DOCSLIB.ORG

Can Global Warming Cause Global Cooling? Climate Change in Greenland and the North Atlantic 3 by Betsy Youngman and David Smith

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Can Global Warming Cause Global Cooling? Climate Change in Greenland and the North Atlantic 3 by Betsy Youngman and David Smith Can Global Warming Cause Global Cooling? Climate Change in Greenland and the North Atlantic 3 By Betsy Youngman and David Smith Guiding Question Learning Objectives How fast is the Greenland ice sheet Students will be able to: melting, and what are the possible • describe the rate of change of the impacts of that change? Greenland ice sheet and the impacts on the salinity in the North Atlantic Project Duration • explain the possible impact of climate Three to five 45-minute class periods change on the global thermohaline ocean circulation Grade Level • relate ocean currents to terrestrial Grades 8-12+ (ages 13-18) climate classification Subjects • Environmental Science • Earth Science • Oceanography Project 3 of Investigating Your World with My World GIS • www.natgeoed.org/MyWorldGIS Copyright 2012 National Geographic Society. Photographs by Betsy Youngman (top left); George F. Mobley (top right); Chuck Tomlin, My Shot (bottom) Mobley (top right); Chuck Tomlin, (top left); George F. Photographs by Betsy Youngman Copyright 2012 National Geographic Society. TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS Can Global Warming Cause Global Cooling? Climate Change in Greenland and the North Atlantic By Betsy Youngman and David Smith Connections to National Standards How fast is the Greenland NATIONAL SCIENCE EDUCATION STANDARDS, GRADES 9-12 ice sheet melting, and what • Standard A-1: Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry are the possible impacts of • Standard F-5: Natural and human-induced hazards • Standard F-6: Science and technology in local, that change? national, and global challenges NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS • Standard 1: How to Use Maps and Other Geographic Overview Representations, Tools, and Technologies to Acquire, Students use GIS and other media to explore a critical Process, and Report Information From a Spatial area of climate change research: glacial melting and its Perspective potential impact on the ocean currents. In Lesson A, • Standard 14: How Human Actions Modify the Physical students are introduced to the Greenland ice sheet and Environment observe the increase in melting on the ice sheet. Lesson • Standard 18: How to Apply Geography to Interpret the B of the activity introduces students to the great oceanic Present and Plan for the Future conveyor belt and the critical deep-water formation zones that drive this system. Lesson C examines the question: Vocabulary what will happen to climate if the oceanic conveyor belt • glacier, noun—a mass of ice that originates on land, slows? usually having an area larger than one tenth of a square kilometer; many believe that a glacier must show Background some type of movement; others believe that a glacier Evidence shows increased melting of glaciers in can show evidence of past or present movement. The Greenland. The addition of fresh water to the North Greenland ice sheet is a thick glacier that covers most Atlantic threatens to alter the ocean’s salinity in the North of the island of Greenland. Atlantic region. The North Atlantic is also home to a key • glacial mass balance, noun—the difference between the area of the oceanic conveyor belt, where colder, denser accumulation (gain) and ablation (loss) of glacial ice water sinks and initiates the conveyor. Given the role that and snow. A glacier that has negative mass balance is salinity plays in maintaining the oceanic conveyor belt, in retreat, or decline. Usually calculated on an annual a decrease in salinity due to the addition of fresh water basis. (which is less dense) from the melting of the Greenland • salinity, noun—amount of salt dissolved in a liquid; ice sheet threatens to slow or shut down the oceanic saltiness. conveyor belt. If the conveyor shuts down, it will no longer bring warm, ocean waters from the south to areas of Northern Europe. Since the ocean plays an important role in the local climate balance, this could lead to a dramatic drop in local temperatures for Northern Europe. Can Global Warming Cause Global Cooling? • Teacher Instructions • Page 27 TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS Teaching Strategies Extending the Learning In this chapter there are three separate GIS lessons; each • Show one of the following the short videos: “NOVA: takes approximately one class period to complete. Science Now—Fastest Glacier” or “Scientific American The lessons are: Frontiers XV: Hot Planet—Cold Comfort.” Both videos • Lesson A: Is Greenland Melting? are available online. Have a discussion about what • Lesson B: Is the Salinity in the North Atlantic students observe in the videos. Changing? • Have students complete research about the present • Lesson C: How are Climate and Ocean Currents trends in the melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet. Some Interlocked? resources are listed below: —NASA Global Climate Change Key Indicators: http:// You will need to allow time for an introduction to the topic climate.nasa.gov/keyIndicators/index.cfm#landIce and a wrap-up discussion. —NSIDC Atlas of the Cyrosphere: Begin with a class discussion of the key question. Include http://nsidc.org/data/atlas/ in the discussion the topics of climate, climate change, —NASA Annual Accumulated Melt over Greenland, and climate change research. Use a globe or map to 1979 through 2009: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/ introduce students to the location of Greenland and the a000000/a003700/a003721/index.html Atlantic Ocean. Remind students that they are working • Learn more about remote sensing and the study with the data that is currently being collected by the of the Cyrosphere on the ICEsat page. scientists. Many scientists around the world are working http://icesat.gsfc.nasa.gov/ together to understand climate change and its possible • Help students learn more about climate change outcomes. Like the scientists, students may have to think research by showing segments from the video, about how the data sets are connected. Climate change “Earth: The Operators Manual”: has many features and fingerprints; in order to see the http://earththeoperatorsmanual.com/for_educators connections one needs to think like a detective! Engage students in the excitement about Greenland’s Additional Resources changing ice sheet. Read recent news and share images • MapMaker 1-page Maps: http://education. of melting glacial ice from the June 2010 National nationalgeographic.com/education/mapping/outline- Geographic Magazine article, “Greenland: Ground Zero for map/?ar_a=1 Global Warming.” The article is linked in the Resources • National Geographic Climate Change Collection: Global section, below. Warming. http://education.nationalgeographic.com/ education/topics/global-warming/?ar_a=1 After the whole-class introduction, have students work in • National Snow and Ice Data Center’s resources for pairs at computers while using My World GIS. Give each educators, scientists and citizens: http://nsidc.org/ pair the Student Instructions, the Answer Sheet, and a • Details of Ice Velocities Around the 2000-meter Traverse in blank outline map of the world. See Resources for a link Greenland: http://nsidc.org/data/parca/data.html#parca-9 to blank maps. • NASA Images and trends of melting ice: Students will use three project files in this chapter: http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/globaliceviewer/ climate_change_greenland.m3vz • Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute’s in-depth analysis climate_change_oceans.m3vz of the changes in the North Atlantic. climate_change_impacts.m3vz —“A River Runs Through It: Chronicling the Currents of the North Atlantic” http://www.whoi.edu/page. do?pid=12455&tid=282&cid=2557 —Abrupt Climate Change: Should We Be Worried? http://www.whoi.edu/page. do?pid=12455&tid=282&cid=9986 Can Global Warming Cause Global Cooling? • Teacher Instructions • Page 28 TEACHER INSTRUCTIONS Data Dictionary Additional information about each of the layers used in this project • Greenland AWS Locations: Greenland Automated • Avg River Discharge (m^3/s): River discharge Weather Stations. Located on the Greenland ice shows the amount of fresh water entering the sheet. Source: Konrad Steffen—University of ocean Colorado CIRES • Salinity Research Sites: Oceanographic research • Glacier Velocity Gates: Locations marked with buoys used in salinity, temperature, and current geospatial coordinates. Used in monitoring the velocity research. Credit: Ruth Curry—Woods Hole motion of the ice sheet. Source: Bea Csatho—Ohio Oceanographic Institute State University • Dense Water Formation Sites: Locations where • Greenland ice sheet (km): Ice sheet location and deep ocean currents form due to changes in extent. Credit: National Snow and Ice Data Center salinity and temperature • 1992—2002 Greenland Melting Extents: Summer • Avg Annual Surface Temp and Salinity of Oceans: melting area and extent. These are locations Surface temperature and salinity of the ocean where liquid water can be detected on top of the • Elevation and Sea-floor Bathymetry: Shows ice sheet. Recorded by satellite. Source: Russell elevation of Earth’s surface features Huff—University of Colorado CIRES • Generalized Ocean Conveyor Belt: Thermohaline • Continents: Polygon layer with continental circulation pattern boundaries. Source: ESRI • Global Wind Pattern: Generalized pattern of winds • Buoy Locations: Oceanographic research buoys over oceans used in salinity, temperature, and current velocity • Surface Currents: Generalized pattern of surface research. Source: Bob Dickson—Centre for currents driven by winds over oceans Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science • Climate Classes (Simple): Regions of similar (CEFAS) climate (precipitation
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Sam White the Real Little Ice Age Between C.1300 and C.1850 A.D
    Journal of Interdisciplinary History, xliv:3 (Winter, 2014), 327–352. THE REAL LITTLE ICE AGE Sam White The Real Little Ice Age Between c.1300 and c.1850 a.d. the world became, on average, slightly but signiªcantly colder. The change varied over time and space, and its causes remain un- certain. Nevertheless, this cooling constitutes a meaningful climate event, with signiªcant historical consequences. Both the cooling trend and its effects on humans appear to have been particularly Downloaded from http://direct.mit.edu/jinh/article-pdf/44/3/327/1706251/jinh_a_00574.pdf by guest on 28 September 2021 acute from the late sixteenth to the late seventeenth century in much of the Northern Hemisphere. This article explains why climatologists and historians are conªdent that these changes occurred. On close examination, the objections raised in this issue of the journal by Kelly and Ó Gráda turn out to be entirely unfounded. The proxy data for early mod- ern global cooling (such as tree rings and ice cores) are robust, and written weather descriptions and observations of physical phenom- ena (such as glacial movements and river freezings) by and large of- fer independent conªrmation. Kelly and Ó Gráda’s proposed alter- native measures of climate and climate change suffer from serious ºaws. As we review the evidence and refute their criticisms, it will become clear just how solid the case for the Little Ice Age (lia) has become. the case for the little ice age The evidence for early modern global cooling comes, ªrst and foremost, from extensive research into physical proxies, including ice cores, tree rings, corals, and speleothems (stalagmites and stalactites).
    [Show full text]
  • Reforestation in a High-CO2 World—Higher Mitigation Potential Than
    Geophysical Research Letters RESEARCH LETTER Reforestation in a high-CO2 world—Higher mitigation 10.1002/2016GL068824 potential than expected, lower adaptation Key Points: potential than hoped for • We isolate effects of land use changes and fossil-fuel emissions in RCPs 1 1 1 1 •ClimateandCO2 feedbacks strongly Sebastian Sonntag , Julia Pongratz , Christian H. Reick , and Hauke Schmidt affect mitigation potential of reforestation 1Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany • Adaptation to mean temperature changes is still needed, but extremes might be reduced Abstract We assess the potential and possible consequences for the global climate of a strong reforestation scenario for this century. We perform model experiments using the Max Planck Institute Supporting Information: Earth System Model (MPI-ESM), forced by fossil-fuel CO2 emissions according to the high-emission scenario • Supporting Information S1 Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) 8.5, but using land use transitions according to RCP4.5, which assumes strong reforestation. Thereby, we isolate the land use change effects of the RCPs from those Correspondence to: of other anthropogenic forcings. We find that by 2100 atmospheric CO2 is reduced by 85 ppm in the S. Sonntag, reforestation model experiment compared to the reference RCP8.5 model experiment. This reduction is [email protected] higher than previous estimates and is due to increased forest cover in combination with climate and CO2 feedbacks. We find that reforestation leads to global annual mean temperatures being lower by 0.27 K in Citation: 2100. We find large annual mean warming reductions in sparsely populated areas, whereas reductions in Sonntag, S., J.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter 1 Ozone and Climate
    1 Ozone and Climate: A Review of Interconnections Coordinating Lead Authors John Pyle (UK), Theodore Shepherd (Canada) Lead Authors Gregory Bodeker (New Zealand), Pablo Canziani (Argentina), Martin Dameris (Germany), Piers Forster (UK), Aleksandr Gruzdev (Russia), Rolf Müller (Germany), Nzioka John Muthama (Kenya), Giovanni Pitari (Italy), William Randel (USA) Contributing Authors Vitali Fioletov (Canada), Jens-Uwe Grooß (Germany), Stephen Montzka (USA), Paul Newman (USA), Larry Thomason (USA), Guus Velders (The Netherlands) Review Editors Mack McFarland (USA) IPCC Boek (dik).indb 83 15-08-2005 10:52:13 84 IPCC/TEAP Special Report: Safeguarding the Ozone Layer and the Global Climate System Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 85 1.4 Past and future stratospheric ozone changes (attribution and prediction) 110 1.1 Introduction 87 1.4.1 Current understanding of past ozone 1.1.1 Purpose and scope of this chapter 87 changes 110 1.1.2 Ozone in the atmosphere and its role in 1.4.2 The Montreal Protocol, future ozone climate 87 changes and their links to climate 117 1.1.3 Chapter outline 93 1.5 Climate change from ODSs, their substitutes 1.2 Observed changes in the stratosphere 93 and ozone depletion 120 1.2.1 Observed changes in stratospheric ozone 93 1.5.1 Radiative forcing and climate sensitivity 120 1.2.2 Observed changes in ODSs 96 1.5.2 Direct radiative forcing of ODSs and their 1.2.3 Observed changes in stratospheric aerosols, substitutes 121 water vapour, methane and nitrous oxide 96 1.5.3 Indirect radiative forcing of ODSs 123 1.2.4 Observed temperature
    [Show full text]
  • Global Climate Coalition Primer on Climate Change Science
    ~ ~ Chairman F.SOHWAB Poraohe TECH-96-29 1st Viae C".lrrn.n C. MAZZA 1/18/96 Hyundal 2nd Vic. Ohalrrnan C. SMITH Toyota P S_cret.ry C. HELFMAN TO: AIAM Technical Committee BMW Treasurer .,J.AMESTOY Mazda FROM: Gregory J. Dana Vice President and Technical Director BMW c ••woo Flat RE: GLOBAL CLIMATE COALITION-(GCC)· Primer on Honda Hyundal Climate Change Science· Final Draft lauzu Kia , Land Rover Enclosed is a primer on global climate change science developed by the Mazda Mlt8ublehl GCC. If any members have any comments on this or other GCC NIB.an documents that are mailed out, please provide me with your comments to Peugeot forward to the GCC. Poreche Renault RolI&-Aoyoe S ••b GJD:ljf ""al'"u .z.ukl Toyota VOlkswagen Volvo President P. HUTOHINSON ASSOCIATION OF INTERNATIONAL AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS. INC. 1001 19TH ST. NORTH. SUITE 1200 • ARLINGTON, VA 22209. TELEPHONE 703.525.7788. FAX 703.525.8817 AIAM-050771 Mobil Oil Corporation ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH AND SAFETY DEPARTh4ENT P.O. BOX1031 PRINCETON, NEW JERSEY 08543-1031 December 21, 1995 'To; Members ofGCC-STAC Attached is what I hope is the final draft ofthe primer onglobal climate change science we have been working on for the past few months. It has been revised to more directly address recent statements from IPCC Working Group I and to reflect comments from John Kinsman and Howard Feldman. We will be discussing this draft at the January 18th STAC meeting. Ifyou are coming to that meeting, please bring any additional comments on the draft with you. Ifyou have comments but are unable to attend the meeting, please fax them to Eric Holdsworth at the GeC office.
    [Show full text]
  • Monsoon Intensification, Ocean Warming and Steric Sea Level Rise
    Manuscript prepared for Earth Syst. Dynam. with version 3.2 of the LATEX class copernicus.cls. Date: 8 March 2011 Climate change under a scenario near 1.5◦C of global warming: Monsoon intensification, ocean warming and steric sea level rise Jacob Schewe1,2, Anders Levermann1,2, and Malte Meinshausen1 1Earth System Analysis, Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, Potsdam, Germany 2Physics Institute, Potsdam University, Potsdam, Germany Abstract. We present climatic consequences of the Repre- 1 Introduction sentative Concentration Pathways (RCPs) using the coupled climate model CLIMBER-3α, which contains a statistical- In December 2010, the international community agreed, dynamical atmosphere and a three-dimensional ocean model. under the United Nations Framework Convention on Cli- We compare those with emulations of 19 state-of-the-art mate Change, to limit global warming to below 2◦C atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (AOGCM) us- (Cancun´ Agreements, see http://unfccc.int/files/meetings/ ing MAGICC6. The RCPs are designed as standard scenarios cop 16/application/pdf/cop16 lca.pdf). At the same time, it for the forthcoming IPCC Fifth Assessment Report to span was agreed that a review, to be concluded by 2015, should the full range of future greenhouse gas (GHG) concentra- look into a potential tightening of this target to 1.5◦C – in tions pathways currently discussed. The lowest of the RCP part because climate change impacts associated with 2◦C are scenarios, RCP3-PD, is projected in CLIMBER-3α to imply considered to exceed tolerable limits for some regions, e.g. a maximal warming by the middle of the 21st century slightly Small Island States.
    [Show full text]
  • Global Cooling: the Little Ice Age the Concept of the Little Ice Age
    GLOBAL WARMING: THE HOLOCENE -3- Helluland, today's Baffin Island, and sailed from there southwa d 0 a1;1o~her island that he called V~nland ('vineland'). About /o0~ V1km?s under Thorfinn Ka~lsefm even began to settle in North America. The sagas re~or? this, and we also have the evidence of the GLOBAL COOLING: THE LITTLE Anse au~ Meadows site m Newfoundland excavated in the 1960 ICE AGE From this settlement numbering more than one hundred inhabitant'' furth~r voyages w~r~ made to the south. But the hostility of th~ Skrrelmgs, as the V1kmgs called native Americans, led to the collapse of the first European colony in the Americas. The sea routes frorn Greenland, not to speak of Iceland or Norway were too distant t lend it support.162 ' o The Concept of the Little Ice Age The term 'Little Ice Age' was coined in the late 1930s by the US glaciologist Fram;ois Matthes (1875-1949). It first appeared in a report on recent glacier advances in North America, 1 then in the title of an essay on the geological interpretation of glacier moraines in the Yosemite valley. Matthes was interested in the coolings since the postglacial climatic optimum, that is, over the last three thousand years, and especially in that which followed the medieval warm period. In his view, most glaciers still existing in North America do not go back to the last great ice age but have arisen in this relatively short space of time. The period from the thirteenth to the nineteenth century, in which glaciers advanced in the Alps, Scandinavia and North America, he called 'the Little Ice Age' (to distinguish it from the great ice ages).
    [Show full text]
  • The Risk of Sea Level Rise
    THE RISK OF SEA LEVEL RISE:∗ A Delphic Monte Carlo Analysis in which Twenty Researchers Specify Subjective Probability Distributions for Model Coefficients within their Respective Areas of Expertise James G. Titus∗∗ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Vijay Narayanan Technical Resources International Abstract. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change requires nations to implement measures for adapting to rising sea level and other effects of changing climate. To decide upon an appropriate response, coastal planners and engineers must weigh the cost of these measures against the likely cost of failing to prepare, which depends on the probability of the sea rising a particular amount. This study estimates such a probability distribution, using models employed by previous assessments, as well as the subjective assessments of twenty climate and glaciology reviewers about the values of particular model coefficients. The reviewer assumptions imply a 50 percent chance that the average global temperature will rise 2°C degrees, as well as a 5 percent chance that temperatures will rise 4.7°C by 2100. The resulting impact of climate change on sea level has a 50 percent chance of exceeding 34 cm and a 1% chance of exceeding one meter by the year 2100, as well as a 3 percent chance of a 2 meter rise and a 1 percent chance of a 4 meter rise by the year 2200. The models and assumptions employed by this study suggest that greenhouse gases have contributed 0.5 mm/yr to sea level over the last century. Tidal gauges suggest that sea level is rising about 1.8 mm/yr worldwide, and 2.5-3.0 mm/yr along most of the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • The Contribution of Forests to Climate Change Mitigation a Synthesis of Current Research and Understanding
    the contribution of forests to climate change mitigation a synthesis of current research and understanding Wageningen, Face the Future, January 2019 Publication number: 19.001 Report Commissioned by: REDD+ Business Initiative and Greenchoice Authors: Wouter van Goor and Martijn Snoep 1 1 Colofon: February 2019, Face the Future Wageningen, The Netherlands Publication number: 19.001 The contribution of forests to climate change mitigation A synthesis of current research and understanding Authors: Wouter van Goor and Martijn Snoep Commissioned by: Disclaimer The views expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the RBI or Greenchoice. We regret any errors or omissions that may have been unwittingly made. © illustrations and graphs as specified. photos by Face the Future The role of forests in global and other Land use’ (FOLU) or Land Cost-effectiveness of REDD+ climate change Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry The majority of carbon prices around EXECUTIVE For the past 25 years, forest cover (LULCF) account for around 10% the world do not yet properly reflect SUMMARY in temperate climate countries has of the global net carbon emissions societal and environmental costs of 1 been stable or increasing. Since the (mainly from tropical deforestation). climate change and are still too low 1960s however, tropical forests are When considering gross emissions to reduce emissions fast enough to experiencing severe pressure and (total anthropogenic emissions from limit global warming to a safe level. deforestation and forest degradation deforestation without the deduction Without the right level of ambition on Although many studies suggest that have increased with alarming rates.
    [Show full text]
  • Why Did Global Warming Stop in 1998?
    Why Did Global Warming Stop in 1998? Because global warming is caused by ozone depletion, not by greenhouse gases Global mean surface temperatures remained relatively constant from 1945 to 1970, rose sharply from 1970 to 1998, and have remained essentially constant since 1998 (red bars to the right). All major compilations of surface temperatures on land and at sea show this basic trend. Meanwhile, atmospheric concentrations of carbon dioxide (green line) have risen every year since 1945 at ever increasing rates. The sudden increase in temperature beginning around 1970 and ending in 1998 is a distinctly different trend from the continuous increase in carbon dioxide from 1945 to present. Dozens of scientific papers have been written trying to explain this stark difference in terms of natural variation of climate systems. Nevertheless, many scientists are beginning to agree that 16 years of relatively constant temperatures since 1998 is becoming harder and harder to explain based on greenhouse gas theory. In 1984, climate scientists noticed that ozone in Trends in temperature (red bars), tropospheric chlorine Earth’s atmosphere above Antarctica was depleted (blue line) and ozone depletion (purple line) over the past 70 (decreased) by as much as 50% in late winter and years are distinctly different from trends in concentrations of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide (green line). early spring compared to measurements prior to 1970. In 2011, depletion reached 45% above the In the 1960s, human-made chlorofluorocarbons Arctic. The zonal average amount of ultraviolet (CFCs) began to be used widely as refrigerants, radiation reaching Earth increased from 1979 to 1998 solvents, and spray-can propellants.
    [Show full text]
  • The Impacts of Surface Albedo on Climate And
    1 THE IMPACTS OF SURFACE ALBEDO ON CLIMATE AND 2 BUILDING ENERGY CONSUMPTION: REVIEW AND 3 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS 4 5 6 7 Xin Xu (corresponding author) 8 Research Assistant 9 Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering* 10 Phone: 617-898-8968 11 [email protected] 12 13 Jeremy Gregory 14 Research Scientist 15 Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering * 16 Phone: 617-324-5639 17 [email protected] 18 19 Randolph Kirchain 20 Principal Research Scientist 21 Institute for Data, Systems and Society* 22 Phone: 617-253-4258 23 [email protected] 24 25 *Material Systems Laboratory 26 Massachusetts Institute of Technology 27 Building E38-432 28 Cambridge, MA 02139 29 Fax: 617-258-7471 30 31 32 A Paper Submitted for Presentation at the Transportation Research Board 95th Annual Meeting 33 34 Submission Date: August 1st, 2015 35 36 37 38 Word count: 6226 words text + 7 tables/figures x 250 words (each) = 7976 words TRB 2016 Annual Meeting Paper revised from original submittal. Xu, Gregory, Kirchain 2 1 ABSTRACT 2 Rapid urbanization has changed land use and surface properties, which has an effect on regional 3 and even global climate. One of the mitigation strategies proposed to combat urban heat island 4 (UHI) and global warming as a result of urban expansion is to increase the solar reflectance (or 5 albedo) of the urban surfaces (mainly roofs and roads). Despite the observed local cooling effect 6 in many studies, the regional and global climate impacts induced by land surface change are still 7 not well understood, especially the indirect and larger-scale effects of changes in urban albedo on 8 temperature and radiation budget.
    [Show full text]
  • Solving the Global Cooling Challenge How to Counter the Climate Threat from Room Air Conditioners
    Solving the Global Cooling Challenge How to Counter the Climate Threat from Room Air Conditioners By Iain Campbell, Ankit Kalanki, and Sneha Sachar A report by M OUN KY T C A I O N R I N E STIT U T Authors & Acknowledgments Authors Iain Campbell, Ankit Kalanki, and Sneha Sachar (AEEE) * Authors listed alphabetically. All authors from Rocky Mountain Institute unless otherwise noted. Contacts Iain Campbell, [email protected] Ankit Kalanki, [email protected] Suggested Citation Sachar, Sneha, Iain Campbell, and Ankit Kalanki, Solving the Global Cooling Challenge: How to Counter the Climate Threat from Room Air Conditioners. Rocky Mountain Institute, 2018. www.rmi.org/insight/solving_the_global_cooling_challenge. Editorial/Design Editorial Director: Cindie Baker Editor: Laurie Guevara-Stone Layout: Aspire Design, New Delhi Images courtesy of iStock unless otherwise noted. Acknowledgments The authors thank the following individuals/organizations for offering their insights and perspectives on this work. The names are listed in alphabetical order by last name. Omar Abdelaziz, Clean Energy Air and Water Technologies, FZE Paul Bunje, Conservation X Labs Alex Dehgan, Conservation X labs Sukumar Devotta, Former Director at National Environmental Engineering Research Institute Gabrielle Dreyfus, Institute of Governance and Sustainable Development John Dulac, International Energy Agency Chad Gallinat, Conservation X Labs Ben Hartley, SEforALL Saikiran Kasamsetty, Alliance for an Energy Efficient Economy Satish Kumar, Alliance for an Energy Efficient
    [Show full text]
  • Impact of Mid-Glacial Ice Sheets on Deep Ocean Circulation and Global Climate
    Clim. Past, 17, 95–110, 2021 https://doi.org/10.5194/cp-17-95-2021 © Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Impact of mid-glacial ice sheets on deep ocean circulation and global climate Sam Sherriff-Tadano, Ayako Abe-Ouchi, and Akira Oka Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, the University of Tokyo, Kashiwa, Japan Correspondence: Sam Sherriff-Tadano ([email protected]) Received: 27 May 2020 – Discussion started: 12 June 2020 Revised: 25 September 2020 – Accepted: 10 November 2020 – Published: 12 January 2021 Abstract. This study explores the effect of southward ex- 1 Introduction pansion of Northern Hemisphere (American) mid-glacial ice sheets on the global climate and the Atlantic Meridional During the last glacial period, ice sheets evolved drasti- Overturning Circulation (AMOC) as well as the processes cally over the northern continent (Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005; by which the ice sheets modify the AMOC. For this pur- Clark et al., 2009; Grant et al., 2012; Spratt and Lisiecki, pose, simulations of Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 (36 ka) 2016, Fig. 1). After the initiation of the Northern Hemisphere and 5a (80 ka) are performed with an atmosphere–ocean gen- glacial ice sheets at the end of the last interglacial, the ice eral circulation model. In the MIS3 and MIS5a simulations, sheets expanded over northern North America and northern the global average temperature decreases by 5.0 and 2.2 ◦C, Europe during the early glacial period, Marine Isotope Stage respectively, compared with the preindustrial climate sim- 5d-a (MIS5d-a, 123–71 ka; Lisiecki and Raymo, 2005), ulation.
    [Show full text]