UNIT-1

Global Climate Change:

Evidence, Causes and
Consequences
 Climate Change
• Climate is commonly thought of as the expected weather
conditions at a given location over time.
• Climate can be measured at many geographic scales for example,
cities, countries, or the entire globe by such statistics such as
average temperatures, average number of rainy days, and the
frequency of droughts.
• Climate change refers to changes in these statistics over years,
decades, or even centuries.
 Evidence on Climate Change
• The overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that
human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil,
and gas), are responsible for most of the climate change.

• In the case of climate change, scientists have understood for more

than a century that emissions from the burning of fossil fuels
could lead to increases in the Earth’s average surface
temperature.
Increase in Earth Temperature
Different research groups, including the NASA Goddard Institute
for Space Studies, Britain’s Hadley Centre for Climate Change, the
Japan Meteorological Agency, and NOAA’s National Climatic
Data Center have used these raw measurements to produce records
of long-term global surface temperature change.

Analysis shows that Earth’s average surface temperature has

increased by more than 1.4°F (0.8°C) over the past 100 years, with
much of this increase taking place over the past 35 years.
Contd…

Heat waves are becoming more frequent, cold snaps are now
shorter and milder, snow and ice cover are decreasing in the
Northern Hemisphere, glaciers and ice caps around the world are
melting, and many plant and animal species are moving to cooler
latitudes or higher altitudes because it is too warm to stay where
they are. The picture that emerges from all of these data sets is
clear and consistent that Earth is warming.
Increase in the concentration of
greenhouse gases
Humans began digging up long-buried forms of carbon such as
coal and oil and burning them for energy, additional CO2 began to
be released into the atmosphere much more rapidly than in the
natural carbon cycle.
Other human activities, such as cement production and cutting
down and burning of forests (deforestation), also add CO2 to the
atmosphere.
Until the 1950s, many scientists thought the oceans would absorb
most of the excess CO2 released by human activities.
To determine how CO2 concentrations varied prior to such modern
measurements, scientists have studied the composition of air
bubbles trapped in ice cores extracted from Greenland and
Antarctica.
These data show that, for at least 2,000 years before the Industrial
Revolution, atmospheric CO2 concentrations were steady and then
began to rise sharply beginning in the late 1800s .
Today, atmospheric CO2 concentrations exceed 390 parts per
million—nearly 40% higher than preindustrial levels, and,
according to ice core data, higher than at any point in the past
800,000 years
Causes of Climate Change
• Natural Causes:
1. Volcanic Eruption : A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a
planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic
ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
2. Ocean current: It is a seasonal directed movement of sea water
generated by forces acting upon this mean flow, such as wind, the
Coriolis effect, breaking waves, cabbing, temperature and salinity
differences, while tides are caused by the gravitational pull of the
Sun and Moon.
Contd…

Earth Orbital Change: As it travels around the sun, Earth's

orbit fluctuates slightly in cycles of tens of thousands to millions
of years. These cycles change the axis and tilt toward the sun,
which changes the sunlight and climate on Earth
Anthropogenic or Man-made causes

• Greenhouse gases: A greenhouse gas is a gas in an atmosphere that

absorbs and emits radiant energy within the thermal infrared range.
This process is the fundamental cause of the greenhouse effect.
• Deforestation: Deforestation, clearance, or clearing is the removal
of a forest or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to
a non-forest use. Examples of deforestation include conversion of
forestland to farms, ranches, or urban use.
• Coal mining: Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from
the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and, since the
1880s, has been widely used to generate electricity.
Contd…
• Burning of fossil fuels: A fossil fuel is a fuel formed by natural
processes, such as anaerobic decomposition of buried dead organisms,
containing energy originating in ancient photosynthesis. The burning
of fossil fuels produces around 21.3 billion tonnes (21.3 gigatonnes) of
carbon dioxide (CO2) per year.
• Industrial processes: Industrial processes are procedures involving
chemical, physical, electrical or mechanical steps to aid in the
manufacturing of an item or items, usually carried out on a very large
scale.
• Agriculture: Agriculture is the cultivation of land and breeding of
animals and plants to provide food, fiber, medicinal plants and other
products to sustain and enhance life.
Effect of Climate change
• Rise in Sea level: Global sea level has risen by about 8 inches since
reliable record keeping began in 1880. It is projected to rise another
1 to 4 feet by 2100. This is the result of added water from melting
land ice and the expansion of seawater as it warms.

In the next several decades, storm surges and high tides could
combine with sea level rise and land subsidence to further increase
flooding in many regions. Sea level rise will continue past 2100
because the oceans take a very long time to respond to warmer
conditions at the Earth’s surface. Ocean waters will therefore
continue to warm and sea level will continue to rise for many
centuries at rates equal to or higher than those of the current century.
More droughts and heat waves
• Droughts in the Southwest and heat waves (periods of abnormally
hot weather lasting days to weeks) everywhere are projected to
become more intense, and cold waves less intense everywhere.

Summer temperatures are projected to continue rising, and a

reduction of soil moisture, which exacerbates heat waves, is
projected for much of the western and central U.S. in summer. By
the end of this century, what have been once-in-20-year extreme
heat days (one-day events) are projected to occur every two or
three years over most of the nation.
Hurricanes may be stronger and more intense

The intensity, frequency and duration of North Atlantic

hurricanes, as well as the frequency of the strongest (Category 4
and 5) hurricanes, have all increased since the early 1980s. The
relative contributions of human and natural causes to these
increases are still uncertain. Hurricane-associated storm intensity
and rainfall rates are projected to increase as the climate
continues to warm.
 Changes in precipitation patterns

• Average U.S. precipitation has increased since 1900, but some

areas have had increases greater than the national average, and
some areas have had decreases. More winter and spring
precipitation is projected for the northern United States, and less
for the Southwest, over this century.

Projections of future climate over the U.S. suggest that the recent
trend towards increased heavy precipitation events will continue.
This trend is projected to occur even in regions where total
precipitation is expected to decrease, such as the Southwest.
 Ozone Layer
• The ozone layer is a natural layer of gas in the upper atmosphere
which protects humans and other living things from the harmful
ultraviolet (UV) rays of the sun.
• The stratosphere extends from 10 to 50 kms from the Earth’s
surface. This region is concentrated with slightly pungent
smelling, light bluish ozone gas. The ozone gas is made up of
molecules each containing three atoms of oxygen; its chemical
formula is O3. The ozone layer, in the stratosphere acts as an
efficient filter for harmful solar Ultraviolet B (UV-B) rays
Ozone Production and Destruction process
• Ozone is produced and destroyed naturally in the atmosphere and
until recently, this resulted in a well-balanced equilibrium (see
Figure 9.2). Ozone is formed when oxygen molecules absorb
ultraviolet radiation with wavelengths less than 240 nanometres
and is destroyed when it absorbs ultraviolet radiation with
wavelengths greater than 290 nanometres.
Ozone Layer Protection: As an individual
By avoiding products and practices that damage the ozone layer
and by lobbying for more action from government and industries,
you can help to close the hole by the end of this century. While the
vast majority of ODS usage is either industrial or commercial,
individuals can help in the following ways:
•Buy air-conditioning and refrigeration equipment that do not use
HCFCs as refrigerant.
•Buy aerosol products that do not use HCFCs or CFCs as
propellants.
 As an individual
• Conduct regular inspection and maintenance of air-conditioning and
refrigeration appliances to prevent and minimize refrigerant leakage.
• For existing air-conditioning and refrigeration appliances that
operate on HCFCs or CFCs, the refrigerant should be recovered or
recycled whenever an overhaul of equipment is to be carried out.
Replacing or retrofitting such equipment to operate on non-HCFCs
refrigerant should also be considered. 
• When motor vehicle air-conditioners need servicing, make sure that
the refrigerants are properly recovered and recycled instead of being
vented to the atmosphere.
 Adaptation to climate change
• In terms of adaptation measures, there are several actions that help
reducing vulnerability to the consequences of climate change:
• More secure facility locations and infrastructures
• Landscape restoration (natural landscape) and reforestation
• Flexible and diverse cultivation to be prepared for natural
catastrophes
• Research and development on possible catastrophes,
temperature behaviour, etc.
• Preventive and precautionary measures (evacuation plans,
health issues, etc.)