CLIMATE CHANGE

Instructor

Dr. Erion Bwambale (PhD,

TCBE4107
MSc, BSc)
[email protected]

0776800417
 What is climate change?

Climate change is a change in the pattern of

weather, and related changes in oceans, land
surfaces and ice sheets, that have come to
define Earth’s local, regional and global climates
and occurring over time scales of decades or
longer.

Human activities, especially emissions of heat-

trapping greenhouse gases from fossil fuel
combustion, deforestation, and land-use
change, are the primary driver of the climate
changes observed in the industrial era.
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 Climate change causes

text

Natural cause
Climate Change.
Earth

Anthropogenic
causes

Global temperature

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Natural causes-External forcing

Greenhouse gases Solar output Plate tectonics

Orbital variations Volcanism Other mechanisms

EXTERNAL CLIMATE
FORCING

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Natural causes-Orbital variation
Shifts and wobbles in the Earth’s orbit
can trigger changes in climate such as
the beginning and end of ice ages.

More tilt = warmer summers and colder

winters
Less tilt = cooler summers and milder
winters
Orbital shifts are so gradual that they
can only be observed over thousands of
years -not decades or centuries.
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Natural causes-solar output

• The Sun is the source of energy for the

Earth’s climate system.
•
The Sun’s energy output appears
constant from an everyday point of view,
small changes over an extended period
of time can lead to climate changes.
• A decrease in solar activity was thought
to have triggered the Little Ice Age
Source: Swiss National Science Foundation
between approximately 1650 and 1850,
when Greenland was largely cut off by
ice from 1410 to the 1720s and glaciers
advanced in the Alps. 64
 Natural causes-volcanism

Volcanic eruption throws out

a enormous amount of
particles and other gases
that effectively shield us
from the Sun to lead to a
period of global cooling.
Source: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/learn/sensing-our-planet/volcanoes-and-climate-change

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Anthropogenic causes
Coal mining

Deforestation Air pollution

Greenhouse gases Industrial processes

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 Why are these gases called
greenhouse gases?
A greenhouse is a building with
glass walls and a glass roof.
Greenhouses are used to grow
plants, such as tomatoes and
tropical flowers.
A greenhouse stays warm inside,
even during the winter. In the
daytime, sunlight shines into the
greenhouse and warms the plants
and air inside. At nighttime, it's
colder outside, but the greenhouse
stays pretty warm inside. That's
because the glass walls of the
greenhouse trap the Sun's heat.
• The greenhouse effect works much the same way on
Earth. Gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide,
trap heat similar to the glass roof of a greenhouse.
These heat-trapping gases are called greenhouse gases.
How the Greenhouse
Effect Works
incoming
radiation

Solar energy reaches the Earth’s surface

incoming
radiation

infrared radiation

Earth’s surface warms, emits radiation

incoming
radiation
greenhouse
gases

infrared radiation

Greenhouse gases absorb IR leaving the surface

incoming
radiation
greenhouse
gases

infrared radiation

Gases are energized, then emit radiation (IR)

 incoming
radiation
greenhouse
gases

infrared radiation

Some of this IR reaches the planet surface, warming it further

incoming
radiation
greenhouse
gases

infrared radiation

This process is what we call the GREENHOUSE EFFECT!

 Greenhouse Gas Effect
Carbon dioxide (CO2),
methane (CH4) and water
vapour (H2O) are greenhouse
gases that are found in the
atmosphere.
H2O
Energy travels from the Sun
CO2 to the Earth as short wave
CH4 radiation. It does not interact
CH4 strongly with the greenhouse
CO2
gas molecules so it reaches
the Earth’s surface.
CH4
CO2

H2O

CH4

CO2
 Greenhouse Gas Effect
The Earth’s surface emits
long wavelength radiation.
This does interact with the
greenhouse gas molecules.

H2O The greenhouse gas molecules

absorb some of the energy,
CO2
trapping it in the atmosphere.
CH4
CH4
This process keeps the Earth
CO2 warm and is essential for life.

CH4
CO2

H2O

CH4

CO2
 Greenhouse Gas Effect
The higher the proportion
of greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere, the more
radiation is absorbed.

H2O This causes a rise in the

CO2
CO2 CO2 temperature of the Earth and
CO2
CO2 is known as the greenhouse
CH4 CH4 CO2 effect.
CH4
CO2 This increase in temperature
CO2 CO2 CO2
drives climate change.
CH4 CH4
CO2
CO2
CO2 H2O

CH4 CO2
CH4 CO2

CO2 CO2
• There is a great deal of concern about the
greenhouse gas effect across the globe; not
because of the presence of the effect itself,
but because the effect is intensifying, causing
climate change or global warming.
• Since the Industrial Revolution the
atmospheric concentrations of the major
greenhouse gases, particularly CO2 and
methane, have increased dramatically due to
industrialization, the burning of fossil fuels,
and deforestation.
• At the same time, there has been rapid
warming of the global climate; CO2
concentrations have increased more than
25% and global temperature has risen by
0.5o C over the past century.
• Unless production of these greenhouse
gases is curbed, this rapid warming
trend may continue, with potentially dire
consequences.
Greenhouse gases

• Greenhouse gases are those that absorb and emit infrared radiation in the wavelength range
emitted by Earth.

• Infrared radiation is emitted from the

Earth surface.
• Some of the infrared radiation passes
• Solar radiation passes through the
through the atmosphere and some
clear atmosphere.
absorbed and re-emitted in all
• Most radiation is absorbed by the
molecules. The effect of this is to
Earth surface and warms it.
warm the Earth surface and the lower
• Some solar radiation is reflected by
atmosphere.
the Earth and the atmosphere.

The burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas for electricity, heat, and
transportation is the primary source of human-generated emissions.

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Greenhouse gases

Human enhanced greenhouse

gases effect

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Greenhouse gases

CO2 concentration in the atmosphere is

currently 40% higher than it was
when industrialisation began.

Other greenhouse gases are emitted in

smaller quantities, but they trap heat
far more effectively than CO2, and in
some cases are thousands of times
stronger. Source: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/change/causes_en

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Greenhouse gases- Carbon Dioxide

Sources: Credit: Luthi, D., et al.. 2008; Etheridge, D.M., et al. 2010; Vostok ice core data/J.R. Petit et al.; NOAA Mauna
Loa CO2 record. https://climate.nasa.gov/evidence/

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 Deforestation

Deforestation is the permanent removal

of trees to make room for something
besides forest.
This can include clearing the land for
agriculture or grazing, or using the
timber for fuel, construction or
manufacturing.

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 Air pollution

Air pollution is caused by fertiliser use, livestock

production, and certain industrial processes that release
fluorinated gases.
Pollutants in the air can produce serious environmental
issues and contribute to climate change. The major
concerns include:
o The ability of pollutants to trap too much heat in
the atmosphere
o The mixture of gases with moisture in the atmosphere
which produces damaging acid rain
o The increase in unnatural ozone levels
o The presence of particles in the atmosphere that block
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sunlight
Mining

Coal mining releases methane,

a potent greenhouse gas.
Methane emissions from
coalmines has a global
warming potential 21 times
greater than that of carbon
dioxide over a 100-year
timeline (Source IPCC).

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Industrial processes
These total emissions for industrial process are
comprised of:
• Direct energy-related CO2 emissions for industry
• Indirect CO2 emissions from production of
electricity and heat for industry
• Process CO2 emissions
• Non-CO2 GHG emissions
• Direct emissions for waste/wastewater

Source: CO2CRC.com

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Consequences of climate change
Changes in Photo credit UCSUSA

• Glaciers and ice sheets

• Sea level change
• Sea ice
• Heavy rainfall across the globe
• Extreme Drought
• Decline in Crop productivity Photo credit David Paul Morris, Bloomberg Photo credit AFP
• Changes in ecosystems
• Hurricanes
• Rise in temperature
• Acidification of seawater

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Effects of global warming
 Sea level rise:
 This is caused by two factors such as addition of water
from melting ice land and expansion of sea waters as it
warms.
 Rate of increase in sea level is 3.19 mm per year, this
causes loss of low-lying land, submergence of island
states in Indian and Pacific Ocean might disappear
completely, loss of valuable habitats and beaches e.g
nesting beaches of sea turtles get disappeared and this
may affect the already endangered sea turtle population
Effects of global warming
Warming oceans
 Heat that is absorbed by the oceans affects the top
700 m of the sea. Since 1969 oceans shows warming
of 0.302oF.
Shirking ice sheets
 Ice sheets in Green land and Antarctica has shown
decline in their mass.
Glacial retreat
 Glaciers are retreating almost everywhere such as
Alps, Himalayas, Andes, Rockies, Alaska and Africa.
Extreme events of Global warming
1. Flood and landslides
 Both causes large death and injury in human population
such events are increasing with the global climatic change
in countries like Bangladesh, Khartoum, Netherlands,
Egypt and Sudan
2. Hurricanes, cyclones and Tornadoes
 Ocean temperatures increasing due to global warming
this subsequently increases the wind speed when maximum
wind speed exceeds 74 miles per hour this is called
hurricanes in Atlantic and typhoons in pacific.
 Tornadoes are more frequent in USAand it causes mass
destruction to lives, properties and crops
3. Droughts
 There are four types of droughts such as meteorological (low precipitation),
agricultural (lack of moisture for crop growth), hydrological (surface & ground water
supply below normal) and socio economic (effect in the economy due to water
scarcity) such events are common in Sahara and East African countries such as
Ethiopia and Sudan
4. Forest fires
 These are more common in Australia and Indonesia during El-nino events.

 Forest fires can naturally ignite by lightening, volcanic eruptions, spark from rock
falls and spontaneous combustion.
 Anthropogenic slash and burn agriculture and exotic / invasive oily plants such as
eucalyptus and pine trees naturally cause fires.
 It has been estimated between 1850 and 1980 90- 120 billion metric tons of CO2
was released by forest fires 5.
 Heat waves Heat waves killed more than 2500 people in India (by June 2015).
Most affected regions are Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh,
Odisha and Bihar. It also severely affected cattle and crop production.
 6. Ocean acidification
 Ocean acidification has lowered the pH of the ocean
waters by about 0.11 units due to anthropogenic CO2
emission.
 Amount of CO2 on upper layer of the ocean has been
increasing by 2 billion tons per year.
 Oceans have absorbed 1/3 of the CO2 produced by
human activities since 1800 and fossil fuel burning alone
account for half of the CO2.
 If CO2 emission levels continues unchanged, the future
CO2 levels will be high enough to lower the pH of ocean
to 7.8 by the year 2100.
7. Effects on Biodiversity
 Increased temperatures of land and ocean moved the
habitat range of many species pole ward or upward
from their current location such movements also
accelerated by droughts and desertification.
 Species with restricted habitat requirement or sedentary
(coral reefs) or limited climatic or geographical range
(mountain top or Island habitats) are more vulnerable to
climate change.