ECOL 1000 1nd Edition Lecture 36 Outline of Last Lecture I Bioreactors II Potential benefits of GMOs III Potential limitations of GMOs Outline of Current Lecture II What is Climate Change III Human causes IV IPCC V Greenhouse effect VI Temperature Change Current Lecture NOAA National Climatic Data Center NCDC one of the world s premier centers for archiving processing and researching climate data there is a strong correlation between human population growth and increased CO2 emissions o about 1 ton of CO2 added to the atmosphere per person per year o long term storage of carbon in the form of burned fossil fuels o Mauna Loa Laboratory Hawaii Keeling Curve measures atmospheric carbon dioxide Plants take up CO2 during the year The last time CO2 regularly reached this level was 3 5 million years ago before modern humans existed Know this by looking at ice cores Carbon comes in two stable isotopic forms o Carbon12 is more common and lighter than carbon13 o Because carbon13 is heavier it is left behind during photosynthesis plants tend to not take it from the atmosphere o Stable Isotope Formation 3 milankovitch cycles help explain past climatic variation o Past warm periods and ice ages can be attributed in part to the earth s position relative to the sun Predictive models o Computer models made of multiple mathematical equations to take into account factors that have affected past climate o Then they feed natural and man made factors into various models to see which circumstances match up with the global warming that has been observed These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Only models that include human releases of greenhouse gases match the actual historic temperature trend Feedback loop explains relationships Forcers factors that can affect global climate can be positive or negative o Positive forcers greenhouse gasses and dark surfaces Increases temperature o Negative forcer increased cloud cover Decreases temperature
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