 5

 Ocean currents - The oceans are a major component of the climate system. Ocean currents are
located at the ocean surface and in deep water below 300 meters (984 feet). They can move water
horizontally and vertically and occur on both local and global scales. The ocean has an
interconnected current, or circulation, system powered by wind, tides, the Earth’s rotation
(Coriolis Effect), the sun (solar energy), and water density differences. The topography and shape
of ocean basins and nearby landmasses also influence ocean currents. Deep ocean currents are
density-driven and differ from surface currents in scale, speed, and energy. Water density is
affected by the temperature, salinity (saltiness), and depth of the water. The colder and saltier the
ocean water, the denser it is.

Figure 3 Ocean currents

The greater the density differences between different layers in the water column, the greater the mixing
and circulation. Density differences in ocean water contribute to a global-scale circulation system, also
called the global conveyor belt The global conveyor belt includes both surface and deep ocean currents
that circulate the globe in a 1,000-year cycle. This circulation is the result of two simultaneous processes:
warm surface currents carrying less dense water away from the Equator toward the poles, and cold deep
ocean currents carrying denser water away from the poles toward the Equator. The ocean’s global
circulation system plays a key role in distributing heat energy, regulating weather and climate, and
cycling vital nutrients and gases.
 6

Earth orbital changes - Shifts and wobbles in the Earth’s orbit can trigger changes in climate such as the
beginning and end of ice ages. The last ice age ended about 12,000 years ago and the next cooling cycle
may begin in about 30,000 years. But orbital changes are so gradual they’re only noticeable over
thousands of years – not decades or centuries. The earth makes one full orbit around the sun each year. It
is tilted at an angle of 23.5° to the perpendicular plane of its orbital path.

Figure 4 Earth orbital changes

Changes in the tilt of the earth can lead to small but climatically important changes in the strength of the
seasons, more tilt means warmer summers and colder winters; less tilt means cooler summers and milder
winters. Slow changes in the Earth’s orbit lead to small but climatically important changes in the strength
of the seasons over tens of thousands of years. Climate feedbacks amplify these small changes, thereby
producing ice ages.
 7

 Solar variations - The Sun is the source of energy for the Earth’s climate system. Although the
Sun’s energy output appears constant from an everyday point of view, small changes over an
extended period of time can lead to warming in the first half of the 20th century was due to an
increase in the output of solar energy. As the sun is the fundamental source of energy that is
instrumental in our climate system it would be reasonable to assume that changes in the sun's
energy output would cause the climate to change. Scientific studies demonstrate that solar
variations have performed a role in past climate changes. For instance a decrease in solar activity
was thought to have triggered the Little Ice Age between approximately 1650 and 1850, when
Greenland was largely cut off by ice from 1410 to the 1720s and glaciers advanced in the Alps.

Figure 5 Solar variations

Current global warming however cannot be explained by solar variations. Since 1750, the average amount
of energy coming from the Sun either remained constant or increased slightly. If global warming was
caused by a more active sun, scientists would expect to see warmer temperatures in all layers of the
atmosphere. They have only observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere, a warming at the surface and in
the lower parts of the atmosphere. This is due to greenhouse gasses capturing heat in the lower
atmosphere. Also climate models that include solar irradiance changes cannot reproduce last century's
observed temperature trend without including a rise in greenhouse gases.
 8

2. Human Activity

Humans cause climate change by releasing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. Today,
there is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than there ever has been in at least the past 800,000 years.
During the 20th and 21st century, the level of carbon dioxide rose by 40%.

Figure 6 Human Activity

We produce greenhouse gases in lots of different ways:

Burning fossil fuels – Fossil fuels such as oil, gas, and coal contain carbon dioxide that has been
'locked away' in the ground for thousands of years. When we take these out of the land and burn them, we
release the stored carbon dioxide into the air.

Figure 7 Burning fossil fuels

 9

Deforestation – Forests remove and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Cutting them down
means that carbon dioxide builds up quicker since there are no trees to absorb it. Not only that, trees
release the carbon they stored when we burn them.

Figure 8 Deforestation

Agriculture – Planting crops and rearing animals releases many different types of greenhouse gases into
the air. For example, animals produce methane, which is 30 times more powerful than carbon dioxide as a
greenhouse gas. The nitrous oxide used for fertilizers is ten times worse and is nearly 300 times more
potent than carbon dioxide!

Figure 9 Agriculture

Cement – Producing cement is another contributor to climate change, causing 2% of our entire carbon
dioxide emissions.
 10

Effect of climate change

More frequent and intense drought, storms, heat waves, rising sea levels, melting glaciers and warming
oceans can directly harm animals, destroy the places they live, and wreak havoc on people's livelihoods
and communities.

Drought: A drought is an event of prolonged shortages in the water supply, whether atmospheric
(below-average precipitation), surface water or ground water. A drought can last for months or years, or
may be declared after as few as 15 days It can have a substantial impact on
the ecosystem and agriculture of the affected region[2] and harm to the local economy.[3] Annual dry
seasons in the tropics significantly increase the chances of a drought developing and subsequent bush
fires. Periods of heat can significantly worsen drought conditions by hastening evaporation of water
vapor. Drought is a recurring feature of the climate in most parts of the world. However, these regular
droughts have become more extreme and more unpredictable due to climate change. In fact studies based
on dendrochronology, or tree rings dating, confirm that drought affected by global warming goes back to
1900.

Figure 10 Drought
 11

Storm is any disturbed state of an environment or in an astronomical body's atmosphere especially

affecting its surface, and strongly implying severe weather. It may be marked by significant disruptions to
normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm),
heavy precipitation (snowstorm, rainstorm), heavy freezing rain (ice storm), strong winds (tropical
cyclone, windstorm), or wind transporting some substance through the atmosphere as in a dust
storm, blizzard, sandstorm, etc. Storms have the potential to harm lives and property via storm surge,
heavy rain or snow causing flooding or road impassibility, lightning, wildfires, and vertical wind shear.
Systems with significant rainfall and duration help alleviate drought in places they move through. Heavy
snowfall can allow special recreational activities to take place which would not be possible otherwise,
such as skiing and snowmobiling.

Figure 11 Storm
 12

Rising sea levels

Tide gauge measurements show that global sea level rise began at the start of the 20th century. Between
1900 and 2017, the globally averaged sea level rose by 16–21 cm (6.3–8.3 in).[1] More precise data
gathered from satellite radar measurements reveal an accelerating rise of 7.5 cm (3.0 in) from 1993 to
2017,[2]:1554 which is a trend of roughly 30 cm (12 in) per century. This acceleration is due mostly
to climate change, which is driving thermal expansion of seawater and the melting of land-based ice
sheets and glaciers.[3] Between 1993 and 2018, thermal expansion of the oceans contributed 42% to sea
level rise; the melting of temperate glaciers, 21%; Greenland, 15%; and Antarctica, 8%.Climate scientists
expect the rate to further accelerate during the 21st century, with the latest measurements saying the sea
levels are currently rising by 3.6 mm per year.

Figure 12 Rising sea levels