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How is the climate changing and why?
Posted on July 21st, 2009Categorized as Climate Tagged as aerosols, climate change, CO2, forcing, natural variability
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The global mean temperature in 2008 was the lowest since about 2000. Given that there is continual heating of the planet, referred to as radiative forcing, by accelerating increases of carbon dioxide and other greenhouses due to human activities, why isn’t the temperature continuing to go up? The stock answer is that natural variability plays a key role and there was a major La Niña event early in 2008, but this does not answer the question of where the energy has gone. Was it compensated for temporarily by changes in clouds or aerosols, or other changes in atmospheric circulation that allowed more radiation to escape to space? Was it because a lot of heat went into melting Arctic sea ice or parts of Greenland and Antarctica, and other glaciers? Was it because the heat was buried in the ocean and sequestered, perhaps well below the surface? Was it because the La Niña led to a change in tropical ocean currents and rearranged the configuration of ocean heat? Perhaps all of these things are going on? It turns out we can’t answer these definitively. Observations and attribution studies are inadequate. Has global warming really slowed or not?
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Do we need to track the anthropocene and beyond in coastal sediments in particular or in fresh ponds?If so how do we go about it. I beleive this will be a befitting theme for International Geosphere-Biosphere programme.
Posted on July 18th, 2009Categorized as Earth System Tagged as aerosols, CO2, deforestation, morphodynamics
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Carbon emissions are going high in a steady pace, aerosols are very much present in the atmosphere, Deforestration, Sand mining all will result in critical morphodynamics of coastal region. All these will have impact in the top layer of earth, say 1-3m. Can we distinguish anthropogenic versus natural causes, or can we demarcate anthropocene from Holocene?
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How does Aerosols, produced due to Anthropogenic activities, affect the subsurface geology of coast and river bank. What are the changes which can be expected due to influx of aerosols?
Posted on July 22nd, 2009Categorized as Earth System Tagged as aerosols, coastal regions
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Most of the human population is living near to the river banks or near to the coast (see the population map of China or South America) since the dawn of civilization. Rivers are the only source to bring the rain water to sea along with sediments. Sediments will also bring the aerosol particle along with them and ultimately affect the coastal biosphere. So any change in this zone of earth system will severly affect the human life.
