DOCSLIB.ORG

The State and the Variations of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere World Meteorological Organisation

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The State and the Variations of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere World Meteorological Organisation WEATHER CLIMATE WATER The State and the Variations of Greenhouse Gases in the Atmosphere The content of this communication is based on the information that is included in the annual WMO Greenhouse Gas Bulletins produced during the last 14 years on the basis of the long-term high- quality observations undertaken by the global network and taking into consideration the recent advances in greenhouse gas research. The information is prepared by the Scientific Advisory Group on Greenhouse Gases under the Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) Programme of WMO. 1. Current levels of Greenhouse Gases for carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and in the atmosphere and trends nitrous oxide (N2O) reached new highs in the past years. In 2018, the global averaged CO2 mole fraction was 407.8±0.1 ppm, 2.2 ppm higher 1.1 Globally averaged levels in 2018 and 2017 than in 2017. Preliminary data from a subset of The latest analysis of observations from the greenhouse gas (GHG) observational sites for GAW Programme shows that globally averaged 2019 indicate that CO2 concentrations are on surface mole fractions (the quantity representing track to reach or even exceed 410 ppm by the concentration) calculated from this in situ network end of 2019. 410 1900 335 (a) (a) (a) 400 1850 330 390 325 1800 380 320 1750 370 315 1700 mole fraction (ppm) 360 mole fraction (ppb) 310 2 4 O mole fraction (ppb) 2 CH N CO 350 1650 305 340 1600 300 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Year Year Year 4.0 20 2.0 (b) (b) (b) 15 3.0 1.5 10 2.0 1.0 5 growth rate (ppb/yr) growth rate (ppm/yr) 4 2 1.0 0.5 O growth rate (ppb/yr) 2 0 CH N CO 0.0 -5 0.0 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 1985 1990 1995 2000 2005 2010 2015 Year Year Year Figure 1. Evolution of the global averaged mole fractions for the major greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 and N2O from 1985 until 2018, based on the WMO GAW in situ network observations. The red line depicts the de-seasonalized trend. The bottom plots show the respective monthly growth rates derived from the evolution of the global averages for each of the gases during the same period. A full global analysis completed for the three There is to this date no sign of the peaking of the main greenhouse gases shows that in 2017, global greenhouse gas levels and CO2 continued globally averaged mole fractions of CO2 were to increase at the record growth rates during the 405.6 ±0.1 ppm, CH4 at 1859 ±2 ppb and N2O last decade. at 329.9 ±0.1 ppb. These values constitute, respectively, 146%, 257% and 122% of pre- 1.2 The global network industrial levels (pre-1750). The GAW Programme (http://www.wmo.int/ The increase in CO2 from 2017 to 2018 was equal gaw) coordinates systematic observations and to that from 2016 to 2017 but smaller than that analysis of greenhouse gases and other trace observed from 2015 to 2016. This annual increase species. Sites where greenhouse gases have been is practically equal to the average growth rate over measured in the last decade are shown in Figure 2. the last decade. The influence of the El Niño event The GAW greenhouse gas network has been that peaked in 2015–2016 and contributed to the designed to measure the atmospheric content increased growth rate in 2015–2016, has sharply very accurately, with so called compatibility declined in the years 2017 and 2018. The growth goals for CO2 of 0.1 ppm (at a value of about rate of CO2 averaged over three consecutive 400 ppm this is 0.02% accuracy and precision) decades (1985–1995, 1995–2005 and 2005–2015) and 1 ppb for CH4 (at 1850 ppb this is 0.05% increased from 1.42 ppm/y to 1.86 ppm/y and to accuracy and precision). That means that any value 2.06 ppm/y with the highest annual growth rates measured at a GAW station can be compared observed during El Niño events. with any other station within that uncertainty. The greenhouse gas community undertakes For CH4, the increase from 2016 to 2017 is efforts to review the measurement techniques lower than that observed from 2015 to 2016 but and the global requirements for the quality of practically equal to the average over the last measurements and harmonized protocols at the decade. For N2O, the increase from 2016 to 2017 biannual meetings of expert taking place since was higher than that observed from 2015 to 1975 and co-organized by the International Atomic 2016 and practically equal to the average growth Energy Agency since 1997. rate over the past 10 years. Figure 1 shows the evolution of the global mean values derived from Measurement data are reported by participating the WMO GAW global observational network for countries and archived and distributed by the the major greenhouse gases. World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (WDCGG) Figure 2. The WMO GAW Ground-based Aircraft Ship GHG comparison sites network of in situ CO2 and CH4 gas observations. 2 Atmospheric CO2 at Mauna Loa Observatory Scripps Institution of Oceanography 400 NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory 380 360 ts per million r Pa 340 19 320 Figure 3. The longest time series of high eptember 20 S precision CO2 in the atmosphere is from 1960 1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 Mauna Loa, Hawaii. (https://www.esrl. noaa.gov/gmd/ccgg/trends/) Year at the Japan Meteorological Agency. The data are 2. Variability of greenhouse gas levels available free of charge for interested audience. 2.1 Spatial and temporal variations in the 1.3 Initiation of the greenhouse gas measurements greenhouse gas levels Measurements of atmospheric CO2 can provide There is substantial variability in the levels strong insights into human induced variations in of greenhouse gases within individual years the global carbon cycle. The rise in atmospheric (seasonal cycle), between years and between CO2 has been well documented since 1958, when different geographic regions. An example of the high precision measurements began at Mauna temporal-spatial variability of CO2 is presented Loa, under the direction of C. D. Keeling, as shown in Figure 4. The variability of CO2 in the Northern in Figure 3. The practices applied then to ensure Hemisphere is larger than in the Southern high-quality measurements were adopted for the Hemisphere. The seasonal cycles (the wiggles observations by GAW participants and are currently within one year in Figure 4) are clearly larger in applied at over one hundred stations worldwide. amplitude in northern high and mid-latitudes and small in the Southern Hemisphere. The Figure 3 represents the so called “Keeling curve” seasonal cycle in the Northern Hemisphere is and shows the monthly mean CO2 mole fractions mainly dominated by the land biosphere, and it is measured at Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii. The characterized by rapid decreases with 5–20 ppm National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration from June to August and large returns of similar (NOAA) started its own CO2 measurements in magnitude from September to December. May 1974, and they have run in parallel with Large-scale spatial gradient exists for the other those made by the Scripps institute since then. greenhouse gases as well. The Mauna Loa data are being obtained at an altitude of 3400 m in the northern subtropics and 2.2 Variability of the greenhouse gas levels at are very similar to but different from the globally the individual stations averaged CO2 concentration at the surface due to the global mixing and smoothing of the signals All GAW stations show the same global increases, (see section 2.2). Preliminary analysis shows that mixed with more local influences depending CO2 annual mean mole fraction at Mauna Loa in on the station location and height. These local 2018 reached 408.52 ppm (in comparison with influences can be used to study the local and/or 407.8 ppm globally averaged) and the increase regional sources and sinks of the greenhouse from 2017 to 2018 was 1.97 ppm. From January gases. These signals help to reduce uncertainties 2019 to August 2019 the increase in the mole of our emission estimates or warn for emissions fraction (de-seasonalized trend) was 0.85ppm. signals from unknown sources or previously 3 ppm 420 410 400 390 380 370 360 350 340 80N 60N 40N 20N EQ Latitude 20 S 40 S 60 S 2015 2005 2010 Figure 4. Variation of zonally averaged 80S 1995 2000 1985 1990 Year monthly mean CO mole fractions 340 360 380 400 ppm 2 calculated by WDCGG based on the observational data. not captured processes under the influence of latitude in Europe at Pallas station (part of GAW ongoing climate change that feedback into the contributing network ICOS) in northern Finland. greenhouse gas emissions, e.g. droughts, floods, This station, like now many of the GAW stations, land use changes and permafrost melting. has continuous measurements at high temporal hourly resolution, which delivers more information Figure 5 demonstrates the CO2 atmospheric signal than the traditional weekly or bi-weekly flask captured at three stations in Japan over the period measurements. The black dots here identify 1987 until now, showing similar signals as Mauna the hourly observations that show even more Loa but mixed with local variability. The signal variability, linked to signals from the natural from all stations captures the global increase carbon cycle and anthropogenic emissions.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Climate Change: How Do We Know We're Not Wrong? Naomi Oreskes
    Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future Lecture 4 – Climate Change: How Do We Know We’re Not Wrong? Naomi Oreskes, PhD 1. Start of Lecture Four (0:16) [ANNOUNCER:] From the Howard Hughes Medical Institute...The 2012 Holiday Lectures on Science. This year's lectures: "Changing Planet: Past, Present, Future," will be given by Dr. Andrew Knoll, Professor of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University; Dr. Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History and Science Studies at the University of California, San Diego; and Dr. Daniel Schrag, Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Harvard University. The fourth lecture is titled: Climate Change: How Do We Know We're Not Wrong? And now, a brief video to introduce our lecturer Dr. Naomi Oreskes. 2. Profile of Dr. Naomi Oreskes (1:14) [DR. ORESKES:] One thing that's really important for all people to understand is that the whole notion of certainty is mistaken, and it's something that climate skeptics and deniers and the opponents of evolution really exploit. Many of us think that scientific knowledge is certain, so therefore if someone comes along and points out the uncertainties in a certain scientific body of knowledge, we think that undermines the science, we think that means that there's a problem in the science, and so part of my message is to say that that view of science is incorrect, that the reality of science is that it's always uncertain because if we're actually doing research, it means that we're asking questions, and if we're asking questions, then by definition we're asking questions about things we don't already know about, so uncertainty is part of the lifeblood of science, it's something we need to embrace and realize it's a good thing, not a bad thing.
    [Show full text]
  • CO2, Hothouse and Snowball Earth
    CO2, Hothouse and Snowball Earth Gareth E. Roberts Department of Mathematics and Computer Science College of the Holy Cross Worcester, MA, USA Mathematical Models MATH 303 Fall 2018 November 12 and 14, 2018 Roberts (Holy Cross) CO2, Hothouse and Snowball Earth Mathematical Models 1 / 42 Lecture Outline The Greenhouse Effect The Keeling Curve and the Earth’s climate history Consequences of Global Warming The long- and short-term carbon cycles and silicate weathering The Snowball Earth hypothesis Roberts (Holy Cross) CO2, Hothouse and Snowball Earth Mathematical Models 2 / 42 Chapter 1 Historical Overview of Climate Change Science Frequently Asked Question 1.3 What is the Greenhouse Effect? The Sun powers Earth’s climate, radiating energy at very short Earth’s natural greenhouse effect makes life as we know it pos- wavelengths, predominately in the visible or near-visible (e.g., ul- sible. However, human activities, primarily the burning of fossil traviolet) part of the spectrum. Roughly one-third of the solar fuels and clearing of forests, have greatly intensifi ed the natural energy that reaches the top of Earth’s atmosphere is refl ected di- greenhouse effect, causing global warming. rectly back to space. The remaining two-thirds is absorbed by the The two most abundant gases in the atmosphere, nitrogen surface and, to a lesser extent, by the atmosphere. To balance the (comprising 78% of the dry atmosphere) and oxygen (comprising absorbed incoming energy, the Earth must, on average, radiate the 21%), exert almost no greenhouse effect. Instead, the greenhouse same amount of energy back to space. Because the Earth is much effect comes from molecules that are more complex and much less colder than the Sun, it radiates at much longer wavelengths, pri- common.
    [Show full text]
  • Keeling Curve: Result, Interpretation & Global Monitoring
    International Journal for Empirical Education and Research Keeling Curve: Result, Interpretation & Global Monitoring Augustyn Ostrowski Faculty of Geography & Geology Jagiellonian University Email: [email protected] (Author of Correspondence) Poland Abstract The Keeling Curve is a graph of the accumulation of carbon dioxide in the Earth's atmosphere based on continuous measurements taken at the Mauna Loa Observatory on the island of Hawaii from 1958 to the present day. The curve is named for the scientist Charles David Keeling, who started the monitoring program and supervised it until his death in 2005. Keywords: Mauna Loa Measurements; Results and Interpretation; Global Monitoring; Ralph Keeling. ISSN Online: 2616-4833 ISSN Print: 2616-4817 35 1. Introduction Keeling's measurements showed the first significant evidence of rapidly increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. According to Dr Naomi Oreskes, Professor of History of Science at Harvard University, the Keeling curve is one of the most important scientific works of the 20th century. Many scientists credit the Keeling curve with first bringing the world's attention to the current increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Prior to the 1950s, measurements of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations had been taken on an ad hoc basis at a variety of locations. In 1938, engineer and amateur meteorologist Guy Stewart Callendar compared datasets of atmospheric carbon dioxide from Kew in 1898-1901, which averaged 274 parts per million by volume (ppm), and from the eastern United States in 1936-1938, which averaged 310 ppmv, and concluded that carbon dioxide concentrations were rising due to anthropogenic emissions. However, Callendar's findings were not widely accepted by the scientific community due to the patchy nature of the measurements.
    [Show full text]
  • How I Stave Off Despair As a Climate Scientist So Much Warming, So Many Dire Effects, So Little Action — Dave Reay Reveals YVONNE COOPER/UNIV
    WORLD VIEW A personal take on events How I stave off despair as a climate scientist So much warming, so many dire effects, so little action — Dave Reay reveals YVONNE COOPER/UNIV. EDINBURGH COOPER/UNIV. YVONNE how dreams of soggy soil and seaweed keep him going. here’s a curve that is quietly plotting our performance as a behind my eyelids, that’s what helps me sleep. species. This curve is not a commodity price or a technology That, and a personal plot to pull a lifetime’s worth of carbon out of index. It has no agenda or steering committee. It is the Keeling the atmosphere. Tcurve. It is painfully consistent in its trajectory and brutally honest in The dream with which I’ve bored my family to distraction for the its graphical indictment of our society as one that stands ready to stand past 20 years is going truly ‘net zero’: paring down emissions to the by as islands submerge, cities burn and coasts flood. bare minimum, and then managing a chunk of land to try to sequester Established by Charles David Keeling in 1958, the curve records the remainder. how much carbon dioxide is in our atmosphere — fewer than 330 parts Last month, that dream came true. Years of saving, a large dollop per million then, more than 400 today. Each month for the past decade, of luck and an even larger loan made me and my wife the nervous my geeky addiction has been to scan the latest data. To search for some owners of 28 hectares of rough grassland and wild rocky shores in hint that ‘Stabilization Day’ will come: when global emissions and the west of Scotland.
    [Show full text]
  • A Rational Discussion of Climate Change: the Science, the Evidence, the Response
    A RATIONAL DISCUSSION OF CLIMATE CHANGE: THE SCIENCE, THE EVIDENCE, THE RESPONSE HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENERGY AND ENVIRONMENT COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED ELEVENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION NOVEMBER 17, 2010 Serial No. 111–114 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 62–618PDF WASHINGTON : 2010 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HON. BART GORDON, Tennessee, Chair JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois RALPH M. HALL, Texas EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR., LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California Wisconsin DAVID WU, Oregon LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas BRIAN BAIRD, Washington DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRAD MILLER, North Carolina ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma DONNA F. EDWARDS, Maryland JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois MARCIA L. FUDGE, Ohio W. TODD AKIN, Missouri BEN R. LUJA´ N, New Mexico RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas PAUL D. TONKO, New York BOB INGLIS, South Carolina STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas JIM MATHESON, Utah MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida LINCOLN DAVIS, Tennessee BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia BARON P. HILL, Indiana PETE OLSON, Texas HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona CHARLES A. WILSON, Ohio KATHLEEN DAHLKEMPER, Pennsylvania ALAN GRAYSON, Florida SUZANNE M.
    [Show full text]
  • SI Traceability and Scales for Underpinning Atmospheric
    Metrologia PAPER Recent citations SI traceability and scales for underpinning - Amount of substance and the mole in the SI atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse gases Bernd Güttler et al - Advances in reference materials and To cite this article: Paul J Brewer et al 2018 Metrologia 55 S174 measurement techniques for greenhouse gas atmospheric observations Paul J Brewer et al - News from the BIPM laboratories—2018 Patrizia Tavella et al View the article online for updates and enhancements. This content was downloaded from IP address 205.156.36.134 on 08/07/2019 at 18:02 IOP Metrologia Bureau International des Poids et Mesures Metrologia Metrologia Metrologia 55 (2018) S174–SS181 https://doi.org/10.1088/1681-7575/aad830 55 SI traceability and scales for underpinning 2018 atmospheric monitoring of greenhouse © 2018 BIPM & IOP Publishing Ltd gases MTRGAU Paul J Brewer1,6 , Richard J C Brown1 , Oksana A Tarasova2, Brad Hall3, George C Rhoderick4 and Robert I Wielgosz5 S174 1 National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, Middlesex TW11 0LW, United Kingdom 2 World Meteorological Organization, 7bis, avenue de la Paix, Case postale 2300, CH-1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland 3 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 325 Broadway, Mail Stop R.GMD1, Boulder, CO 80305, United States of America P J Brewer et al 4 National Institute of Standards and Technology, 100 Bureau Drive, MS-8393 Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8393, United States of America 5 Printed in the UK Bureau International des Poids et Mesures, Pavillon de Breteuil, F-92312 Sèvres Cedex, France E-mail: [email protected] MET Received 21 June 2018, revised 2 August 2018 Accepted for publication 6 August 2018 10.1088/1681-7575/aad830 Published 7 September 2018 Abstract Paper Metrological traceability is the property of a measurement result whereby it can be related to a stated reference through a documented unbroken chain of calibrations, each contributing to the measurement uncertainty.
    [Show full text]
  • LECTURE #23: Mega Disasters – Climate Change
    GEOL 0820 Ramsey Natural Disasters Spring, 2021 LECTURE #23: Mega Disasters – Climate Change Date: 19 April 2021 I. Final Exam • same access as the mid-term exams using Canvas o I will send a reminder email to your Pitt email account over the weekend o the exam will “open” at the start of the assigned time period: Wednesday, April 28th at 2:00pm and close at 3:15pm • same format as the mid-term exams o except a little longer (~75 questions) nd o material: 2 half of hurricanes, flooding (plus the video), wildfires, mega- disasters o weeks 11 – 14 II. Early Earth • was more similar to present-day Venus than what we have today o very high amounts of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and MUCH hotter temperatures Venus early Earth Earth today carbon dioxide (CO2) 96.5% 98% 0.04% nitrogen (N2) 3.4% 1.9% 78% oxygen (O2) ~ 0% ~ 0% 21% argon (Ar) 0.007% 0.1% 0.93% average temperature (°F) 872 550 61 * average pressure (bars) 92 60 1 * Earth would be at/below 32° F with no CO2 (more like Mars is now)! o so, where did all the CO2 go? . 80% is in rocks like limestone (CaCO3) and other organic material (oil/gas/coal) Plate Tectonics! . some dissolved into the oceans . some is in living plants (plants converted CO2 and produced O2) . other biologic uses of CO2 (bones, shells) III. Long Term Climate Change • Earth’s history shows large variations in climate o from the very early Earth with its large CO2 percentages o to much later in history .
    [Show full text]
  • This Is Nature; This Is Un-Nature: Reading the Keeling Curve
    Joshua P. Howe Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/envhis/article-abstract/20/2/286/528915 by OUP site access user on 24 May 2019 This Is Nature; This Is Un-Nature: Reading the Keeling Curve Data images make odd cultural artifacts. On one hand, scientists pre- sent their data in images as a form of visual communication, intended, like other forms of visual culture, to convey both specific information and larger culturally coded messages. On the other hand, scientists typically hew to methods of measurement and math- ematical analysis intended to ensure that the data they present reflect some objective reality that transcends the cultural. To the extent that the data tell a cultural story, it is supposed to “speak for itself.” Such is the case with the Keeling Curve, the oscillating upward- sloping graph of measured atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) that has come to stand as one of the most important and powerful scien- tific symbols of anthropogenic climate change. To a lay reader, it may seem odd to read a simple measure of atmospheric gas through the many-sided prism of modern American life the way you might read a historical photograph or piece of art. And yet the Keeling Curve func- tions as much as a symbol in our collective cultural understanding of climate change as it does a representation of data about CO2. The Keeling Curve faithfully represents something quite real—the accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere since 1958, expressed in parts per million (ppm)—but it is also a constructed image ripe for reading, similar to a painting, a photograph, a landscape, or a written document.
    [Show full text]
  • Denialism Deciphered
    and anthropogenic climate change (as well as second-hand smoke and the dangers of pest­ icides). We read of the tele­vision, radio and Internet ‘shock jocks’ who chase ratings by giving equal weight to The Madhouse Effect: How scientific consensus Climate Change and denialist rhetoric. Denial is The power of vested Threatening Our interests in US politics Planet, Destroying and implications for Our Politics, and state and federal action Driving Us Crazy MICHAEL E. MANN on climate change are AND TOM TOLES made abundantly clear, Columbia University with Mann an amiable, Press: 2016. if rather despairing, guide. He begins with an overview of the scien- tific method, the science of global warming and key uncertainties — such as feedback mechanisms, whereby warming can itself boost greenhouse-gas emissions and so CLIMATE SCIENCE cause even more warming. He and Toles then explore the “six stages of denial”, ranging from ‘it’s not happening’ through ‘it’s self- correcting’ to ‘geoengineering will fix it all’. Denialism Where this book shines is in its exploration of the debate in the United States, and a veri- table who’s who of denial. As the November presidential election looms, it’s useful to learn deciphered about key players’ stances. Unsurprisingly, most of the contenders for the Republican nomination when the book was finished back Dave Reay enjoys a wry history of US climate-science in July emerge as outspoken critics of climate obfuscation. science and international action. The party’s current candidate, Donald Trump, wants to renegotiate or leave the 2015 Paris climate s an iconic climate-change image, the report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Cli- agreement joined by President Barack Obama ‘hockey-stick graph’ by geophysicist mate Change; and still elicits invective from in September, and has called climate change Michael Mann — showing global deniers (S.
    [Show full text]
  • The 5 Most Important Data Sets of Climate Science July 2008; Vostok Ice Core
    The 5 Most Important Data Sets of Climate Science Photo: S. Rahmstorf This presentation was prepared on the occasion of the Arctic Expedition for Climate Action, July 2008. Author: Stefan Rahmstorf, Professor of Physics of the Oceans, Potsdam. The selection of the 5 “most important” data sets is of course subjective. The 5 core data sets are supplemented by related information and animations. While I am not the source of any of those 5 data sets, any errors in this presentation should be entirely blamed on me. This presentation can be downloaded in pdf format from http://www.ozean- klima.de Note that for technical reasons the animation movies are not embedded; the links where these can be obtained are given in the notes. S. Rahmstorf: The 5 most important data sets of climate science July 2008; www.ozean-klima.de Vostok Ice Core S. Rahmstorf: The 5 most important data sets of climate science July 2008; www.ozean-klima.de Vostok Ice Core 2008 1959 290 2 CO 190 Temperature 400 300 200 100 0 Millennia before present (Source: IPCC / PIK) The ice core drilled in the 1970s-80s by a French-Russian team at Vostok station in Antarctica reveals the carbon dioxide concentration in the atmosphere (blue) and the temperature (at Vostok, red) for the past 400,000 years. Primarily we see the last four glacial cycles, each lasting about 100,000 years. These are caused by variations in the Earth’s orbit, as shown in the schematic on top. The Vostok data put the recent increase in CO2 concentration (purple) in perspective: never in the past 400,000 years (and very likely much longer) has the CO2 concentration been nearly as high as it is now.
    [Show full text]
  • Climate Change, Society Issues and Sustainable Agriculture Eric Lichtfouse
    Climate change, society issues and sustainable agriculture Eric Lichtfouse To cite this version: Eric Lichtfouse. Climate change, society issues and sustainable agriculture. Eric Lichtfouse. Cli- mate Change, Intercropping, Pest Control and Beneficial Microorganisms, Springer, pp.1-7, 2009, Sustainable Agriculture Reviews, 10.1007/978-90-481-2716-0_1. hal-00442610 HAL Id: hal-00442610 https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00442610 Submitted on 21 Dec 2009 HAL is a multi-disciplinary open access L’archive ouverte pluridisciplinaire HAL, est archive for the deposit and dissemination of sci- destinée au dépôt et à la diffusion de documents entific research documents, whether they are pub- scientifiques de niveau recherche, publiés ou non, lished or not. The documents may come from émanant des établissements d’enseignement et de teaching and research institutions in France or recherche français ou étrangers, des laboratoires abroad, or from public or private research centers. publics ou privés. Revised version In: E. Lichtfouse (Ed.) Climate Change, Intercropping, Pest Control and Beneficial Microorganisms. Sustainable Agriculture Reviews, Vol. 2. Springer, pp. 1-7. DOI: 10.1007/978-90-481-2716-0_1 Climate change, society issues and sustainable agriculture Eric Lichtfouse INRA, Department of Environment and Agronomy, CMSE-PME, 17, rue Sully, 21000 Dijon, France. E-mail: [email protected] Abstract Despite its prediction 100 years ago by scientists studying CO2, man-made climate change has been officially recognised only in 2007 by the Nobel prize committee. Climate changes since the industrial revolution have already deeply impacted ecosystems. I report major impacts of climate change on waters, terrestrial ecosystems, agriculture, and economy in Europe.
    [Show full text]
  • Carina Daniels [email protected] 510-847-1617
    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 23, 2020 Contact: Carina Daniels [email protected] 510-847-1617 Finalists for 2020 Keeling Curve Prize announced during Earth Optimism Summit 20 world-class projects that reduce greenhouse gas emissions or promote carbon uptake are vying for ten $25,000 prizes Aspen, Colo. — Finalists for the 2020 Keeling Curve Prize include projects that turn carbon dioxide into stone, bring solar energy to rural Africa, help people get paid for removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and invite people online to post messages about climate change to those they love living decades in the future. The 20 finalists, announced during the Smithsonian’s digital Earth Optimism Summit, were chosen from over 300 applications from all over the world. “We are thrilled to present this year’s finalists,” said Jacquelyn Francis, founder and director of the Keeling Curve Prize. “They have strong potential to curb global warming emissions and demonstrate that game-changing solutions to this crisis are well underway.” Every year, the Keeling Curve Prize awards $25,000 to 10 projects around the globe with significant potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or increase carbon uptake. The prize is named after scientist Charles David Keeling’s famous Keeling Curve, which has been showing an increase in carbon dioxide levels in the Earth’s atmosphere since 1958. “We aim to bend the Keeling Curve by identifying and supporting the world’s most promising global warming solutions projects,” said Francis. Four finalists were vetted by a team of research analysts and selected by the advisory council for each of this year’s five prize categories: ● Capture & Utilization ● Energy ● Transport & Mobility ● Finance ● Social & Cultural Pathways An international panel of judges from the private, public, and nonprofit sectors will select two winners in each category.
    [Show full text]