Chapter 22. Chapter 22: Climate Change

What is the evidence that climate change is currently occurring...?

Interactive Study Guide
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Guiding Question 22.2

What is the evidence that climate change is currently occurring? How do scientists determine present and past temperature and CO2 concentrations?

Why You Should Care

Historical climate records since 1850 show a strong trend of increasing temperature, but more importantly, the warming years are coming in groups and the overall trend is increasing. The climatic averages show a trend, but the effects are not uniform (polar areas are warming faster than tropical areas) and not increasing every year (there are still cold years, but recent decades are much warmer than 100 years ago). This warming is the most obvious with ice: Ice on land and on the oceans is thinning, breaking up, and shrinking.

Measuring current ice pack and current temperatures only gives us a snapshot. To go back and find data from before scientific measurements requires some clever technology. Gases from the atmosphere can be trapped as ice forms, mud freezes, or sediment is laid down. Temperature can be inferred from the presence and growth of ancient coral reefs, buried pollen grains, and tree rings.

Once past temperature and gas levels are collected, a computer model can be created that takes historic and current data and estimates the climate that fits that data. Models are never as accurate as real data, but they are the only technique available today to make hypotheses about past and future climate.

Question Test Your Vocabulary

Fill in the blank with the correct term for each of the following definitions:

The abTBVWexica7YOf89CMA5Iw9LLMOy6vd9fdr0u0M/yAfzV/nipL282IuDQhdHpVHRMJP5w== is an international group of scientists who evaluate scientific studies related to any aspect of climate change to give thorough and objective assessment of the data.

Anything that is caused by or related to human action is called oGJSULuAMtN8hVqyW+VfCGX07h8=.

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Question 22.1

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Question 22.2

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Question 22.3

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Question 22.4

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Question 22.5

Infographic 22.2
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While the global temperature has been increasing, it is important to remember that this is climate, and weather still depends on local factors. Looking at Asia, there are warmer areas in the west and in the East and a large patch of cooler temperatures in the middle. Mountains, prevailing winds, and plant cover all modify weather and can warm or cool the air. The overall pattern globally is for warming.

Question 22.6

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Question 22.7

Infographic 22.7 - CO2 Level Data
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Question 22.8

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Question 22.9

Infographic 22.7 - Vostok ice core data
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Carbon dioxide is just one of the forcers for the greenhouse effect—albedo, aerosol concentrations, and the Milankovitch cycles all modify the temperature, too. But in general, carbon dioxide and temperature change at about the same pace and with the same trend. This relationship is strong enough that the IPCC uses these data as a baseline for climate models.
Infographic 22.8

Question 22.10

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Question 22.11

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Question 22.12

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Climate is very complex, and small changes in emissions, albedo, and land use for the real world could have enough effect that computer climate models would not be able to match that level of detail.