Too Much Gas & A Changing Climate.

maisielkirkland
Mar 2, 2021
2 min read

Updated: Mar 3, 2021

One of my final year modules, Life in a Changing Climate, kicked off by exploring the principle of the ‘physical basis of climate change’; focusing primarily on the key ‘systems’ that contribute to the Earth's climate, how they are shifting and ultimately, the mechanisms behind how they are changing.

Climate VS Weather

Ever planned a BBQ without checking the weather? Didn’t think so!

Weather forecasts are short term predictions for localised weather that are used on a daily or weekly basis for planning within a shorter time frame. We all rely on it. However, climate refers to the average weather over a series of time for different regions, E.g each month for a year, taking into account humidity, temperature, precipitation and other factors.

Therefore, What is Climate Change?

If we refer to the broader definition of climate change, one that considers changes caused by both natural variability and human activity, it is…

“A change in the state of the climate that can be identified by changes in the mean/and or variability of it's properties, and that persists for an extended period.”- Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)

Drivers of Change…

Image: Diagram of the main drivers of climate change.

Now don't be intimidated by this busy Image - I’ll break it down…

3 ways to change the climate are as follows:

Changing the amount of incoming solar radiation (this is driven by changes in the Earth's orbit = Natural driver)
Changing the fraction of reflected solar radiation (E.g snow reflects solar radiation and black tarmac will absorb it)
Changing the (long wave) radiation from Earth to Space (E.g Changing concentration of Greenhouse gases = Anthropogenic driver)

The three most important greenhouse gases to consider when referring to climate change are carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide; produced from burning fossil fuels or agriculture and/or soil management respectively.

Greenhouse gases alter the composition of the Earth's atmosphere, making it more difficult for radiation to get in and out and therefore, heat is trapped within the atmospheric layer - creating a warming effect.

This effect is catalysed by the alarming rate at which emissions of these gases are increasing;

Since 2000 emissions have increased by 2.2% each year.

A Famous graph called the 'Keeling Curve' (see below) represents the increasing carbon dioxide levels sampled at the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii. Hawaii is a great sampling location in which to take a global average as the air is mixed over the ocean and it is not impacted by local effects, such as cities.

A clear, steep pattern of increase can be observed. Ever-increasingly worrying findings.

After Thoughts

For me, this was a key module that I wanted to study. I feel that awareness of the significant impacts of human triggered gas emissions is vital and brings together a lot of my key interests within Zoology. Climate change, conservation and anthropogenic change all interlink and this is the reason I want to explore all further as I feel like they all could be a part of my future career.