In June and early July 2019, a heat wave in Alaska broke temperature records, as seen in this July 8 air temperature map (left). The image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument shows smoke from lightening-triggered wildfires. NASA link
Just within the last year, catastrophic wildfires in Australia (December 2020) and then California have highlighted connectections between climate change and extreme events. The big questions now concern where these trends will lead.
For today
Discuss questions from last time
Based on your first day with the Mauna Loa vignette, provide a short summary for the following:
- What time of year is CO2 highest/lowest and why?
- At the current rate of CO2 increase in the atmosphere, how many years of change in the mean is equal to the seasonal change in CO2.
- The Mauna Loa CO2 series is an example of passive surveillance data that became one of the important debates of modern times. List three ways that this data set bears on the litigation issues we discussed on big oil.
- The ice-core data tell us that CO2 has been fluctuating for a long time. How does that perspective inform the interpretation of contemporary increases? Specifically, does it bear on the question of responsibility for the societal cost of climate change?
Today we will discuss these questions and issues that arose with computation. We will follow with internet research for science and attitudes behind extreme events.
Slow changes attributed to human-caused climate change include increasing air temperatures, melting alpine glaciers and polar ice caps, disappearing sea ice, rising sea level, and acidifying oceans. Extreme events include heat waves, drought, flooding, and extreme low temperatures.
- How are slow changes linked to extreme events?
- Can we anticipate them? If not, why not?
Assignment for next time
review the site on Extreme weather and climate change
Use an internet search to find evidence for and against the notion that global warming is contributing to extreme climate events. Summarize four scientific articles, including citations, with several sentences summarizing the evidence from each. Include with these summaries definitions for the terms weather and climate.
Use an internet search to find evidence for changes in public attitudes on human caused climate change. Briefly summarize the role of extreme events in changing attitudes.