DOCSLIB.ORG

Global Climate Change: a Paleoclimate Perspective from the World’S Highest Mountains

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Global Climate Change: a Paleoclimate Perspective from the World’S Highest Mountains Global Climate Change: A Paleoclimate Perspective from the World’s Highest Mountains 2008 Jim Arnold Lecture UC San Diego, May 9, 2008 Lonnie G. Thompson University Distinguished Professor School of Earth Sciences & Byrd Polar Research Center The Ohio State University Ice Core Paleoclimate Research Group Ellen Mosley-Thompson Funding provided by: Henry Brecher NSF: Paleoclimatology & Polar Mary Davis Programs Paolo Gabrielli NASA: Earth Sciences Ping-Nan Lin NOAA: Paleoclimatology Matthew Makou Comer Foundation Victor Zagorodnov Graduate Students: Liz Birkos, Aron Buffen, Natalie Kehrwald, David Urmann, Lijia Wei Objectives: • Introduction to climate change • Glaciers, among the first responders to global warming, serve as both indicators and drivers of climate change • Evidence for abrupt climate change, past and present • Evidence for recent acceleration of the rate of ice loss in the tropics – A Clear and Present Danger! • Options: prevention, adaptation and suffering • Conclusions Our Earth is warming! Environmental conditions are changing! - some changes are unprecedented for thousands of years - some changes are occurring rapidly (years to decades) (shrinking sea ice, ecosystem disruptions, retreating and melting glaciers) 2005 warmest year on record 0.7°C relative to the 1961-1990 mean http:www.giss.nasa.gov/research/news Natural mechanisms influence climate Natural mechanisms • Changes in the Sun • Changes in the amount of volcanic dust in the atmosphere • Internal variability of the coupled atmosphere-ocean system (e.g., ENSO, monsoon systems, NAO) Human factors also influence climate Non-natural mechanisms • Changes in the concentrations of atmospheric greenhouse gases • Changes in aerosols and particles from burning fossil fuels (sulfate aerosols) and biomass (black carbon) • Changes in the reflectivity (albedo) of the Earth’s surface Smoke from fires in Guatemala and Mexico (May 14, 1998) Earth’s ice sheets and glaciers preserve long, high resolution histories High temporal resolution East Antarctica Plateau Long records 20021977 Quelccaya Ice Cap, Peru Ice cores are powerful contributors to multi-proxy reconstructions: 1) they provide multiple lines of climatic & environmental evidence 2) ideal for revealing rapid climate changes (δ18O, δD) Guliya ice cap, Tibet Class-100 clean room houses the equipment to analyze dust, isotopes and chemicals Freezers for storage and cold rooms for physical property measurements Machine shop for fabrication of our drills Vostok The Vostok ice core extends back through multiple glacial and interglacial stages - recording the changes in the composition of the Earth's atmosphere Today: Today: 385 CO2 is 385 ppmv CO2 is 378 ppmv CH4 is 1750 ppbv CH4 is 1750 ppbv Houghton et al., 2001 Petit et al., 1999 Carbon dioxide and methane concentrations: Past, present and future By 2100: CO2 remains in the 850 CO2 ~ 850 ppmv atmosphere from 70 to 120 years IPCC 2000 Scenario A1B for 2100 AD By 2100: CH4 ~ 3700 ppbv Today: CO is 385 ppmv 385 2 CH4 is 1750 ppbv Houghton et al., 2001 Petit et al., 1999 Proxy Records Provide A Critical Time Perspective 5 IPCC 4th Assessment (2007) Projection for 2100 AD 4 2.0 – 4.5 oC 3 2 Global Temperature (°C) Northern Hemisphere N.H.Temperature Temperature (°C) (°C) 1 0.4 0 0 -0.4 -0.8 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 YearYear (A.D.) A.D.. 11 Ice cores provide unique histories …… from regions where other recording systems are limited or absent Huascarán, Peru Dasuopu Glacier Southern Tibet Sites where the OSU team has drilled ice cores DUNDE ICE CAP, CHINA CORE SITES, 1987 SUMMIT CORES D UNDE IC E CAP, C HINA SUMMIT CORECORES SITE, 1987 EQUILIBRIUM LINE EQUILIBRIUM LINE South America BPRC1 Ice core drilling on the Coropuna Ice Cap, Peru (2003) Coropuna, Peru Chironomidae 1260± 380 yr. B.P. length: 0.7 mm Sajama, Bolivia Heteroptera 5620 ± 275 yr. B.P. length: 2.0 mm Side of Quelccaya ice cap, Peru Annual layers -12 -14 -16 -18 per mil per -20 -22 Quelccaya 2003 Summit Dome -24 Average of Quelccaya 1983 cores 1550 1575 1600 1625 1650 1675 1700 1725 1750 1775 1800 1825 1850 1875 1900 1925 1950 1975 2000 Year -12 -14 -16 -18 -20 O annual averages 18 -22 δ -24 R2= 0.82 2003 -26 -26 -24 -22 -20 -18 -16 -14 -12 -10 1983 δ18O annual averages Tropical Composite (Temperature) Tropical Composite (Precipitation) 77 new High elevation, low latitudecores ice cores record - large-scale climate changes - regional differences No LIA No MWP LIA MWP Thompson et al., PNAS, 2006 77 new High elevation, low latitudecores ice cores record - large-scale climate changes - regional differences No LIA No MWP LIA MWP Thompson et al., PNAS, 2006 77 new High elevation, low latitudecores ice cores record - large-scale climate changes - regional differences Reference period (1961 – 1990 A.D.) LIA MWP ThomThompsonpson et al.et ,al. PNAS, PNAS,, 2006 2006 McCall Glacier, Brooks Range, Alaska Austin Post,1958 Matt Nolan, 2003 Muir Glacier, SE Alaska August, 1941 (photo by William Field) August, 2004 (photo by Bruce Molnia) AX010, Nepal 1989 Himalayas, 1978 1998 2004 Photos: Koji Fujita Massive retreat of low-latitude glaciers today 2002 Gangapurna Glacier Courtesy Doug Burbank, UCSB Massive retreat of low-latitude glaciers today 2002 Gangapurna Glacier 1957 Courtesy Doug Burbank, UCSB ~ 2 - 3 m thinning / year Ghiacciai della Lobbia e dell’Adamello/Mandrone (102 anni) Foto: Archivio Storico – Biblioteca della Montagna SAT 1903 Foto: G. Alberti CGT 2005 Ghiacciaio de la Mare (71 anni) 2003 (Foto L. Carturan CGT) Zonal Distribution of Annual Precipitation Image from GOES-12 Satellite Nov 4, 2004 DJF Uniform tropical upper-air temperature DJF Larger SST variations DJF Rainfall roughly follows warm SST (Sobel and Bretherton, J. Climate , 2000 mos. relative to peak El Nino 1000-300 mb average air temperature anomalies associated with ENSO (MSU2) gray: 0.2-0.4 (peak Nino3.4) black: >0.4 K Warming spreads nearly uniformly around the tropics (Chiang and Sobel 2002, J. Climate) Aerial photo in 2000 Drill shelter on Northern Ice Field, Kilimanjaro in 2000 Kilimanjaro (2000) Northern Ice Field Core 3 Tube 1: top: 0.00 m Elongated bubbles Tube 43: top: 42.84 m Outburst of water and ice collapse on Fürtwangler Glacier (Kilimanjaro) in spring of 2003 16 Feb 2000 28 Jan 2006 15 Oct 2007 Furtwängler Glacier 16 Feb 2000 28 Jan 2006 15 Oct 2007 Himalayan glaciers store about 12,000 cubic kilometers of freshwater in ~15,000 glaciers and are the lifeline for millions of people (IPCC, 2007) Retreat of the Qori Kalis Glacier (Peru) 1978 – no lake 2004 – lake covers 78 acres Qori Kalis, July 2005 Qori Kalis, July 2006 2006 – lake covers 84 acres 1977 2006 Boulder, 1978 Boulder, 2006 Glaciers, especially tropical glaciers, are “the canaries in the coal mine” for our global climate system as they integrate and respond to most key climatological variables such as temperature, precipitation, cloudiness, humidity and radiation. • Global glacier retreat at the beginning of the 21st Century is driven mainly by increasing temperatures although regional factors (i.e., deforestation also may play a role). Martin Chambi J. Mid-1930’s Qoyllur Rit’i, Peru 2006 In 1915 Ernest Shackleton stated …… “What the Ice Gets, the Ice Keeps” But today the retreating ice is giving up long-buried secrets ….. Quelccaya, Peru 1977 2002 Quelccaya Ice Cap, 2002 200 – 400 m above its Plant modern range 5177 ± 45 yr. B.P. The Kilimanjaro ice cores provide a record ~ 11,000 years long This abrupt cooling event 5,200 years ago was contemporaneous with the reorganization of societal structures – Late Uruk abrupt climate change - Hierarchical societies formed in the overpopulated Nile Valley & Mesopotamia; - Neolithic settlements in the inner deserts of Arabia were abandoned Global, synchronous climatic change ~ 5 – 5.6 kyr B.P. Magny and Haas, 2004. J. Quat. Sci. • “One of the warning signs that a dangerous warming trend is under way in Antarctica will be the breakup of ice shelves on both coasts of the Antarctic Peninsula, starting with the northernmost and extending gradually southward.” • Concluding statement in Mercer, 1978 Nature Vol. 271 Temperatures in the Peninsula region have warmed ~2.0oC in the last 50 years. Part of the Larsen B Ice Shelf Jan 31 collapsed in 31 days (2002) Feb 23 Mar 3 Collapsing ice shelves don’t 10% Floating ice shelves do not directly raise sea level. contribute to sea level rise. 90% But, the loss of their buttressing effect, land-based glaciers flow faster and discharge more ice into the ocean raising sea level. Since 2002 some glaciers are now flowing 7 to 8 times faster. Some have thinned up to 40 meters in 6 months. Glaciers that feed the remaining parts of the ice shelves have not accelerated. Scambos et al., 2004 observations The warming in the Arctic is now well-documented ….. Arctic Climate Impact Assessment available at http://www.acia.uaf.edu/ East Greenland: summer melt water running into a moulin Photo by Roger J. Braithwaite Greenland – losing mass overall Gaining mass (increased precipitation) at high elevations Losing mass rapidly along coast Overall balance: -100 Gigaton (Gt) annually 360 Gt of water = 1 mm of eustatic sea level rise 82 Gt is ~1.5 months of Shepherd & Wingham, Science, 2007 U.S. water consumption West Antarctica & Peninsula – losing mass: - 50 to - 200 Gt annually East Antarctica – gaining mass: +25 to - 4 Gt per year Antarctica is losing mass: - 25 to -204 Gt annually 360 Gt of water = 1 mm of eustatic sea level rise 82 Gt = 1.5 months of U.S. water consumption Shepherd & Wingham, Science, 2007 Rignot et al., Nature Geoscience, 2008 In the last decade – many glaciers draining the two large ice sheets have accelerated their discharge to the ocean by 20 to 100% (highly variable).
Load more

Recommended publications
  • U.S. National Black Carbon and Methane Emissions a Report to the Arctic Council
    U.S. NATIONAL BLACK CARBON AND METHANE EMISSIONS A REPORT TO THE ARCTIC COUNCIL AUGUST 2015 U.S. NATIONAL BLACK CARBON AND METHANE EMISSIONS A REPORT TO THE ARCTIC COUNCIL AUGUST 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY. 1 ABOUT THIS REPORT. 1 SUMMARY OF CURRENT BLACK CARBON EMISSIONS AND FUTURE PROJECTIONS . 2 SUMMARY OF CURRENT METHANE EMISSIONS AND FUTURE PROJECTIONS. 4 SUMMARY OF NATIONAL MITIGATION ACTIONS BY POLLUTANT AND SECTOR . 6 BLACK CARBON . .6 METHANE . 11 HIGHLIGHTS OF BEST PRACTICES AND LESSONS LEARNED FOR KEY SECTORS . .16 TRANSPORT/MOBILE . 16 OPEN BIOMASS BURNING (INCLUDING WILDFIRES) . 16 RESIDENTIAL/DOMESTIC . .17 OIL & NATURAL GAS. .17 OTHER . 17 PROJECTS RELEVANT FOR THE ARCTIC. .18 ARCTIC AIR QUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT MODELING. 18 BLACK CARBON DEPOSITION ON U.S. SNOW PACK . .18 EMISSIONS AND TRANSPORT FROM AGRICULTURAL BURNING AND FOREST FIRES . .18 MEASUREMENT OF BLACK CARBON AND METHANE IN THE ARCTIC. .18 MEASUREMENT OF MARITIME BLACK CARBON EMISSIONS AND DIESEL FUEL ALTERNATIVES. .18 REDUCTION OF BLACK CARBON IN THE RUSSIAN ARCTIC. .19 VALDAY CLUSTER UPGRADE FOR BLACK CARBON REDUCTION IN THE REPUBLIC OF KARELIA, RUSSIAN FEDERATION. 19 AVIATION CLIMATE CHANGE RESEARCH INITIATIVE. .20 TRACKING SOURCES OF BLACK CARBON IN THE ARCTIC . 20 OTHER INFORMATION. .20 APPENDIX 1: U.S. BLACK CARBON EMISSIONS . .22 APPENDIX 2: U.S. METHANE EMISSIONS (MMT CO2E), 1990–2013 . 24 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY U.S. black carbon emissions are declining and additional reductions are expected, largely through strategies to reduce the emissions from mobile diesel engines that account for roughly 40 percent of the U.S. total. A number of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) control strategies have proven successful in reducing black carbon emissions from mobile sources.
    [Show full text]
  • Climate Effects of Black Carbon Aerosols in China and India Surabi Menon, Et Al
    Climate Effects of Black Carbon Aerosols in China and India Surabi Menon, et al. Science 297, 2250 (2002); DOI: 10.1126/science.1075159 The following resources related to this article are available online at www.sciencemag.org (this information is current as of October 3, 2008 ): Updated information and services, including high-resolution figures, can be found in the online version of this article at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5590/2250 Supporting Online Material can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5590/2250/DC1 A list of selected additional articles on the Science Web sites related to this article can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5590/2250#related-content This article cites 23 articles, 3 of which can be accessed for free: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5590/2250#otherarticles on October 3, 2008 This article has been cited by 251 article(s) on the ISI Web of Science. This article has been cited by 8 articles hosted by HighWire Press; see: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/297/5590/2250#otherarticles This article appears in the following subject collections: Atmospheric Science http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/collection/atmos www.sciencemag.org Information about obtaining reprints of this article or about obtaining permission to reproduce this article in whole or in part can be found at: http://www.sciencemag.org/about/permissions.dtl Downloaded from Science (print ISSN 0036-8075; online ISSN 1095-9203) is published weekly, except the last week in December, by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1200 New York Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20005.
    [Show full text]
  • Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America
    quaternary Review Speleothem Paleoclimatology for the Caribbean, Central America, and North America Jessica L. Oster 1,* , Sophie F. Warken 2,3 , Natasha Sekhon 4, Monica M. Arienzo 5 and Matthew Lachniet 6 1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN 37240, USA 2 Department of Geosciences, University of Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany; [email protected] 3 Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany 4 Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of Geosciences, University of Texas, Austin, TX 78712, USA; [email protected] 5 Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV 89512, USA; [email protected] 6 Department of Geoscience, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154, USA; [email protected] * Correspondence: [email protected] Received: 27 December 2018; Accepted: 21 January 2019; Published: 28 January 2019 Abstract: Speleothem oxygen isotope records from the Caribbean, Central, and North America reveal climatic controls that include orbital variation, deglacial forcing related to ocean circulation and ice sheet retreat, and the influence of local and remote sea surface temperature variations. Here, we review these records and the global climate teleconnections they suggest following the recent publication of the Speleothem Isotopes Synthesis and Analysis (SISAL) database. We find that low-latitude records generally reflect changes in precipitation, whereas higher latitude records are sensitive to temperature and moisture source variability. Tropical records suggest precipitation variability is forced by orbital precession and North Atlantic Ocean circulation driven changes in atmospheric convection on long timescales, and tropical sea surface temperature variations on short timescales. On millennial timescales, precipitation seasonality in southwestern North America is related to North Atlantic climate variability.
    [Show full text]
  • Aerosols, Their Direct and Indirect Effects
    5 Aerosols, their Direct and Indirect Effects Co-ordinating Lead Author J.E. Penner Lead Authors M. Andreae, H. Annegarn, L. Barrie, J. Feichter, D. Hegg, A. Jayaraman, R. Leaitch, D. Murphy, J. Nganga, G. Pitari Contributing Authors A. Ackerman, P. Adams, P. Austin, R. Boers, O. Boucher, M. Chin, C. Chuang, B. Collins, W. Cooke, P. DeMott, Y. Feng, H. Fischer, I. Fung, S. Ghan, P. Ginoux, S.-L. Gong, A. Guenther, M. Herzog, A. Higurashi, Y. Kaufman, A. Kettle, J. Kiehl, D. Koch, G. Lammel, C. Land, U. Lohmann, S. Madronich, E. Mancini, M. Mishchenko, T. Nakajima, P. Quinn, P. Rasch, D.L. Roberts, D. Savoie, S. Schwartz, J. Seinfeld, B. Soden, D. Tanré, K. Taylor, I. Tegen, X. Tie, G. Vali, R. Van Dingenen, M. van Weele, Y. Zhang Review Editors B. Nyenzi, J. Prospero Contents Executive Summary 291 5.4.1 Summary of Current Model Capabilities 313 5.4.1.1 Comparison of large-scale sulphate 5.1 Introduction 293 models (COSAM) 313 5.1.1 Advances since the Second Assessment 5.4.1.2 The IPCC model comparison Report 293 workshop: sulphate, organic carbon, 5.1.2 Aerosol Properties Relevant to Radiative black carbon, dust, and sea salt 314 Forcing 293 5.4.1.3 Comparison of modelled and observed aerosol concentrations 314 5.2 Sources and Production Mechanisms of 5.4.1.4 Comparison of modelled and satellite- Atmospheric Aerosols 295 derived aerosol optical depth 318 5.2.1 Introduction 295 5.4.2 Overall Uncertainty in Direct Forcing 5.2.2 Primary and Secondary Sources of Aerosols 296 Estimates 322 5.2.2.1 Soil dust 296 5.4.3 Modelling the Indirect
    [Show full text]
  • Black Carbon-Induced Snow Albedo Reduction Over the Tibetan Plateau
    Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11507–11527, 2018 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11507-2018 © Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Black carbon-induced snow albedo reduction over the Tibetan Plateau: uncertainties from snow grain shape and aerosol–snow mixing state based on an updated SNICAR model Cenlin He1,2, Mark G. Flanner3, Fei Chen2,4, Michael Barlage2, Kuo-Nan Liou5, Shichang Kang6,7, Jing Ming8, and Yun Qian9 1Advanced Study Program, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA 2Research Applications Laboratory, National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO, USA 3Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA 4State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China 5Joint Institute for Regional Earth System Science and Engineering, and Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA 6State key laboratory of Cryospheric Science, Northwest Institute of Eco-Environment and Resources, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Lanzhou, China 7CAS Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Beijing, China 8Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany 9Atmospheric Sciences and Global Change Division, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA Correspondence: Cenlin He ([email protected]) Received: 12 May 2018 – Discussion started: 22 May 2018 Revised: 31 July 2018 – Accepted: 4 August 2018 – Published: 15 August 2018 Abstract. We implement a set of new parameterizations into regional and seasonal variations, with higher values in the the widely used Snow, Ice, and Aerosol Radiative (SNICAR) non-monsoon season and low altitudes.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Carbon and Methane in the Norwegian Barents Region Black Carbon and Methane in the Norwegian Barents Region | M276
    REPORT M-276 | 2014 Black carbon and methane in the Norwegian Barents region Black carbon and methane in the Norwegian Barents region | M276 COLOPHON Executive institution The Norwegian Environment Agency Project manager for the contractor Contact person in the Norwegian Environment Agency Ingrid Lillehagen, The Ministry of Climate and Solrun Figenschau Skjellum Environment, section for polar affairs and the High North M-no Year Pages Contract number M-276 2014 15 Publisher The project is funded by The Norwegian Environment Agency The Norwegian Environment Agency Author(s) Maria Malene Kvalevåg, Vigdis Vestreng and Nina Holmengen Title – Norwegian and English Black carbon and methane in the Norwegian Barents Region Svart karbon og metan i den norske Barentsregionen Summary – sammendrag In 2011, land based emissions of black carbon and methane in the Norwegian Barents region were 400 tons and 23 700 tons, respectively. The largest emissions of black carbon originate from the transport sector and wood combustion in residential heating. For methane, the largest contributors to emissions are the agricultural sector and landfills. Different measures to reduce emissions from black carbon and methane can be implemented. Retrofitting of diesel particulate filters on light and heavy vehicles, tractors and construction machines will reduce black carbon emitted from the transport sector. Measures to reduce black carbon from residential heating are to accelerate the introduction of wood stoves with cleaner burning, improve burning techniques and inspect and maintain the wood stoves that are already in use. In the agricultural sector, methane emissions from food production can be reduced by using manure or food waste as raw material to biogas production.
    [Show full text]
  • Saving the Arctic the Urgent Need to Cut Black Carbon Emissions and Slow Climate Change
    AP PHOTO/IAN JOUGHIN PHOTO/IAN AP Saving the Arctic The Urgent Need to Cut Black Carbon Emissions and Slow Climate Change By Rebecca Lefton and Cathleen Kelly August 2014 WWW.AMERICANPROGRESS.ORG Saving the Arctic The Urgent Need to Cut Black Carbon Emissions and Slow Climate Change By Rebecca Lefton and Cathleen Kelly August 2014 Contents 1 Introduction and summary 3 Where does black carbon come from? 6 Future black carbon emissions in the Arctic 9 Why cutting black carbon outside the Arctic matters 13 Recommendations 19 Conclusion 20 Appendix 24 Endnotes Introduction and summary The Arctic is warming at a rate twice as fast as the rest of the world, in part because of the harsh effects of black carbon pollution on the region, which is made up mostly of snow and ice.1 Black carbon—one of the main components of soot—is a deadly and widespread air pollutant and a potent driver of climate change, espe- cially in the near term and on a regional basis. In colder, icier regions such as the Arctic, it peppers the Arctic snow with heat-absorbing black particles, increasing the amount of heat absorbed and rapidly accelerating local warming. This accel- eration exposes darker ground or water, causing snow and ice melt and lowering the amount of heat reflected away from the Earth.2 Combating climate change requires immediate and long-term cuts in heat-trap- ping carbon pollution, or CO2, around the globe. But reducing carbon pollution alone will not be enough to avoid the worst effects of a rapidly warming Arctic— slashing black carbon emissions near the Arctic and globally must also be part of the solution.
    [Show full text]
  • Black Carbon's Properties and Role in the Environment
    Sustainability 2010, 2, 294-320; doi:10.3390/su2010294 OPEN ACCESS sustainability ISSN 2071-1050 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability Review Black Carbon’s Properties and Role in the Environment: A Comprehensive Review Gyami Shrestha 1,*, Samuel J. Traina 1 and Christopher W. Swanston 2 1 Environmental Systems Program, Sierra Nevada Research Institute, University of California- Merced, 5200 N. Lake Road, Merced, CA 95343, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] 2 Northern Institute of Applied Carbon Science, Climate, Fire, & Carbon Cycle Science Research, Northern Research Station, USDA Forest Service, 410 MacInnes Drive, Houghton, MI 49931, USA; E-Mail: [email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail: [email protected]. Received: 13 November 2009 / Accepted: 7 January 2010 / Published: 15 January 2010 Abstract: Produced from incomplete combustion of biomass and fossil fuel in the absence of oxygen, black carbon (BC) is the collective term for a range of carbonaceous substances encompassing partly charred plant residues to highly graphitized soot. Depending on its form, condition of origin and storage (from the atmosphere to the geosphere), and surrounding environmental conditions, BC can influence the environment at local, regional and global scales in different ways. In this paper, we review and synthesize recent findings and discussions on the nature of these different forms of BC and their impacts, particularly in relation to pollution and climate change. We start by describing the different types of BCs and their mechanisms of formation. To elucidate their pollutant sorption properties, we present some models involving polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and organic carbon. Subsequently, we discuss the stability of BC in the environment, summarizing the results of studies that showed a lack of chemical degradation of BC in soil and those that exposed BC to severe oxidative reactions to degrade it.
    [Show full text]
  • Climate Change
    Optional EffectWhatAddendum: Isof Causing Climate Weather Climate Change and Change,on HumansClimate and and How the DoClimate Environment We Know? Change Optional EffectWhatAddendum: Isof Causing Climate Weather Climate Change and Change,on HumansClimate and and How the DoClimate Environment We Know? Change Part I: The Claim Two students are discussing what has caused the increase in temperature in the last century (100 years). Optional EffectWhatAddendum: Isof Causing Climate Weather Climate Change and Change,on HumansClimate and and How the DoClimate Environment We Know? Change Part II: What Do We Still Need to Know? Destiny Emilio Know from Task 1 Need to Know • Has this happened in • Is more carbon the past? dioxide being made • Are we just in a now than in the past? warm period? • Are humans responsible? Optional EffectWhatAddendum: Isof Causing Climate Weather Climate Change and Change,on HumansClimate and and How the DoClimate Environment We Know? Change Part III: Collect Evidence To support a claim, we need evidence!!! Optional EffectWhatAddendum: Isof Causing Climate Weather Climate Change and Change,on HumansClimate and and How the DoClimate Environment We Know? Change Climate Readings to the Present Data: Petit, J.R., et al., 2001, Vostok Ice Core Data for 420,000 Years, IGBP PAGES/World Data Center for Paleoclimatology Data Contribution Series #2001-076. NOAA/NGDC Paleoclimatology Program, Boulder CO, USA. https://www1.ncdc.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/icecore/antarctica/vostok/deutnat.tXt, …/co2nat.tXt Optional EffectWhatAddendum: Isof Causing Climate Weather Climate Change and Change,on HumansClimate and and How the DoClimate Environment We Know? Change How do we know about the climate from thousands of years ago? Optional EffectWhatAddendum: Isof Causing Climate Weather Climate Change and Change,on HumansClimate and and How the DoClimate Environment We Know? Change Measuring Devices • Thermometers were not invented until 1724.
    [Show full text]
  • BLACK CARBON RESEAR RESEARC CH and FUTURE STRATEGIES Reducing Emissions, Improving Hhumanuman Health and Taking Action on Climate Changec Hange
    BLACK CARBON RESEAR RESEARC CH AND FUTURE STRATEGIES Reducing emissions, improving hhumanuman health and taking action on climate changec hange Introduction Black carbon is the sooty black material emitted from gas and diesel engines, coal-fired power plants, and other sources that burn fossil fuel. It comprises a significant portion of particulate matter or PM, which is an air pollutant. Black carbon is a global environmental problem that has negative implications for both human health and our climate. Inhalation of black carbon is associated with health problems including respiratory and cardiovascular disease, cancer, and even birth defects. And because of its ability to absorb light as heat, it also contributes to climate change. For example, as black carbon warms the air, rapid changes in patterns of Diesel exhaust black carbon particle (500 nm). Photo byb y NASA. rain and clouds can occur. Nine EPA STAR Research grants, • Measueasurringing black carbon’s mass totaling more than $6.6 million, and if othero ther particles adhere to This absorption quality also impacts were announced in October 2011 to black carbonc arbon polar ice. As black carbon deposits eight universities to research black • Evaluvaluaating ting low-cost and palm- in the Arctic, the particles cover the carbon. The grantees will further sized blackb lack carbon instruments snow and ice, decreasing the Earth’s research the pollutant’s emission that mmaay y give a wider range of ability to reflect the warming rays of sources and its impacts on climate measumeasurrements. ements. the sun, while absorbing heat and change and health. hastening melt. New black carbonc arbon measurement Measurement Research methods hahavvee been tested in This broad and complex role of EPA scientists are working to laboratory aanndd field studies using airborne black carbon is now under improve ways to measure black EPA’s GeoGeosspatialpatial Measurement of intense study by the EPA.
    [Show full text]
  • Unit 1 Lesson 4: Coral Reefs As Indicators of Paleoclimate
    CORAL REEFS Unit 1 Lesson 4: Coral Reefs as Indicators of Paleoclimate esson Objectives: Students will gain knowledge of how the marine environment can tell a story about years past through naturally recorded geographic and environmental phenomenon. Vocabulary: Paleoclimate, greenhouse effect, proxy data information gathered from www.noaa.gov Paleoclimatology is the study temperature increases may of the weather and climate from have a natural cause, for ages past. The word is derived example, from elevated from the Greek root word volcanic activity. "paleo-," which means "long ago" with combined with Gases in the earth’s "climate," meaning weather. atmosphere which trap heat, Scientists and meteorologists and cause an increase in have been using instruments to temperature cause the measure climate and weather greenhouse effect. Carbon for only the past 140 years! dioxide (CO2), water vapor, How do they determine what and other gases in the the Earth's climate was like atmosphere absorb the infrared before then? They use rays forming a kind of blanket historical evidence called proxy around the earth. Scientists data. Examples of proxy data fear that if humans continue to include tree rings, old farmer’s place too much carbon dioxide diaries, ice cores, frozen pollen in the atmosphere, too much and ocean sediments. heat will be trapped, causing the global temperature to rise Scientists know the Earth's and resulting in devastating average temperature has effects. increased approximately 1°F since 1860. Is this warming Some scientists speculate that due to something people are natural events like volcanic releasing into the atmosphere eruptions or an increase in the or natural causes? Many sun's output, may be people today are quick to influencing the climate.
    [Show full text]
  • Paleoclimatology
    Paleoclimatology ATMS/ESS/OCEAN 589 • Ice Age Cycles – Are they fundamentaly about ice, about CO2, or both? • Abrupt Climate Change During the Last Glacial Period – Lessons for the future? • The Holocene – Early Holocene vs. Late Holocene – The last 1000 years: implications for interpreting the recent climate changes and relevance to projecting the future climate. Website: faculty.washington.edu/battisti/589paleo2005 Class email: [email protected] Theory of the Ice Ages: Orbital induced insolation changes and global ice volume “Strong summer insolation peaks pace rapid deglaciation” Theory of the Ice Ages: Ice Volume and Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide are highly correlated •Summer (NH) insulation tends to lead ice volume. •Ice Volume and Carbon Dioxide seem to be in phase (except for in rapid deglaciation, when Ice volume leads Carbon Dioxide) CO2 measured at Vostok, South Pole The Ice Age Cycles: Some big unsolved questions we will examine • Is the Ice Age cycle fundamentaly about cycles in ice volume induced by high latitude insolation changes (with CO2 being a weak positive feedback)? • Or, is the Ice Age cycle fundamentally about changes in CO2 that are driven by insolation changes (with weak positive feedbacks associated with ice albedo feedbacks)? • Why do (high latitude) insolation changes cause changes in atmospheric CO2? Why is it CO2 so highly correlated with ice volume? Abrupt Climate Change during the Last Glacial Period During Glacial stages, the climate system featured large rapid rearrangements. Dansgaard/Oeschger (D/O) events show: – Rapid onset of warming at Greenland ( 10 K in < 30 years!) – Long-lived (~ 200 - 600 years) Greenland Temperature Tropical-Extratropical Linkages during Glacial Times: Extratropics forcing Tropics • Paleo data show strong linkages between the millennial variability in the North Atlantic, the tropical Atlantic and the Northern Hemisphere during the last Glacial Period.
    [Show full text]