China
Africa
Explore chapters and articles related to this topic
Prologue
Published in Vikram M. Mehta, Natural Decadal Climate Variability, 2020
Electromagnetic radiation from the Sun is the primary driver of the Earth’s climate system. Due to the tilt of the Earth’s rotation axis and the Earth’s orbit around the Sun, the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface is a function of latitude and time. At any time in the year, there is a gradient of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s surface. The annual cycle of the Sun’s apparent north–south movement across the Earth’s surface defines seasons. In this apparent north–south movement, the Sun’s most northern position is at 23.5°N latitude (the Tropic of Cancer) on approximately June 21; then, it starts to move southward and reaches the Equator on approximately September 21 and its most southern position at 23.5°S latitude (the Tropic of Capricorn) on approximately December 21. Then, the apparent position starts to move northward again reaching the Equator on approximately March 21 and the most northern position again on approximately June 21. These four astronomical events are known in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) as summer solstice, autumnal equinox, winter solstice, and vernal equinox, respectively. The naming of these events is the opposite in the Southern hemisphere (SH). Annual cycles of weather and climate generally follow the Sun, but the Earth System’s response is delayed due to thermal inertia of oceans, snow-ice, and land; and due to heat transports by winds and ocean currents. Incidentally, the latitude belt between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn is usually referred to as the tropics or the tropical belt.
Climate Change Impacts on Groundwater
Published in Mohammad Karamouz, Azadeh Ahmadi, Masih Akhbari, Groundwater Hydrology, 2020
Mohammad Karamouz, Azadeh Ahmadi, Masih Akhbari
Climate is the accumulation of elements such as daily and seasonal weather conditions over a long period of time at a location or in a region. It includes average weather conditions, as well as the variability of elements and includes the occurrence of extreme events (Lutgens and Tarbuck, 1995). Humidity, air temperature and pressure, wind speed and direction, cloud cover and type, and the amount and form of precipitation are all basic elements which influence the atmospheric characteristics of climate and weather. These elements establish the variables by which weather patterns and climatic types are described. The time scale is the main difference between weather and climate. Climate is the trends in weather patterns over an extended period of time, not days, or weeks, or months, but years. Indeed, weather changes create almost diverse weather conditions at any given time and place. As a broad definition, a climate system is an interactive system consisting of five major components: the atmosphere, land surface, hydrosphere, biosphere, and cryosphere, or snow and ice. Figure 11.1 shows the components of a global climate system which includes their process and interaction.
Sport and the emerging climate change reversal technologist or specialist
Published in Cheryl Mallen, Emerging Technologies in Sport, 2019
The impacts of climate change include the “warming of the climate system is unequivocal … the atmosphere and oceans have warmed, the amounts of snow and ice have diminished, and sea level has risen”.10 Further, impacts include extreme weather events, including extreme droughts, fires, wind and rain events.11 These impacts are being felt today and are expected as an intensifying trend into the future.12
Understanding climate change through Earth’s energy flows
Published in Journal of the Royal Society of New Zealand, 2020
The climate system consists of the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and land, including all of the lakes, rivers, and vegetation. Increasingly, this includes not just the physical climate system, but also the full bio-geochemistry of the components and their interactions, and such models are referred to as Earth system models, rather than just climate system models. The external forcings include all of the aspects taken as given or specified, including the sun-Earth orbit and geometry, the output of the sun, the mass and make-up of the planet including the mass and composition of the atmosphere and oceans, and the distribution of land. On very long-time scales, paleo-climate studies allow the orbit to evolve, and the land masses evolve through continental drift, mountain building, and tectonic aspects. The composition of the atmosphere may also change naturally, such as through volcanic eruptions which currently have to be specified for the most part, but it is also changing because of human activities. Human activities are regarded as external influences in this regard.
Climate change in the human environment: Indicators and impacts from the Fourth National Climate Assessment
Published in Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association, 2021
Laura E. Stevens, Thomas K. Maycock, Brooke C. Stewart
The extent to which these changes continue in the future will depend primarily on GHG emissions and the response of Earth’s climate system to this human-induced warming (Hayhoe et al. 2018). “With significant reductions in emissions, global temperature increase could be limited to 3.6°F (2°C) or less compared to preindustrial temperatures. Without significant reductions, annual average global temperatures could increase by 9°F (5°C) or more by the end of this century compared to preindustrial temperatures” (Hayhoe et al. 2018). These projections of future climate are based on climate model simulations that use various possible futures, or scenarios, “that capture the relationships between human choices, emissions, concentrations, and temperature change” (Hayhoe et al. 2017). These scenarios, called Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs; Moss et al. 2010), are numbered according to changes in radiative forcing (a measure of the influence that a factor, such as atmospheric GHG concentrations, has in changing the global balance of incoming and outgoing energy) in 2100 relative to preindustrial conditions (Hayhoe et al. 2018). In this paper, we reference both a higher scenario (RCP8.5: +8.5 watts per square meter in 2100) and a lower scenario (RCP4.5: +4.5 watts per square meter in 2100). The higher scenario (RCP8.5) represents a future where annual GHG emissions increase significantly throughout the 21st century before leveling off by 2100, whereas the lower scenario (RCP4.5) represents a substantial mitigation by midcentury, with greater reductions thereafter. Current global trends in annual GHG emissions are consistent with the higher scenario (Jay et al. 2018).
Built environment transformation in Nigeria: the effects of a regenerative framework
Published in Journal of Asian Architecture and Building Engineering, 2023
Oluwagbemiga Paul Agboola, Badr Saad Alotaibi, Yakubu Aminu Dodo, Mohammed Awad Abuhussain, Maher Abuhussain
Climate change remains one of the most pressing and prominent critical issues facing countries worldwide today. Climate change is referred to as an alteration in the environment that can be traced back to human activity, either overtly or covertly, and that modifies the creation of the global atmosphere despite natural changes in the environment that were detected during a comparable time frame (UNEP 2007; UNFCCC 2010; Munang et al., 2013). It also refers to long-term alterations in temperature patterns, precipitation levels, wind patterns, and other aspects of Earth’s climate system (World Bank 2010b; Federici et al., 2015; Rossi et al., 2016; Morecroft2016 et al, 2019). The main cause of these alterations can be largely ascribed to human activities, specifically the combustion of fossil fuels, the clearing of forests, industrial procedures, and agricultural methods that emit greenhouse gases (GHGs). Furthermore, climate change exacerbates existing social and economic inequalities, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations, including low-income communities, indigenous peoples, and developing countries. It poses risks to food security, water resources, public health, and economic stability. It also contributes to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystems, further compromising the planet’s ecological balance. Researchers in the built environment are increasingly enhancing their endeavors to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Mitigation involves reducing GHG emissions through the transition to renewable energy sources, energy efficiency improvements, and sustainable land management. Adaptation measures focus on minimising the impacts of climate change by enhancing resilience in communities and ecosystems, implementing disaster preparedness plans, and incorporating climate considerations into urban planning and infrastructure development.