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WEATHER

The atmosphere at one given time
Highly variable over short timescales
Chaotic behavior=difficult to predict

CLIMATE

“Average weather” (typically over 30 years)
Includes temperature, precipitation, and wind

Weather vs. Climate

https://www.scientificamerican.com/video/instant-egghead-is-extreme-weathe2012-09-11/

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https://www.ucsusa.org/global-warming/science-and-impacts/impacts/extreme-weather-climate-change.html#.WqFaDejwZaQ

Extreme Weather with Climate Change

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What’s the evidence?

What evidence have scientists gathered to support the change of climate?
What is an example of anthropogenic climate change? How is it different to normal climate change?
What is the difference between the “basic/natural” climate change and anthropogenic climate change? a. Are the causes the same for both?
How exactly did the earth have ice age eras if we are in the habitable zone where we are not too cold and not too ho
What is the difference between weather and climate?
How we’re measuring climate change, in terms of how can we recognize the exact impact human activities have compared to the estimated graphics for if we weren’t performing said activities
What is the difference between climate change and a change in weather?
How do we know that humans are the ones causing climate change
I know the main causes of climate change, and what major results are affected because of climate change
I want to know the most significant contributor to climate change as of right now.
What is the biggest factor that contributes to anthropogenic climate change
I am interested in the political discourse surrounding the topic. I’m curious about the most common arguments and pieces of evidence that exist for the climate denialist point of view, and the counter arguments/evidence that one can use to refute such talking points
What are the leading causes of anthropogenic climate change and what alternatives are there to solving it?
At what point in time did anthropogenic climate change start becoming really harmful?

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Earth’s temperature through time

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Vostock trapped CO₂ vs.

Modern Air values of CO₂

https://www.co2.earth/

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Anthropogenic vs. Natural

This has led to atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide that are unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years. Their effects, together with those of other anthropogenic drivers, have been detected throughout the climate system and are extremely likely to have been the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century

Anthropogenic greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions since the pre-industrial era have driven large increases in the atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O) (Figure SPM.1c). Between 1750 and 2011, cumulative anthropogenic CO2 emissions to the atmosphere were 2040 ± 310 GtCO2. About 40% of these emissions have remained in the atmosphere (880 ± 35 GtCO2); the rest was removed from the atmosphere and stored on land (in plants and soils) and in the ocean. The ocean has absorbed about 30% of the emitted anthropogenic CO2, causing ocean acidification. About half of the anthropogenic CO2 emissions between 1750 and 2011 have occurred in the last 40 years (high confidence) (Figure SPM.1d). {1.2.1, 1.2.2}

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What’s the evidence?

By the 1960s, climate started warming

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CO₂ measurements for decades

https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/

March 2018

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CO₂ measurements for decades

419.68 ppm

https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/

October 2023

424 ppm

May 2024

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CO₂ measurements for decades

424 ppm

https://gml.noaa.gov/ccgg/trends/

May 2023

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Earth is Breathing Carbon

<div style="width:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56%;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/s2oYdTUkKSPFm" width="100%" height="100%" style="position:absolute" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/earth-breathing-s2oYdTUkKSPFm">via GIPHY</a></p>

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Earth is Breathing Carbon

(Graph by Marit Jentoft-Nilsen and Robert Simmon, using data from the NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory. Maps by Robert Simmon and Reto Stöckli, using MODIS data

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Ocean Acidification

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Greenhouse Gas Wavelength Absorption

http://www.ces.fau.edu/nasa/module-2/how-greenhouse-effect-works.php

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Greenhouse Gas Wavelength�Absorption

https://www.biointeractive.org/classroom-resources/greenhouse-effect

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CO₂ emissions over the last 150 years

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CO_2, Methane, and Nitrous Oxide

Measurements in last 250 years

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CO₂ emission sources

Agriculture, Forestry, and other land use

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Irradiance

Solar energy output

Since 1750 Sun’s energy has been ~constant

Global warming observed in lower atmosphere, not the upper atmosphere

Solar irradiance based climate models can’t reproduce temperature trends

Proxies for solar energy can not account for more than 10% of 20^th century warming

Solar irradiance

It's reasonable to assume that changes in the sun's energy output would cause the climate to change, since the sun is the fundamental source of energy that drives our climate system.

Indeed, studies show that solar variability has played a role in past climate changes. For example, a decrease in solar activity is thought to have triggered the Little Ice Age between approximately 1650 and 1850, when Greenland was largely cut off by ice from 1410 to the 1720s and glaciers advanced in the Alps.

But several lines of evidence show that current global warming cannot be explained by changes in energy from the sun:

Since 1750, the average amount of energy coming from the sun either remained constant or increased slightly.

If the warming were caused by a more active sun, then scientists would expect to see warmer temperatures in all layers of the atmosphere. Instead, they have observed a cooling in the upper atmosphere, and a warming at the surface and in the lower parts of the atmosphere. That's because greenhouse gases are trapping heat in the lower atmosphere.

Climate models that include solar irradiance changes can’t reproduce the observed temperature trend over the past century or more without including a rise in greenhouse gases.

�

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What is the evidence?

It’s not solar cycles

https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/

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What is the evidence?

It’s not volcanoes

Scientists estimate that Pinatubo’s eruption released about 50 million tons of CO2 into the atmosphere in 9 hours. To match human emissions over a year, the planet would have to experience a volcanic eruption like Mt. Pinatubo’s every 12.5 hours!

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Volcanic Eruptions�Sulfate Aerosols

Graph by Robert Simmon, based on aerosol data from GISS and temperature data from the UAE CRU.)

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Why does climate change matter to me?

How does climate change affect my everyday life and health?
Climate change seems like it’s happening in other parts of the world, why does it feel worse compared to the US?
Is it a threat? If so, what is it a threat to and what are its effects?
How will climate change affect food sources in the future?
What could happen if climate change continues on?
How does climate change affect our health
what diseases do you think we might develop if nothing is done about climate change
I would like to know more about how it will affect the way we live in the future.And will it ever become unlivable for humans again?
If climate change continues to get worse will people, animals, or the environment be impacted first?
what are some potential effects that don’t get talked about often/effects we are just starting to see?
How does climate change affect one's health?
Is the anthropogenic climate change one of the reasons of extinction?
How will climate change effect the next generation
I want to know how humans can adapt and survive climate change, and the extent of damage climate change will cause
How does anthropogenic climate change varies across the world in different countries?

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https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/global-climate-202308

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Why 1.5 vs 2 matters

https://climate.nasa.gov/news/2878/a-degree-of-concern-why-global-temperatures-matter/

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Why isn’t the land always getting hotter?

The oceans are absorbing heat and CO₂

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Modern Temperature Anomalies

https://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/maps/

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Why are some places getting colder?

Possibly because the Arctic is warming faster!!

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Why isn’t California always getting hotter?

The Arctic is warming faster!

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Sea level rise

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Sea level rise

“Burn it all” 60m sea level rise

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http://flood.firetree.net/

Sea level rise

“Burn it all” 60m sea level rise

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Climate change impacts weather

Severe Precipitation and Drought

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National Climate Assessment 2014

THE HEAVIEST 1% OF STORMS ARE DELIVERING INCREASING AMOUNTS OF PRECIPITATION

Climate change impacts weather

Severe Precipitation: 1958 to 2012

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Pollution and Climate Change

With the amount of waste in landfills currently and the process of incineration, how long do you think it would take for the amount of CO2 and other gasses being released to harm the Earth drastically?

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Aerosols

Burning fossil fuels releases physical particles

Micrographs courtesy USGS, UMBC (Chere Petty), and Arizona State University (Peter Buseck).]

Volcanic Ash

Pollen

Sea Salt

Soot

https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Aerosols

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Global Distribution of Aerosols�Red= fine, yellow = coarse

NASA map by Robert Simmon, based on MODIS data from NASA Earth Observations.)

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Black Carbon�Warming and Cooling

Maps adapted from Chung, 2005.)

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https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/news/fossil-fuel-air-pollution-responsible-for-1-in-5-deaths-worldwide/

Aerosols

Inhaling physical particles is extremely harmful

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https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/household-air-pollution-and-health

Aerosols

Inhaling physical particles is extremely harmful

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https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.estlett.0c00424

Aerosols

Inhaling physical particles is extremely harmful

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Is there still hope?

Has this climate change gotten to a point where there's nothing left to do or is there still a chance at saving it
How serious pollution really is and how much is fixable
can humans shift themselves from reducing human caused climate change? Will it be difficult? Will it be easy? And why?
Is it too late to reverse climate change through being more sustainable?
How are different countries trying to fight against global warming?
how our carbon footprint has increased over time and why despite our huge push for developing cleaner energy and finding alternatives to fossil fuel, our global warming has stayed the same or worsened over time.
Is there any way to reverse the damage already done to the climate?
How long do we have to slow down our inevitable climate doom?
Is there any way to reverse the damage already done to the climate?
When will it be too late to save us from the devastating possible future of climate change?
What would be the most effective solution to slowing and stopping anthropogenic climate change?
would like to know how climate change can be mitigated. There is a lot of talk about how the climate is too far gone and that we are not doing enough, but I want to know if the climate situation can still be improved. And if yes then how so?
Are we past the point of irreversible damage for the environment? What solutions for some effects of climate change have been studied/researched? How has the Earth changed with these long term effects of climate change
Would there be a point in time where it would be too late to reverse the effects of anthropogenic climate change?
I want to know what the lead causes of anthropogenic climate change and if climate change is inevitable to get worse
The biggest thing I’d love to know about anthropogenic climate change is mainly how our future may look given our present course. With the burning of fossil fuels, species extinction and habitat destruction; just what can we hypothesize about how our future may turn out?

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Is there hope?

CO₂ emissions have been decreasing (slowly)

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Is there hope?

We’re just starting to use more renewables than coal!

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Is there hope?

We know what to do, we just need to do it

https://earthathome.org/de/climate-change-mitigation/mitigation-strategies

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Is there hope?

There is no perfect solution, but some are better than others

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Is there hope?

The Inflation Reduction Act

https://www.energy.gov/lpo/inflation-reduction-act-2022

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Is there hope?

The Inflation Reduction Act

https://www.energy.gov/lpo/inflation-reduction-act-2022

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Is there hope?

Less drilling in the Arctic

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Is there hope?

Carbon Capture and Storage

https://watchwire.ai/carbon-capture-utilization-storage-pipe-dream-potential-solution/

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What can I do?

What can I do to reduce climate change?
What are some ways we can remove/reduce the excessive carbon dioxide in our atmosphere?
Are there efforts to stop climate change?
What are some ways college students can reduce these risks of climate change?
What humans need to do to prevent this climate change as much as possible
Does going vegan really help climate change?
What are the most effective actions we can take to reduce the impact of climate change
I want to know the most significant thing each individual can do to help solve climate change.
Can reducing my carbon footprint truly balance out the impact of oil and gas operations on the climate?
What are the best ways to make sure that our climate stays stable, like not being at an extreme temperature?
I would like to study about ways to counter climate change.
How can I decrease my carbon footprint realistically?
If big fossil fuel companies are against fighting climate change because it would be bad for business, then how would we be able to do anything? I feel like even if we cut down on emissions, we wouldn’t really be doing that much.
What are some things that we as humans can do to help our environment and keep it as clean as possible for future generations?

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What can I do?

Take action with a group

The best cure for climate despair is climate action.

https://www.sunrisemovement.org/

https://www.climatechangemakers.org/

https://www.allwecansave.earth/

https://www.vox.com/23152123/climate-actions-individuals-can-take

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What can I do?

Take action with a group

Collective action takes strategy

https://www.vox.com/23152123/climate-actions-individuals-can-take

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What can I do?

Choose a climate job/career!

https://drawdown.org/publications/climate-solutions-at-work

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What can I do?

Actually reduce your carbon footprint

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jan/19/how-to-reduce-carbon-footprint

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What can I do?

Actually reduce your carbon footprint

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8589/pdf

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Electric Vehicles

I would like to see how carbon from cars affects climate change.
Are electric cars saving the planet?
environmental benefit of switching from fossil fuels to lithium batteries in terms of automobiles
Does using electric cars really help climate change?

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Electric Vehicles

https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.html#wheel

EVs convert over 77% of the electrical energy from the grid to power at the wheels. Conventional gasoline vehicles only convert about 12%-30% of the energy stored in gasoline to power at the wheels. [https://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/evtech.shtml]

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Electric Vehicles

Technological advancements together with policies that set fuel economy standards could lead to passenger cars that achieve 53 miles per gallon (mpg) and light trucks that reach 38 mpg before the year 2030. [US Energy Information Administration]

Electric cars (EVs) are much more energy-efficient than gasoline-powered cars. According to the US Department of Energy,

If an electric car uses electricity generated at a coal-fired power plant, the net emissions may not be significantly less than a conventional gasoline-powered vehicle. But if the electric car uses electricity from a lower-emissions source, the net emissions reductions can be significant. You can learn about the impact of electric power sources on vehicle emissions at the Alternative Fuels Data Center website, which allows you to enter your zip code and find out the types of energy sources in your area and the impact on vehicle emissions.

https://afdc.energy.gov/vehicles/electric_emissions.html#wheel

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https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8589/pdf

battery electric vehicle (BEV)

fuel cell vehicles (FCV)

What can I do?

Actually reduce your carbon footprint

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https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8589/pdf

What can I do?

Actually reduce your carbon footprint

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https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8589/pdf

What can I do?

Actually reduce your carbon footprint

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https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab8589/pdf

What can I do?

Actually reduce your carbon footprint

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What can I do?

Stay hopeful and spread the word

https://earthathome.org/de/perspective/use-of-language-and-perspective-in-teaching-climate-change

“Balancing fear and optimism is complicated terrain. Too much fear can be paralyzing. Too much optimism can also sap motivation by giving the impression that the situation is coming under control [Hornsey & Fielding, 2016]. Honesty is paramount.”

Earth at Home

Fear, for example, may influence people to stop doing something (stop smoking, for example), but if used without appropriate care, can be less effective than hoped at persuading people to take action. [See Tali Sharot’s 2011 book The Optimism Bias: A Tour of the Irrationally Positive Brain, which explores the influence of positive versus negative emotions in outlook and decision-making.] Consistently bad news over time may lead people to lose hope, which can have the effect of causing people to give up, deciding their actions are likely to be ineffectual.

https://www.dailyclimate.org/good-news/

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Where can I learn more?

What are good sources of information to learn about climate and climate change?
How can I and others become more aware of climate change?
how do we persuade people to fully understand how serious climate change will be in the future

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Where can I learn more?

Earth at Home: https://earthathome.org/de/recent-climate-change/
NASA climate: https://climate.nasa.gov/
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: https://www.ipcc.ch/
Project Drawdown: https://drawdown.org/
All we can save: https://www.allwecansave.earth/
San Jose Climate Smart https://www.sanjoseca.gov/your-government/departments-offices/environmental-services/climate-smart-san-jos
SJSU Sustainability: https://www.sjsu.edu/sustainability/

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The rest is BONUS MATERIAL

for your information from previous student questions on modeling, clouds, fracking, polar vortexes,

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https://www.skepticalscience.com/explainer-models-that-help-us-predict-climate-change.html

General Circulation Models

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Clouds cool the Earth’s surface by reflecting sunlight into space

Clouds warm the Earth’s surface by increasing the amount of infrared radiation transmitted from the atmosphere to the surface

Model Uncertainty

Clouds

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3RWTTtPg8E&feature=youtu.be

Temperatures on the rise

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Fracking

More information: https://www.livescience.com/34464-what-is-fracking.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tudal_4x4F0

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2018/03/07/trump-official-said-scientists-went-outside-their-wheelhouse-by-writing-climate-change-dramatically-shrunk-montana-glaciers/?utm_term=.4ef86211491e

https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

https://www.theverge.com/2017/1/19/14258474/trump-inauguration-science-politics-climate-change-vaccines

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