OLLI Week 2 2014 : Earth’s past climate

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OLLI WEEK 2, September 23, 2014

Earth’s past climate history

Welcome to the 2nd class Tuesday September 23rd 9:30-11:30

My email contact is (copy/paste)  pebelanger@glassdesignresources.com

  • Earth’s deep past before the Cambrian (600 MaBP): hot and cold

Earth self regulates 2.1 -2.3 Tim Lenton video – 9 minute overview

Article Link: BBC Nature http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/ancient_earth/Snowball_Earth

You Tube: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=snow+ball+earth

Google Snowball earth for other

  • Earth’s past: Cambrian onward: mostly hot-house Earth;  100s parts per million (ppm) A human induced climate-GSAtoday2012-02

  • Climate trend in the Cenozoic – the last 65 million years; proxy data from 3600ppm to <200 ppm.

  • More recent past: 180-280 part per million; how do we know – empirical data. Preview of next week’s field trip

  • Today: 400 ppm and growing 2-3ppm/year


Recommended link:


 

Recommended reading (2.5):

What are climate change records?

Climate change records are vital in understanding our climate; in the past, in the present and in the future. The Met Office has a useful link summary that you should read to develop your understanding. (http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate-change/guide/science/explained/observations )

How do volcanoes affect climate change?

Volcanic activity plays a major role in climate cooling. Find out more about how aerosols affect global temperatures. We recommend this link to NASA’s Earth Observatory website. (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Aerosols/ )

How is today’s warming different from the past?

To answer help you to answer this question we recommend this link to NASA’s Earth Observatory website. (http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GlobalWarming/page3.php )

What is the role of isotopes in determining temperatures from the past?

To help you to answer this question we recommend this link to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

(http://www.giss.nasa.gov/research/briefs/schmidt_01/ )

How have trees been used to reconstruct different climate variables across the world?

This link to the Science of Tree Rings website allows you to delve into more detail, discovering how trees have been used to reconstruct different climate variables across the world. It provides you with an understanding of the key principles of tree ring dating (including cross dating and replication). (http://web.utk.edu/~grissino/principles.htm#1 )

How can ice cores provide a record of atmospheric composition?

To help you to answer this question we recommend this link to NASA’s Earth Observatory. (http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/Paleoclimatology_IceCores/ )

 SLIDES WEEK 2 Belanger OLLI week2 slides PowerPoint or in PDF version


UPDATE EMAILS:

#1 9/29/2014 evening email: week2 email 1 20140929


Articles and PowerPoints /PDFs thanks to Stan and Martin:

Economist article Stan is sharing with us: first one a prelude to the other 2:

  1. Greenhouse gases_ Paris via Montreal Economist 20140920
  2. The deepest cuts; our guide to the actions that have done the most to slow global warming (click here:Curbing climate change Economist 20140920)
  3. Try Jam Today; Policies to slow down warming may be more attractive if framed as ways of speeding up growth (click here: Encouraging climate action Economist 20140928}

Dr. Jeff Masters, Director of Meteorology, The Weather Underground, LLC; Earth’s Climate: Where are we at, and where are we headed (click here: PowerPoint-11Mb or PDF-4Mb)