HICC - What is Climate Change? Lesson
What is Climate Change?
Is it Climate Change?
Weather and climate are often confused with one another even though they refer to events that are very different in time and scale. Changes in weather refers to atmospheric conditions that occur locally over short days, hours, or minutes. The weather can change in the ‘blink of an eye.’ Examples include rain, snow, floods, clouds.
A change in climate refers to a broad range of events that have lasting effects globally and for long periods of time – months, years, decades. Examples of climate change include ice caps melting, increased sea levels, shifts in flower/blooming, and extreme weather events.
Historically Speaking
Climate has changed throughout Earth’s history. Much of the time Earth's climate was hotter and more humid than it is today, but climate has also been colder, such as when glaciers covered much more of the planet.
Take a look at the history of climate change in the presentation below:
Heavy Precipitation
Most individuals think that the only climate change the Earth is experiencing is rising temperatures. But with rising temperatures comes extreme weather events. Warmer air can contain more water vapor than cooler air. Global analyses show that the amount of water vapor in the atmosphere has in fact increased due to human-caused warming. This extra moisture is available to storm systems, resulting in heavier rainfalls.
Below the image shows the increase in heavy precipitation found in the United States.
Trending
When looking at temperature trends there are period of short-term and long-term climate change.
Looking at the graph shows temperature changes over the last 40 years.
This graph shows that there are very short periods (red trend line) with little rise in temperatures. The most recent period from 1998-2012 is the most recent example of a short-term trend. The differences between short-term and long-term trends are associated with the modes of variability within modes of natural variability such as El Niño and La Niña that redistribute heat between the ocean and atmosphere. (Data from NOAA NCDC).
This animation below shows the history of temperature changes in the world from 1850 to 2018. Each frame is a 12-month average and shows the difference of the temperature observed and the average climate from 1951-1980. Long term global warming can be see seen, but also short term fluctuations associated with weather patterns brought on by natural causes such as like El Nino and La Nina.
What is Climate Change? Challenge
Before You Go, You Need To Know
The following key points are from this explore section of the lesson. You must know the following information before moving to the next lesson. This is just a summary of the key points.
- Global Climate change is a natural process that the Earth has been undergoing for years.
- Climate change in the last 100 years has increase.
- Climate change not only involves changes in temperature, but precipitation, water levels, etc.
IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS OR OPEN SOURCE