Climate change

(meteorology) Any change in global temperatures and precipitation over time due to natural variability or to human activity.

Human societies over the ages have depleted natural resources and degraded their local environments. Populations have also modified their local climates by cutting down trees or building cities. It is now apparent that human activities are perturbing the climate system at the global scale. Climate change is likely to have wide-ranging and potentially serious health consequences. Some health impacts will result from direct-acting effects (e.g., heatwave-related deaths, weather disasters); others will result from disturbances to complex ecological processes (e.g., changes in patterns of infectious disease, in freshwater supplies, and in food production).

What Is Climate Change?

Global climate change is caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the lower atmosphere. The global concentration of these gases is increasing, mainly due to human activities, such as the combustion of fossil fuels (which release carbon dioxide) and deforestation (because forests remove carbon from the atmosphere). The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, has increased by 30 percent since preindustrial times.

Projections of future climate change are derived from global climate model or general circulation model (GCM) experiments. Climatologists of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) review the results of these experiments for global and regional assessments. It is estimated that global mean surface temperature will rise by 1.5° to 3.5° C by 2100. This rate of warming is significant. Large changes in precipitation, both increases and decreases, are forecast, largely in the tropics. Climate change is very likely to affect the frequency and intensity of weather events, such as storms and floods, around the world. Climate change will also cause sea level rise due to the thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of the mountain glaciers. Global mean sea level is anticipated to rise by 15 to 95 centimeters by 2100. Sea level rise will increase vulnerability to coastal flooding and storm surges. The faster the climate change, the greater will be the risk of damage to the environment. Climatic zones (and thus ecosystems and agricultural zones) could shift toward the poles by 150 to 550 kilometers by 2100. Many ecosystems may decline or fragment, and individual species may become extinct. The IPCC Second Assessment report concludes that climate change has probably already begun.

Impacts on Health

To assess the potential impacts of climate change on health, it is necessary to consider both the sensitivity and vulnerability of populations for specific health outcomes to changes in temperature, rainfall, humidity, storminess, and so on. Vulnerability is a function both of the changes to exposure in climate and of the ability to adapt to that exposure.

Science classically operates empirically, via observation, interpretation, and replication. However, having initiated a global experiment, it would not be advisable to wait decades for sufficient empirical evidence to describe the health consequences. Risk assessment must therefore be carried out in relation to future environmental scenarios. The traditional "top-down" approach is to answer the question, "If climate changes like scenario X, then what will be the effect on specific health outcomes?" In contrast, "bottom-up" approaches begin with the question, "How much climate change can be tolerated?"

It is important to distinguish between "climate and health" relationships and "weather and health" relationships. Climate variability occurs on many time scales. Weather events occur at daily time scale and are associated with many health impacts (e.g., heatwaves and floods). Climate variability at other time scales also affects health. In particular, the El Niño Southern Oscillation has been shown to influence interannual variability in malaria, dengue, and other mosquito-borne diseases. Climate change is the long-term change in the average weather conditions for a particular location. Climate change will become apparent as a change in annual, seasonal, or monthly means. Thus, incremental climate change will be superimposed upon the natural variability of climate in time and space.

Natural Disasters. Climate change will increase the risk of both floods and droughts. Ninety percent of disaster victims worldwide live in developing countries, where poverty and population pressures force growing numbers of people to live in harm's way—on flood plains and on unstable hillsides. Unsafe buildings compound the risks. The vulnerability of those living in risk-prone areas is perhaps the single most important cause of disaster casualties and damage.

Water Quality and Quantity. Human health depends on an adequate supply of potable water. By reducing fresh water supplies, climate change may affect sanitation and lower the efficiency of local sewer systems, leading to increased concentrations of pathogens in raw water supplies. Climate change may also reduce the water available for drinking and washing. In developed countries, the anticipated increase in extreme rainfall events, which may be associated with the outbreaks of diarrheal diseases, may overwhelm the public water supply system. Flooding is likely to become more frequent with climate change and can affect health through the spread of disease. In vulnerable regions, the concentration of risks with both food and water insecurity can make the impact of even minor weather extremes (floods, droughts) severe for the households affected. The only way to reduce vulnerability is to build the infrastructure to remove solid waste and waste water and supply potable water. No sanitation technology is "safe" when covered by flood waters, as fecal matter mixes with flood waters and is spread wherever the flood waters go.

Food Security. Current assessments of the impact of climate change indicate that some regions are likely to benefit from increased agricultural productivity while others may suffer reductions, according to their location and dependence on the agricultural sector. The IPCC has reviewed the results of many modeling experiments that project future changes in crop yields under climate change. Climate change may increase yields of cereal grains at high and midlatitudes but may decrease yields at lower latitudes. The world's food system may be able to accommodate such regional variations at the global level, with production levels, prices, and the risk of hunger being relatively unaffected by the additional stress of climate change. However, populations in isolated areas with poor access to markets may still be vulnerable to locally important decreases or disruptions in food supply.

Heat Waves and Milder Winters. Heat stress is a direct result of exposure to high temperatures. Stressful hot weather episodes (heat waves) cause deaths in the elderly, as well as heat related illnesses such as heat stroke and heat exhaustion. A change in world climate, including an increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves, would affect the quality of life in many urban centers. Heat waves are responsible for a significant proportion of disease-related mortality in developed counties such as the United States and Australia, where the impact of weather disasters has been significantly reduced. Milder winters under climate change would reduce the excess morbidity and mortality, such as the United Kingdom, the beneficial impact may outweigh the detrimental.

Air Pollution. The air is full of particles and gases that may affect human health, such as pollen, fungal spores, and pollutants from fossil fuel emissions. Weather conditions influence air pollution via pollutant (or pollutant precursor) transport and/or formation. Exposures to air pollutants have serious public health consequences. Climate change, by changing pollen production, may affect timing and duration of seasonal allergies.

Social Dislocation. The growth in the number of refugees and displaced persons has increased markedly. Refugees represent a very vulnerable population with significant health problems. Large-scale migration is likely in response to flooding, drought, and other natural disasters. Both the local ecological disturbance caused by the extreme event and the circumstances of population displacement and resettlement would affect the risk of infectious disease outbreaks. Even displacement due to long-term cumulative environmental deterioration, including sea level rise, is associated with such health impacts.

Infectious Diseases. Vector-borne diseases are transmitted by insects (e.g., mosquitoes) and ticks that are sensitive to temperature, humidity, and rainfall. Climate change may alter the distribution of important vector species, and this may increase the risk of introducing disease into new areas. Temperature can also influence the reproduction and survival of the infective agent within the vector, thereby further influencing disease transmission in areas where the vector is already present. However, the ecology and transmission dynamics of vector-borne diseases are complex. The climate factors that could critically influence transmission need to be identified before the potential impact of a changing climate can be assessed.

Malaria is on the increase in the world at large, but particularly in Africa. In several locations around the world, malaria is reported in the twenty-first century at higher altitudes than in preceding decades, such as on the mountain plateaus in Kenya. The reason for such increases has not yet been confirmed but include population movement and the breakdown in control measures. Climate change may contribute to the spread of this major disease in the future in highlands and other vulnerable areas. Climate change impact models suggest that the largest changes in the potential for disease transmission will occur at the fringes—in terms of both latitude and altitude—of the potential malaria risk areas. The season transmission and distribution of many diseases that are transmitted by mosquitoes (dengue, yellow fever), sandflies (leishmaniasis), and ticks (Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis) may also be increased or decreased by climate change.

Adaptation and Mitigation

There are two responses to global climate change:

• Mitigation. Intervention or policies to reduce the emissions or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. The current international legal mechanism for countries to reduce their emissions is the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
• Adaption. Responses to the changing climate (e.g., acclimatization in humans) and policies to minimize the predicted impacts of climate change (e.g., building better coastal defenses).

The key determinants of health—as well as the solutions—lie primarily outside the direct control of the health sector. They are rooted in areas such as sanitation and water supply, education, agriculture, trade, transport, development and housing. Unless these issues are addressed, it can be difficult to make improvements in population health and reduce vulnerability to the health impacts of climate change.

(SEE ALSO: Environmental Determinants of Health; Geography of Disease)

Bibliography

Houghton, J. T.; Meira Filha, L. G.; Callander, B. A.; Harris, N.; Kattenberg, A.; and Maskell, K., eds.(1996). "The Science of Climate Change." Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

McMichael, A. J., and Haines, A. (1997). "Global Climate Change: The Potential Effects on Health." British Medical Journal 315:805–809.

Patz, J. A.; McGeehin, M. A.; Bernard, S. M.; Ebi, K. L.; Epstein, P. R.; Grambsch, A.; Gubler, D. J.; and Reiter, P. (2000). "The Potential Health Impacts of Climate Variability and Change for the United States: Executive Summary of the Report of the Health Sector of the United States National Assessment." Environmental Health Perspectives 108:367–376.

Watson, R.; Zinyowera, M. C.; Moss, R. H.; and Dokken, D., eds. (1996). "Climate Change 1995. Impacts, Adaptations, and Mitigation of Climate Change: Scientific and Technical Analyses." Second Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

— R. SARI KOVATS

For current global climate change, see Global warming.

Atmospheric sciences (category)
Meteorology (category) weather (category) tropical cyclones (category)
Climatology (category) climate (category) climate change (category) global warming (category)
Portal Atmospheric Sciences Portal Weather

Climate change is any long-term change in the statistics of weather over durations ranging from decades to millions of years. It can be manifest in changes to averages, extremes, or other statistical measures, and may occur in a specific region or for the Earth as a whole.

In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, climate change usually refers to changes in modern climate (see global warming). For information on temperature measurements over various periods, and the data sources available, see temperature record. For attribution of climate change over the past century, see attribution of recent climate change.

Contents 1 Causes of climate change 1.1 Plate tectonics 1.2 Solar output 1.3 Orbital variations 1.4 Volcanism 1.5 Ocean variability 1.6 Human influences 2 Physical evidence for climatic change 2.1 Glaciers 2.2 Vegetation 2.3 Ice cores 2.4 Dendrochronology 2.5 Pollen analysis 2.6 Insects 2.7 Sea level change 3 See also 4 References 5 Further reading 6 External links

Causes of climate change

Factors that can shape climate are often called climate forcings. These include such processes as variations in solar radiation, deviations in the Earth's orbit, and changes in greenhouse gas concentrations. There are a variety of climate change feedbacks that can either amplify or diminish the initial forcing. Some parts of the climate system, such as the oceans and ice caps, respond slowly in reaction to climate forcing because of their large mass. Therefore, the climate system can take centuries or longer to fully respond to new external forcings.

Plate tectonics

On the longest time scales, plate tectonics repositions continents, shapes oceans, builds and tear down mountains and generally defines the stage upon which climate exists. During the Carboniferous period, plate tectonics may have triggered the large-scale storage of carbon and increased glaciation.^[1] More recently, plate motions have been implicated in the intensification of the present ice age when, approximately 3 million years ago, the North and South American plates collided to form the Isthmus of Panama. This shut off direct mixing between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.^[2]

Solar output

Main article: Solar variation

Variations in solar activity during the last several centuries based on observations of sunspots and beryllium isotopes.

The sun is the source of the energy input to the climate system. Early in Earth's history, according to one theory, the sun was too cold to support liquid water at the Earth's surface, leading to what is known as the Faint young sun paradox.^[3] Over the coming millions of years, the sun will continue to brighten and produce a correspondingly higher energy output; as it continues through what is known as its "main sequence", and the Earth's atmosphere will be affected accordingly.

Solar output also varies on shorter time scales, including the 11-year solar cycle^[4] and longer-term modulations.^[5] The 11-year sunspot cycle produces only a small change in temperature near Earth's surface (on the order of a tenth of a degree) but has a greater influence in the atmosphere's upper layers.^[6] Solar intensity variations are considered to have been influential in triggering the Little Ice Age,^[7] and for some of the warming observed from 1900 to 1950. The cyclical nature of the sun's energy output is not yet fully understood; it differs from the very slow change that is happening within the sun as it ages and evolves, with some studies pointing toward solar radiation increases from cyclical sunspot activity affecting global warming^[8]

Orbital variations

In their effect on climate, orbital variations are in some sense an extension of solar variability, because slight variations in the Earth's orbit lead to changes in the distribution and abundance of sunlight reaching the Earth's surface. These orbital variations, known as Milankovitch cycles, directly affect glacial activity. Eccentricity, axial tilt, and precession comprise the three dominant cycles that make up the variations in Earth's orbit. The combined effect of the variations in these three cycles creates changes in the seasonal reception of solar radiation on the Earth's surface. As such, Milankovitch Cycles affecting the increase or decrease of received solar radiation directly influence the Earth's climate system, and influence the advance and retreat of Earth's glaciers. Subtler variations are also present, such as the repeated advance and retreat of the Sahara desert in response to orbital precession.^[9]

Volcanism

Volcanism is the process of conveying material from the depths of the Earth to the surface. Volcanic eruptions, geysers and hot springs are all part of the volcanic process and all release gases and particulates into the atmosphere.

Eruptions large enough to affect climate occur on average several times per century, and cause cooling for a period of a few years. The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991, the second largest terrestrial eruption of the 20th century (after the 1912 eruption of Novarupta) affected the climate substantially. Global temperatures decreased by about 0.5 °C (0.9 °F), and ozone depletion being temporarily substantially increased. Much larger eruptions, known as large igneous provinces, occur only a few times every hundred million years, but can reshape climate for millions of years and cause mass extinctions. Initially, it was thought that the dust ejected into the atmosphere from large volcanic eruptions was responsible for longer-term cooling by partially blocking the transmission of solar radiation to the Earth's surface. However, measurements indicate that most of the dust hurled into the atmosphere may return to the Earth's surface within as little as six months, given the right conditions.^[10]

Volcanoes are also part of the extended carbon cycle. Over very long (geological) time periods, they release carbon dioxide from the Earth's interior, counteracting the uptake by sedimentary rocks and other geological carbon dioxide sinks. According to the US Geological Survey, however, estimates are that human activities generate more than 130 times the amount of carbon dioxide emitted by volcanoes.^[11]

Ocean variability

Main article: Thermohaline circulation

A schematic of modern thermohaline circulation

The ocean is a fundamental part of the climate system. Short-term fluctuations (years to a few decades) such as the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, the Pacific decadal oscillation, the North Atlantic oscillation, and the Arctic oscillation, represent climate variability rather than climate change. On longer time scales, alterations to ocean processes such as thermohaline circulation play a key role in redistributing heat by carrying out a very slow and extremely deep movement of water, and the long-term redistribution of heat in the world's oceans.

Human influences

Main article: Global warming

Anthropogenic factors are human activities that change the environment. In some cases the chain of causality of human influence on the climate is direct and unambiguous (for example, the effects of irrigation on local humidity), whilst in other instances it is less clear. Various hypotheses for human-induced climate change have been argued for many years though, generally, the scientific debate has moved on from scepticism to a scientific consensus on climate change that human activity is the probable cause for the rapid changes in world climate in the past several decades.^[12] Consequently, the debate has largely shifted onto ways to reduce further human impact and to find ways to adapt to change that has already occurred.^[13]

Of most concern in these anthropogenic factors is the increase in CO₂ levels due to emissions from fossil fuel combustion, followed by aerosols (particulate matter in the atmosphere) and cement manufacture. Other factors, including land use, ozone depletion, animal agriculture^[14] and deforestation, are also of concern in the roles they play - both separately and in conjunction with other factors - in affecting climate.

Physical evidence for climatic change

Evidence for climatic change is taken from a variety of sources that can be used to reconstruct past climates. Reasonably complete global records of surface temperature are available beginning from the mid-late 1800s. For earlier periods, most of the evidence is indirect—climatic changes are inferred from changes in indicators that reflect climate, such as vegetation, ice cores,^[15] dendrochronology, sea level change, and glacial geology.

Glaciers

Variations in CO₂, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 450,000 years

Glaciers are recognized as being among the most sensitive indicators of climate change,^[16] advancing during climate cooling (for example, during the period known as the Little Ice Age) and retreating during climate warming on moderate time scales. Glaciers grow and shrink, both contributing to natural variability and amplifying externally forced changes. A world glacier inventory has been compiled since the 1970s. Initially based mainly on aerial photographs and maps, this compilation has resulted in a detailed inventory of more than 100,000 glaciers covering a total area of approximately 240,000 km² and, in preliminary estimates, for the recording of the remaining ice cover estimated to be around 445,000 km². The World Glacier Monitoring Service collects data annually on glacier retreat and glacier mass balance From this data, glaciers worldwide have been shown to be shrinking significantly, with strong glacier retreats in the 1940s, stable or growing conditions during the 1920s and 1970s, and again increasing rates of ice loss from the mid 1980s to present.^[17] Mass balance data indicate 17 consecutive years of negative glacier mass balance.

Percentage of advancing glaciers in the Alps in the last 80 years

The most significant climate processes of the last several million years are the glacial and interglacial cycles of the present age. The present interglaciation (often termed the Holocene) has lasted about 10,000 years.^[18] Shaped by orbital variations, earth-based responses such as the rise and fall of continental ice sheets and significant sea-level changes helped create the climate. Other changes, including Heinrich events, Dansgaard–Oeschger events and the Younger Dryas, however, illustrate how glacial variations may also influence climate without the forcing effect of orbital changes.

Advancing glaciers leave behind moraines that contain a wealth of material - including organic matter that may be accurately dated - recording the periods in which a glacier advanced and retreated. Similarly, by tephrochronological techniques, the lack of glacier cover can be identified by the presence of soil or volcanic tephra horizons whose date of deposit may also be precisely ascertained. Glaciers are considered one of the most sensitive climate indicators by the IPCC, and their recent observed variations are considered a prominent indicator of impending climate change. See also Retreat of glaciers since 1850.^{[citation needed]}

Vegetation

A change in the type, distribution and coverage of vegetation may occur given a change in the climate; this much is obvious. In any given scenario, a mild change in climate may result in increased precipitation and warmth, resulting in improved plant growth and the subsequent sequestration of airborne CO₂. Larger, faster or more radical changes, however, may well^{[weasel words]} result in vegetation stress, rapid plant loss and desertification in certain circumstances.^[19]

Ice cores

Analysis of ice in a core drilled from a permafrost area, such as the Antarctic, can be used to show a link between temperature and global sea level variations. The air trapped in bubbles in the ice can also reveal the CO₂ variations of the atmosphere from the distant past, well before modern environmental influences. The study of these ice cores has been a significant indicator of the changes in CO₂ over many millennia, and continue to provide valuable information about the differences between ancient and modern atmospheric conditions.

Dendrochronology

Dendochronology is the analysis of tree ring growth patterns to determine the age of a tree. From a climate change viewpoint, however, Dendochronology can also indicate the climatic conditions for a given number of years. Wide and thick rings indicate a fertile, well-watered growing period, whilst thin, narrow rings indicate a time of lower rainfall and less-than-ideal growing conditions.

Pollen analysis

Palynology is the study of contemporary and fossil palynomorphs, including pollen. Palynology is used to infer the geographical distribution of plant species, which vary under different climate conditions. Different groups of plants have pollen with distinctive shapes and surface textures, and since the outer surface of pollen is composed of a very resilient material, they resist decay. Changes in the type of pollen found in different sedimentation levels in lakes, bogs or river deltas indicate changes in plant communities; which are dependent on climate conditions.^[20][21]

Insects

Remains of beetles are common in freshwater and land sediments. Different species of beetles tend to be found under different climatic conditions. Given the extensive lineage of beetles whose genetic makeup has not altered significantly over the millennia, knowledge of the present climatic range of the different species, and the age of the sediments in which remains are found, past climatic conditions may be inferred.^[22]

Sea level change

Main article: Current sea level rise

Global sea level change for much of the last century has generally been estimated using tide gauge measurements collated over long periods of time to give a long-term average. More recently, altimeter measurements — in combination with accurately determined satellite orbits — have provided an improved measurement of global sea level change.^[23]

See also

General Atmospheric physics Glossary of climate change List of climate change topics World Forestry Congress (WFC) Climate of the deep past Faint young sun paradox Oxygen Catastrophe Snowball earth Climate of the last 500 million years Cretaceous Thermal Maximum Ice ages Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum Permo–Carboniferous Glaciation

Wikinews has related news: Climate change Environment portal Energy portal Climate of recent glaciations Bond event Dansgaard-Oeschger event Younger Dryas Recent climate Anthropocene Global warming Hardiness Zone Migration Holocene Climatic Optimum Little Ice Age Medieval Warm Period Temperature record of the past 1000 years Year Without a Summer

References

1. ^ Peter Bruckschen, Susanne Oesmanna and Ján Veizer (1999-09-30). "Isotope stratigraphy of the European Carboniferous: proxy signals for ocean chemistry, climate and tectonics". Chemical Geology 161 (1-3): 127. doi:10.1016/S0009-2541(99)00084-4. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V5Y-3XNK494-8&_user=10&_rdoc=1&_fmt=&_orig=search&_sort=d&view=c&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=10&md5=7db7616e9dc94e6ed49a817195926851. 
2. ^ "Panama: Isthmus that Changed the World". NASA Earth Observatory. http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NewImages/images.php3?img_id=16401. Retrieved on 2008-07-01. 
3. ^ Sagan, C.; G. Mullen (1972). Earth and Mars: Evolution of Atmospheres and Surface Temperatures. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/177/4043/52?ck=nck. 
4. ^ Willson, R.C., Hudson, H.S., The Sun's luminosity over a complete solar cycle, Nature, 351, 42 - 44 (1991)
5. ^ Willson, R. C., and A. V. Mordvinov (2003), Secular total solar irradiance trend during solar cycles 21–23, Geophys. Res. Lett., 30(5), 1199, doi:10.1029/2002GL016038 http://www.agu.org/journals/gl/gl0905/2008GL036307
6. ^ Crooks, Simon A.; Gray, Lesley J. (2005). "Characterization of the 11-Year Solar Signal Using a Multiple Regression Analysis of the ERA-40 Dataset". Journal of Climate 18: 996. doi:10.1175/JCLI-3308.1.  edit
7. ^ Solar Influences on Global Change, National Research Council, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C., p. 36, 1994.
8. ^ "NASA Study Finds Increasing Solar Trend That Can Change Climate". 2003. http://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/topstory/2003/0313irradiance.html. 
9. ^ "Milankovitch Cycles and Glaciation". University of Montana. http://www.homepage.montana.edu/~geol445/hyperglac/time1/milankov.htm. Retrieved on 2009-04-02. 
10. ^ "Causes of Climate Change". Physical Geography.net. http://www.physicalgeography.net/fundamentals/7y.html. Retrieved on 2009-02-02. 
11. ^ "Volcanic Gases and Their Effects". U.S. Department of the Interior. 2006-01-10. http://volcanoes.usgs.gov/Hazards/What/VolGas/volgas.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-21. 
12. ^ IPCC. (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis (summary for policy makers), IPCC.
13. ^ See for example emissions trading, cap and share, personal carbon trading, UNFCCC
14. ^ Steinfeld, H.; P. Gerber, T. Wassenaar, V. Castel, M. Rosales, C. de Haan (2006). Livestock’s long shadow. http://www.virtualcentre.org/en/library/key_pub/longshad/A0701E00.htm. 
15. ^ Petit, J. R.; J. Jouzel, D. Raynaud, N. I. Barkov, J.-M. Barnola, I. Basile, M. Bender, J. Chappellaz, M. Davis, G. Delaygue, M. Delmotte, V. M. Kotlyakov, M. Legrand, V. Y. Lipenkov, C. Lorius, L. PÉpin, C. Ritz, E. Saltzman and M. Stievenard (1999-06-03). "Climate and atmospheric history of the past 420,000 years from the Vostok ice core, Antarctica". Nature 399: 429–436. doi:10.1038/20859. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v399/n6735/full/399429a0.html. Retrieved on 2008-01-22. 
16. ^ Seiz, G.; N. Foppa (2007) The activities of the World Glacier Monitoring Service (WGMS) . Report. Retrieved on 2009-06-21.
17. ^ Zemp, M.; I.Roer, A.Kääb, M.Hoelzle, F.Paul, W. Haeberli (2008) United Nations Environment Programme - Global Glacier Changes: facts and figures . Report. Retrieved on 2009-06-21.
18. ^ Montana State University (2008) Geologic Time and Glacial Cycles . Report.
19. ^ Bachelet, D; R.Neilson,J.M.Lenihan,R.J.Drapek (2001). "Climate Change Effects on Vegetation Distribution and Carbon Budget in the United States". Ecosystems 4: 164–185. doi:10.1007/s10021–001–0002-7. http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/Library/nationalassessment/forests/Ecosystems2%20Bachelet.pdf. Retrieved on 2009-02-1-10. 
20. ^ Langdon, PG; Barber KE, Lomas-Clarke SH (August 2004). "Reconstructing climate and environmental change in northern England through chironomid and pollen analyses: evidence from Talkin Tarn, Cumbria". Journal of Paleolimnology 32 (2): 197–213. doi:10.1023/B:JOPL.0000029433.85764.a5. http://www.springerlink.com/content/t7m324u675701133/. Retrieved on 2008-01-28. 
21. ^ Birks, HH (March 2003). "The importance of plant macrofossils in the reconstruction of Lateglacial vegetation and climate: examples from Scotland, western Norway, and Minnesota, USA". Quarternary Science Reviews 22 (5-7): 453–473. doi:10.1016/S0277-3791(02)00248-2. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6VBC-47YH3W8-2/2/fde5760538b5b3adb92d8564ea968b9a. Retrieved on 2008-01-28. 
22. ^ Coope, G.R.; Lemdahl, G.; Lowe, J.J.; Walkling, A. (1999-05-04). "Temperature gradients in northern Europe during the last glacial—Holocene transition(14–9 14 C kyr BP) interpreted from coleopteran assemblages". Journal of Quaternary Science (John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.) 13 (5): 419–433. doi:10.1002/(SICI)1099-1417(1998090)13:5<419::AID-JQS410>3.0.CO;2-D. http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/abstract/61001707/ABSTRACT. Retrieved on 2008-02-18. 
23. ^ "Sea Level Change". 2009. http://sealevel.colorado.edu/documents.php. Retrieved on 2009-02-1-10. 

Further reading

• Emanuel, K. A. (2005) ftp://texmex.mit.edu/pub/emanuel/PAPERS/NATURE03906.pdf Increasing destructiveness of tropical cyclones over the past 30 years., Nature, 436; 686-688PDF
• IPCC. (2007) Climate change 2007: the physical science basis (summary for policy makers), IPCC.
• Miller, C. and Edwards, P. N. (ed.)(2001) Changing the Atmosphere: Expert Knowledge and Environmental Governance, MIT Press
• Ruddiman, W. F. (2003) The anthropogenic greenhouse era began thousands of years ago, Climate Change 61 (3): 261-293
• Ruddiman, W. F. (2005) Plows, Plagues and Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate, Princeton University Press
• Ruddiman, W. F., Vavrus, S. J. and Kutzbach, J. E. (2005) A test of the overdue-glaciation hypothesis, Quaternary Science Review, 24:11
• Schmidt, G. A., Shindel, D. T. and Harder, S. (2004) A note of the relationship between ice core methane concentrations and insolation GRL v31 L23206

External links

• Climate Change from the UCB Libraries GovPubs
• Climate change at the Open Directory Project
• Ocean Motion: Satellites Record Weakening North Atlantic Current
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change
• United Nations University's 'Our World 2' Climate Change Video Briefs

v • d • e Global warming and climate change   Temperatures Instrumental record · Satellite record · Past 1,000 years · Since 1880 · Geologic record · Historical climatology · Paleoclimatology   Causes Anthropogenic Aviation · Biofuel · Carbon dioxide · Fossil fuel · Global dimming · Global warming potential · Greenhouse effect · Greenhouse gases · Land use and forestry · Urban heat island Natural Albedo · Bond events · Cloud forcing · Glaciation · Global cooling · Ocean variability (AMO · ENSO · IOD · PDO) · Orbital variations · Orbital forcing · Radiative forcing · Solar variation · Volcanism   Opinion and controversy Scientific opinion · Scientists opposing the mainstream assessment · Climate change denial  · Climate ethics   Models and politics Models Global climate model Politics United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC / FCCC) · Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)   Potential effects and issues General Climate change and agriculture · Drought · Economics of global warming · Glacier retreat · Mass extinction · Ozone depletion · Ocean acidification · Sea level rise · Season creep · Shutdown of thermohaline circulation By country Australia · India · United States   Mitigation Kyoto Protocol Clean Development Mechanism · Joint Implementation · Bali roadmap Governmental European Climate Change Programme · United Kingdom Climate Change Programme · Oil phase-out in Sweden · Coal phase out Schemes Emissions trading · Personal carbon trading · Carbon tax · Carbon offset · Carbon credit · Carbon dioxide sink (carbon sequestration) · Cap and Share Energy conservation Efficient energy use · Renewable energy · Renewable energy commercialization · Renewable energy development · Soft energy path Other G8 Climate Change Roundtable · Individual and political action on climate change · Climate change mitigation scenarios   Proposed adaptations Strategies Damming glacial lakes · Drought tolerance · Irrigation investment · Rainwater storage · Sustainable development · Weather control Programmes Avoiding Dangerous Climate Change · Land Allocation Decision Support System Category:Global warming · Category:Climate change · Glossary of climate change · Index of climate change articles

This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)