GE1301

Climate Change &

Extreme Weather
Semester A 2023/24
1
 What is climate?
The term “climate” encompasses
weather patterns over a long period.

2
 Weather and Climate
Weather
Atmospheric conditions that we
can actively feel and experience
(e.g., temperature, precipitation,
humidity, wind speed and
direction, etc.). These are always
applicable to a comparatively
short period of time (hours, days
or a few weeks) and to particular
locations or regions.
Climate
The term “climate” refers to the
average weather phenomena in a
selected place, a large region or
across the entire globe over a
period of at least 30 years. Since
it covers a large timescale,
climate is a slow, more stable
system. Changes occur, but at a
slower pace, and the fluctuation
range is likewise considerably
narrower.
3
 Pop quiz!
Answer the closest concept (either “weather” or “climate”)
to the following questions.

1. What type of clothing should I wear today?

2. Will the current tropical cyclones approach Hong Kong tomorrow?
3. Do we expect more tropical cyclones in this summer?
4. How much and what types of crops should I plant?
5. Is it dry enough to harvest my crop tomorrow?
6. Should we open or close our windows today?
7. What materials should I build my house from?
4
Changing weather

5
 Weather and climate scales
Climate change
Climate variability
Weather

hours days months years decades centuries

Rain Wet season/ El Nino/ Southern Pacific Decadal Global warming,
Cyclones
squall Dry season Oscillation (ENSO) Oscillation (PDO) Sea-level rise,
Ocean acidification

6
 Climate variability

Climate change? Climate variability

All variations in the climate that last longer

than individual weather events (seasonal,
annual, inter-annual, several years)

Annual mean temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters (1885-2021).
Data are not available from 1940 to 1946.
7
 Climate change

Long-term trends in climate averages

(decades or longer)

Annual mean temperature recorded at the Hong Kong Observatory Headquarters (1885-
2021). Data are not available from 1940 to 1946.
8
9
 Climate change and climate variability
Examples of climate change Increasing climate variability + climate change

Climate variability Stationary mean but

only – Stationary doubling of amplitude
climate of variability

Climate change – Linear trend and

linear cooling change in variability

Periodic change

Abrupt change and

climate in variability
Abrupt change

10
Past climate change

11
 Causes of the climate change:
Orbital forcing (Milankovitch Cycles)
Precession (Wobble, Eccentricity (Orbit,
26,000-year cycle) 100,000-year cycle)

Obliquity (Tilt,
41,000-year cycles)
12
 Examples of the natural variability:
Volcanic eruptions

Mayon volcano spews ash anew during its mild eruption as seen in Legazpi city, Albay
province, southeast of Manila, Philippines Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2018. (AP Photo/Bullit
Marquez)
Global surface temperatures since 1940 compared to the 1981-2010 average (dotted line).
Three tropical volcanoes had climate-cooling eruptions in the second half of the twentieth
century: Indonesia's Mt. Agung in 1963, Mexico's El Chichón in 1982, and the Philippines' Mt.
Pinatubo in 1991. NOAA Climate.gov graph, based on data from NCEI.

13
 Key points
• It is important to distinguish between climate variability and climate
change. Climate variability refers to the (often) natural fluctuations in
climate system, while climate change refers to long-term shifts in
average climatic conditions.
• No single weather event (e.g., early autumn blizzard, December heat
wave, landfalling hurricane) is a sing of climate change, but a higher
frequency of certain events or trend toward higher intensity events may
be.
• There are natural drivers to climate change, but they typically occur
over 1000 to 100,000 of years. Faster changes, like those that occur with
volcanic eruptions, usually last only a few years and are part of climate
variability, not climate change.
14
 Open discussion

Describe climate conditions in your home country.

15
 Thinking about climatic zones
St Petersburg

Graz Crimea

Wladimir Köppen
(1846-1940)
16
 St Petersburg
Hey, boy, is it true that the sun
doesn’t appear in St. Petersburg?

I don’t know, I’m just only

six-year-old.

Crimea

17
 Continental

Temperate
Arid

Tropical

Polar
1818
 Climate classification
Wet region Hot region
First category
A. Tropical
B. Arid
C. Temperate Dry region Cold region
D. Continental
E. Polar

19
 Find your home’s climate classification
First category Two subcategories
2nd category 3rd category
f (Rainforest)
A (Tropical) m (Monsoon)
w (Savanna, dry winter)
s (Savanna, dry summer)
B (Arid)
W (Desert) h (Hot)
C (Temperate) S (Steppe) k (Cold) Ex)
w (Dry winter) a (Hot summer) Crimea: Cfb
D (Continental) f (No dry season) b (Warm summer) St. Petersburg: Dfb
S (dry summer) c (Cold summer)
E (Polar) w (Dry winter) a (Dry winter)
f (No dry season) b (No dry season)
S (dry summer) c (dry summer)
T (Tundra) D (Very cold winter)
F (External frost (ice cap))
20
 Global climate patterns
Köppen climate classification (1900)
Oslo (Dfb)

Bejing (Dwa)
London (Cfb)
Cairo (Bwh)

Hong Kong (Cwa)

Singapore (Af)

More information can be found at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K%C3%B6ppen_climate_classification 21

Annual cycle of the precipitation rate

Peeravit Koad & Krisanadej Jaroensutasinee (2021)

22
 Then what determines regional climate?

The amount of sunlight it receives,

Its height above sea level,
The shape of the land (e.g., mountains),
How close it is to oceans,
How land is covered (e.g., by vegetation, ice)
Moving patterns in the Earth’s atmospheric and oceanic circulations,
etc.

23
 Components of the Earth system

Geosphere Biosphere Hydrosphere

(=Lithosphere)

Cryosphere Atmosphere
24
Earth System Thinking

“When we try to pick out anything

by itself, we find it hitched to
everything else in the universe.”
- John Muir

25
Geosphere

26
 Geosphere
• The Geosphere(=Lithosphere) is
composed of the solid Earth, i.e. the
Geosphere crust and the upper mantle.
[lithos is a Greek word meaning rocky/stone]

• It is the part of the earth’s surface

that can interact with other parts of
the earth system.

• Tectonic plates, which are

responsible for earthquakes and
continental drift, are found within the
lithosphere.

27
Tectonic processes

• Part of Plate Tectonic theory

• Alter the geography of Earth’s surface
- changes in distribution of land and sea
- changes in surface topography
- formation of mountain ranges
- erosion of the land surface
• Slow processes
- occur on a scale of millions of years

28
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaUk94AdXPA

29
Interaction between geosphere and other spheres
Tectonic plates (million of years)

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en

Changes to atmospheric circulation Changes to oceanic circulation

through formation of mountain ranges through creation of ocean basins

30
 Current Tectonic plates Map of Earth's 16
principal tectonic plates

Divergent:
Spreading center
Extension zone

Convergent:
Subduction zone
Collision zone

Transform:
Dextral transform
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plate_tectonics Sinistral transform
31
Massive Turkey-Syria Earthquakes (Feb 2023)

32
Massive Turkey-Syria Earthquakes (Feb 2023)
Dramatic pictures show ruptures in fields and buildings along
fault lines

Transform

https://www.thenationalnews.com

https://abcnews.go.com/
33
 Interaction between geosphere and other spheres
Volcanic eruption

- Injection of gases into the atmosphere through volcanic eruption (short time scale).
- During the major explosive eruptions, huge amounts of volcanic gas, aerosol droplets,
and ash are injected into the troposphere and even into the stratosphere.
- The aerosols increase the reflection of radiation from the Sun back into space, cooling
the Earth's lower atmosphere or troposphere.
34
 Interaction between geosphere and other spheres
Atmospheric aerosols

• The crust or land surface interacts directly with

the atmosphere (e.g. dust, pollens).
• More than 50% of the global atmosphere
aerosols come from mineral aerosols in deserts
and their surrounding areas.
35
Cryosphere

36
 Cryosphere

The cryosphere refers to the regions on Earth where water freezes into snow
or ice. The term comes from the Greek word for icy cold—krios. Features of
the cryosphere include ice sheets, ice shelves, icebergs, glaciers, snow
cover, permafrost (frozen ground), sea ice, and river and lake ice.
37
 Pop quiz!

Q. Which type of ice melting

contributes more to sea-level rise?

38
 Glaciers

1.Glaciers are frozen rivers of ice, slowly flowing due to gravity.

2.Glaciers cover about 10 percent of the world's land.
3.Glaciers store about 69 percent of the world's fresh water.
Alpine Glaciers 39
 Glacier mass balance
Equilibrium line altitude
Accumulation Zone
(by snow, hail, and rain)

Equilibrium line
(accumulation=ablation)

Ablation Zone
(by surface melt,
runoff, sublimation,
wind-blown snow)
Mass balance is simply the gain and loss of ice from the glacier system.
- Gain < Loss : recede
- Gain > Loss : advance
- Gain = Loss : in equilibrium
40
 Mass balance through time
Net mass balance (IPCC AR4)

Unnamed Glacier, Ulu Peninsula, James Ross Island. The

accumulation zone for this glacier extends from the plateau
downwards.
The vast majority of glaciers are receding, with the rate of
recession accelerating since the 1980s.
41
 Glaciers in retreat
Before

1932 1938 1865

After

1988 2016 2019

Photographs: Courtesy of USGS 42

 Ice sheet
1. An ice sheet is a type of glacier, defined as a mass
of glacial land that extends more than 50,000 square
kilometers (19,300 square miles) across a land.

2. There are only two ice sheets on Earth today:

Antarctic ice sheet Greenland and Antarctica.

3. Together, the Antarctic and Greenland Ice Sheets

contain more than 99 percent of ice mass on Earth.

Greenland ice sheet

43
 Ice cores: frozen time capsules

• Glaciers form as layers of snow accumulate on top of each other. Ice cores are cylinders
of ice drilled from ice sheets and glaciers.
• The oldest continuous ice core records to date extend 123,000 years in Greenland and
800,000 years in Antarctica.
44
Sea Ice

• Sea ice is frozen seawater that

floats on the ocean surface.
• About 15% of the ocean surface is
covered by sea ice.
• Sea ice reflects between 50 and 70
percent of the sun’s rays hitting its
surface.
• Sea ice exist both in Arctic and
Antarctic.

45
Arctic vs. Antarctic sea ice
Arctic
- Semi-closed ocean surrounded by land.
- Arctic sea ice can survive longer and
remains through the summer.

Antarctic
- A land surrounded by ocean.
- Sea ice move more freely and drift with
high speed.
- During the summer, only a few sea ice
remain.

46
Arctic and Antarctic sea ice melting

Credit: National
Snow and Ice
Data Center
47
Interaction between Cryosphere and other spheres
Sea ice melting and ocean circulation

• The snow and ice will reflect

the sun’s energy back into
space. Therefore, it controls

ct
ab the energy budget of the earth.
f le
so re
rb
• Sea ice melting will inject fresh
water into the ocean, changing
the salinity (saltiness), and
hence, density, of the sea
water, which can subsequently
modify the ocean circulation.

48
Coca Cola CF (2005) was wrong!

Credit: Coca Cola

49
Ice sheet
Icebergs

Ice shelf Sea ice

50
 Permafrost

Permafrost melting in the arctic region of Svalbard, Norway. Massive blue ground ice exposure on the north shore of Herschel Island,
Yukon, Canada

- Permafrost is a permanently frozen layer on or under Earth's surface.

- Permafrost is made of a combination of soil, rocks and sand that are held together by ice.
- Permafrost usually remains at or below 0°C for at least two years.
51
Permafrost
- About a quarter of entire
northern hemisphere is
permafrost including Arctic,
Siberia, Canada, Tibetan plateau,
and Rocky mountains.

- Permafrost contains large

amounts of biomass and
decomposed biomass that has
been stored as methane (CH4)
and carbon dioxide (CO2),
making tundra soil a carbon sink.

52
Ernakovich et al. (2022)
53
Global warming and Permafrost Thawing

54
 Permafrost and methane emissions
• When permafrost thaws as a
consequence of warming, large
amounts of organic material can
become available for
methanogenesis and may
ultimately be released as
methane.

Some lakes can "burp" methane naturally. Here, scientists light it on

fire as a way of testing how much of the gas was trapped during the
fall freeze.
PHOTOGRAPH BY MARK THIESSEN, NAT GEO IMAGE COLLECTION
55
Interaction between Cryosphere and other spheres
Permafrost, atmosphere, ocean, and society

1. Atmosphere
- Greenhouse gas release

2. Marine ecosystem
- Increased nutrient supply
- Ocean acidification
- High turbidity and decreased
light transmission

3. Social-economic impact
- Infrastructure damage
- Coastal community relocation
Credit: Michael Fritz 56
 Ice shelves & icebergs Ice cap

- Icebergs carry sediments and dust into the ocean, - Ice caps are miniature ice sheets. An ice
which offer nutrients for algae and plankton cap is a type of glacier, covering less than
growth. 50,000 square kilometers.
- These plankton blooms provide food for krill, - Like ice sheets, ice caps tend to spread out
small shrimplike creatures eaten by larger in dome-like shapes
animals like penguins, seals, whales, and - Ice caps form primarily in the high-altitude
seabirds. polar and subpolar mountain regions.
57
 Pop quiz!

Q. Which type of ice melting contributes more to sea-level rise?

A. Glaciers and ice sheets are the largest contributors
to sea-level rise.

- Greenland ice sheet melting ~ 7.4

meters rise
- All glaciers ~ 60 meters rise
- Sea ice does not raise sea level when
it melts because it is already floating in
ocean water.)
58
Biosphere

59
 Biosphere

• The narrow definition of the biosphere is

that it consists of all living organisms
(humans, flora [plants], fauna [animals], and
insects).

• A broader definition is that it is composed of

all ecosystems. Since life exists on the
ground, in the air, and in the water,
the biosphere overlaps all these spheres.

• No biospheres have been detected beyond

the Earth.

60
 Global photosynthetic organism
Photosynthesis

global oceanic and terrestrial photoautotroph abundance (NASA)

Carbon dioxide + Water
→Carbohydrates (Glucose) + Oxygen
• Photosynthesis is a process used by plants and other organisms to convert light
energy into chemical energy. Some of the chemical energy is stored in carbohydrate
molecules which are synthesized from carbon dioxide and water.
• Plants absorb about 30% of the carbon dioxide emitted by humans each year.
61
 Temperature and growth of plants
Response Curves of Plants to Temperature

• Growth of the plants is affected primarily

by four factors: light, water, temperature,
and nutrients.
• From the base point temperature to the
optimum temperature, the growth rate is
linearly increasing with temperature. But
activity decreases beyond the optimum
temperature.

62
 Temperature and growth of plants

The growth rate varies between plants species and during the growth process.
63
 Evapotranspiration
- Evapotranspiration (ET) is the total water
loss from a land surface to the atmosphere.
- evaporation (movement of water to the air
directly from soil, canopies, and water
bodies)
- transpiration (movement of water from the
soil, through roots and bodies of
vegetation, on leaves and then into the air).

- Evapotranspiration is an important part of the

local water cycle and climate.

64
 Biosphere-Atmosphere interaction
Atmosphere
Temperature, moisture, rainfall, humidity, sunshine, soil moisture
Breathing,
human activities
O2

photosynthesis evapotranspiration

Biosphere

Biosphere-Atmosphere Interactions focuses on the sources and sinks of greenhouse gases

(GHGs), air pollutants, particulate matter, water, and energy between the Earth’s surface
and the atmosphere. 65
Global Land Cover
wetlands

cropland

Shrub land,
grassland, savanna

Tropical rainforests

66
Characteristics of Tropical rainforests
• Tropical rainforests contains up to 40% of
global terrestrial biomass carbon (C).
• They account for at least one-third of annual
biosphere-atmosphere carbon dioxide (CO2)
exchange and global soil organic C storage.
• Rainforests are home to half of all the living
animal and plant species on the planet.
• Forests will provide shading from sunlight so
that evaporation of water from the soil is
reduced but evaporation from leaves still occur
(evapotranspiration).

67
 Poor nutrients in tropical rainforest

• The high temperature and moisture of tropical

rainforests cause dead organic matter in the
soil to decompose more quickly than in other
climates, thus releasing and losing its nutrients
rapidly.
• However, nutrient levels in the soil are low
due to the (1) washing away of nutrients by
the heavy rainfall and (2) rapid absorption by
vegetations.
Buttress root of a tropical tree.

68
 Subtropical grasslands,
savannas, and shrublands
• Tropical grasslands are open regions that are dominated
by grass and have a warm, dry climate.
• Savannas are found closer to the equator and have a few
scattered trees. They cover almost half of the African
continent.
• Shrublands are dominated by woody or herbaceous
shrubs.
• Because grasslands have relatively sparser and lower-
stature vegetation and lack of, grasslands don’t have
efficient photosynthesis and evapotranspiration water
than forests.
 Biosphere-Atmosphere interaction
Wildfires

- Wildfires are started by lightning or accidentally by people.

- Fires can generate large amounts of smoke pollution, release greenhouse gases.
- Fires can also clear away dead and dying underbrush, which can help restore an
ecosystem to good health
70
 Characteristics of Wetlands
• A wetland is a place in which the land is covered by water (both fresh and saltwater)
• Wetlands are good habitats for insects, birds and animals
• Photosynthesis process not as efficient because the grass is not broad-leaved
• Good place to provide water to the atmosphere through evaporation
 Characteristics of Deserts
• No photosynthesis – no plant.
• Absorbs a large amount of sunlight
during the day so that the temperature
is very high, but can cool significantly at
night due to radiation cooling
– thus, a large diurnal temperature
range.
• Strong reflector of sunlight (high
albedo) from the sand.
• No evaporation due to the lack of water.
 Snow/ice/glaciers
• Strong reflector of sunlight (high albedo)
• Land receives very little heat, and
therefore air is always cold
• Not much evaporation because sunlight is
reflected; evaporation occurs after
melting has commenced in the fringes of
the snow/ice/glacier cover
• Provides a good storage of water for use
when the snow/ice/glacier melts
• Preservation of dead plants and animals
Key points
• Biosphere can act as both a source and sink greenhouse gases
(GHGs), air pollutants, particulate matter, and water to the
atmosphere.
• Evapotranspiration is an important part of the local water
cycle and climate. Depends on the land cover, the
evapotranspiration differs distinctly.

74