Chapter 1 - Foundations of Climate Change: What Is Climate Change?

Chapter 1 - Foundations of Climate Change: What Is Climate Change? Difference between WEATHER and CLIMATE Weather is the weather on a day-to-day basis. Meanwhile, climate is the weather over a long period of time. - in which data is collected Climate Change The long-term differences in the statistics of weather measured over multi-decadal periods. Global Warming vs Climate Change They are interchangeable but Climate Change refers to all aspects of the climate ( precipitation/ sea level rise) Warming Oceans oceans absorbing increased atmospheric heat Sea Level Rise 1. Melting ground Ice 2,Water expands when it is warm What does historical data about the climate tell us? 1. An ice age temperature range is 6C so the 1C increase is significant. 2. Mega cities have only been around since the 1800 and the range temperature change for that time has been noted. 3. The warming we are experiencing is more rapid. 100years = 1C is 16x faster than the average rate from last ice ag