Introduction: Earth’s Climate, Ecosystems and Human Society CLIM 101 // Fall 2012 George Mason University 28 Aug 2012

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Example of a Climate Display

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 A Tutorial on Graphical Display of Quantitative Information

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Colors correspond to elevation (2010) World Topographic Map latitude lines (parallels) longitude lines

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Longitude lines Latitude lines (“parallels”) Polar Stereographic Projection

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Colors correspond to political boundaries (April 2006) World Political Map

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 World Political Map (SH View)

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012

° Locating Fairfax, VA 77° 18’ W 38° 51’ N

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Beijing Washington, DC Distances Between Points km

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Beijing Washington, DC Distances Between Points km Great circle (shortest)

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Graphical Display of Quantitative Information (ex. – shaded contours) Can immediately see relationships between various locations

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Our Place in the Universe: You Are Here Artist’s conception - Not to scale, orbits are invisible, planetary alignment almost never happens American Museum of Natural History Digital Universe Project: You are here

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Our Place in the Universe: Habitable Earth U.K. Meteorological Office: Weather and Climate =bjwmrg__ZVw

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Our Place in the Universe: Humans on Earth National Geographic Special Issue: 7,000,000,000 People on Earth: r/the-magazine/7-billion/ IndiaAfricaUSA Run movie

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Weather, Climate and Global Society General Principles

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Ecosystems Weather Climate Humans Organizing Schema

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 What is an Ecosystem? A system of living organisms, consisting of all plants, animals and micro-organisms (biotic factors) in an area interacting with each other and their physical environment. The boundaries of what could be called an ecosystem are somewhat arbitrary, depending on the focus of study, ranging from the very small scale to the entire planet Earth. Examples: –Coral reef –River catchment –Rain forest –Estuary –Desert –Yellowstone National Park

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Global Well-Being sustainability, security and the future of civilization The Global Challenge Inequality and Extreme Poverty Human Population Growth Environmental Degradation Courtesy J. Shukla

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 What is Weather? What is Climate? What is Weather? What is Climate? Weather is what you get, climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get, climate is what you expect. E. N. Lorenz Weather = Expected Weather + Unexpected Weather Climate

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Questions What is “expected” weather? Why do we expect one type of weather in one place & different weather elsewhere? –E.g. why does it get cold at night? What determines how cold? –E.g. why is Guam warmer on average compared to Fairbanks? What is “unexpected” weather? –Why can’t we predict the weather forever? (like the tides or the movement of planets) –How accurate is the weather forecast? –What about the Farmer’s Almanac? –Is the average departure from normal predictable? –What about global warming?

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall Aug 2012 // 7:55 pm EDT

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012

Temperature for September 2009 to August 2010 “Normal” means smoothed 30-year average ( ) for a given date 90°F 77°F – daily average for 8/28

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Fairbanks Guam Washington, DC Oklahoma City

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Temperature for September 2010 to August 2011

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Temperature for September 2010 to August 2011 GUAM 14F 77F 86F 95F

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Local Climate: Features and Factors Features –Average temperature –Temperature range –Total rainfall –Sunshine/cloudiness –Variability (month to month, year to year) –… Factors –Location, location, location Latitude Altitude Proximity to ocean Proximity to mountains –Vegetation

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Whence the Seasons?

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall Energy from the Sun (energy from the interior) 2.Planetary Albedo 3.Speed of Planet’s Rotation 4.Mass of the Planet 5.Radius of the Planet 6.Atmospheric Composition 7.Ocean-Land, Topography S (depends on Sun itself and distance from Sun)   M a H 2 O, CO 2, O 3, clouds h* The Climate of a Planet Depends On …

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012

1.Energy from the Sun (energy from the interior) 2.Planetary Albedo 3.Speed of Planet’s Rotation 4.Mass of the Planet 5.Radius of the Planet 6.Atmospheric Composition 7.Ocean-Land, Topography S (depends on Sun itself and distance from Sun)   M a H 2 O, CO 2, O 3, clouds h* The Climate of a Planet Depends On … Albedo and Composition vary from place to place and time to time in response to changes in the weather, climate, ecosystems and human activities 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 cannot be influenced appreciably by weather, climate or life

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Ecosystems Weather Climate Humans Organizing Schema

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Summary (points we’ll take up later) Global well-being for humans and the rest of Earth’s organisms is challenged by environmental degradation, extreme poverty and human population growth Weather and climate are related but different Climate depends on several factors, some of which can be influenced by human activities Climate, humans and ecosystems interact and influence each other

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 Reading Rough Guide –pp 3-19 Atlas of Climate Change –pp 9-13 –pp 17

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 REMINDER Last Day to Add a Class Or Drop a Class w/o Penalty: 4 September 2012

CLIM 101 // Global Warming, Weather, Climate and Society // Fall 2012 What is a Greenhouse Gas? Global Warming Buildup of Greenhouse Gases Greenhouse Effect Natural Sources Anthropogenic Sources 20th Century Climate Change 21st Century Climate Projections Paleoclimate Natural Climate Variability Monitoring climate change Climate Models Sensitivity Tipping Points Feedbacks Hurricanes Sea level Snow Pack, Glaciers, Water Supply Drought, Heat Waves, Fires Climate Impacts Ecosystems Ocean Acidification Extreme Events Climate vs. Weather Fossil fuel reserves Carbon Cycle Oil, Coal, Tar sands, Natural Gas, Methane hydrates Adaptation Costs Increasing resilience Vulnerability Migration Changing Practices Costs Mitigation Societal Choices Business as usual Energy Efficiency Carbon Sequestering Alternative Energy Sources Geoengineering Conservation Consumption Biofuels, Wind, Solar Photovoltaic, Nuclear Fission, Geothermal, Tidal Nuclear Fusion indirect aerosol effect stratospheric aerosols mirrors in space Personal choices Production Courtesy of Prof. M. Wallace, U. Washington