TERRY SLOAN INTRODUCTORY CLIMATE SCIENCE; GLOBAL WARMING EXPLAINED Download free eBooks at bookboon.com 2 Introductory Climate Science; Global Warming Explained 1st edition © 2016 Terry Sloan & bookboon.com ISBN 978-87-403-1408-3 Peer review by Michael J. Hambrey, Emeritus Professor of Glaciology, Aberystwyth University Download free eBooks at bookboon.com 3 INTRODUCTORY CLIMATE SCIENCE; GLOBAL WARMING EXPLAINED CONTENTS CONTENTS Foreword 8 Preface 9 1 Man-Made Global Warming – an overview 11 1.2 Why do greenhouse gases cause global warming? 16 1.3 A simple picture of man-made global warming 18 1.4 The more complete picture 21 1.5 Conclusion 23 2 Drivers of the Climate 26 2.1 The difference between weather and climate 26 2.2 Overview of the climate 27 2.3 Heat energy transfer 32 2.5 Warming of the Earth’s surface due to greenhouse gases.com We do not reinvent the wheel we reinvent light. Fascinating lighting offers an ininite spectrum of possibilities: Innovative technologies and new markets provide both opportunities and challenges. An environment in which your expertise is in high demand.
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A number of text books on the topic have appeared, written in the main by meteorologists, and the conclusion is invariably that man-made emissions are responsible. However, there have been criticisms from some non- meteorologists, that their analyses are, if not lawed, seriously suspect. his is where the present book comes in. It is written by a distinguished elementary particle physicist who has no axe to grind and who is keen to go back to basics and analyse the physics involved.
To say that the book is comprehensive is an understatement. It ranges from the basic science in question, to such topics as the History of the Solar System and the work of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Although written as an undergraduate text, and indeed the topics have served that purpose, it can be read by most people who have some knowledge of science; a summary should be prescribed reading for all politicians who have responsibility for the Earth's continued well being. (Sir) Arnold Wolfendale FRS, 14th Astronomer Royal and former President of the Institute of Physics and the European Physical Society.
Download free eBooks at bookboon.com 8 INTRODUCTORY CLIMATE SCIENCE; GLOBAL WARMING EXPLAINED PREFACE PREFACE his book is intended to explain the basic principles of the science which lies behind the subject of man-made global warming. It is based on a series of lectures given as an optional course for physics undergraduates at Lancaster University. he course was named “he Physics of Global Warming”. As beits a scientiic study of a subject, quantitative treatments are given and the book contains algebra and formulae.
Nevertheless it should be possible for a person with a non-mathematical background to read through these formulae and achieve an understanding of why the increasing concentration of greenhouse gases arising from burning fossil fuels leads to global warming. he term greenhouse gases here means mainly carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and oxides of nitrogen. My background is in particle physics and I became interested in climatology when it was hypothesised by some scientists that cosmic rays were the main cause of global warming rather than increasing greenhouse gas concentrations. Attempts were then made by myself and co- workers, all particle or cosmic ray physicists, to corroborate the hypothesis.
he conclusion of this work was that while cosmic rays must have some efect on global warming via cloud formation, the efect is too small to be detected and therefore only plays a minor role. Subsequent to this I became interested in trying to understand why changes in the small concentrations of greenhouse gases could lead to signiicant global warming. Having achieved at least a qualitative understanding of this, the course referred to above was designed and given. Another reason to be interested in this subject stemmed from reading accounts in the popular press and on the internet which often deny that man-made global warming is occurring.
I felt it necessary to gain enough understanding to be able to judge the quality of such accounts. his book aims to allow the reader to be able to separate the science from the pseudo-science which surrounds this subject. Download free eBooks at bookboon.com 9 INTRODUCTORY CLIMATE SCIENCE; GLOBAL WARMING EXPLAINED PREFACE Nowadays, the hypothesis that increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere cause global warming is almost universally accepted as the paradigm among expert climatologists and it is accepted by all learned societies of the World. he organisation responsible for overseeing and reviewing all the scientiic literature which leads us to this conclusion is the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
his is a panel of many hundreds of the World’s foremost experts on climate science. he work of the panel is described in Chapter 10 and is summarised in 5 publically available Assessment Reports (AR) which have been released so far. he irst AR is labelled FAR, the second SAR, third TAR, the fourth AR4 and the latest one released in 2014 is AR5. hese reports, running to thousands of pages, are all available on the World Wide Web at http://www.
he reader is referred to these reports for further details of the theories and measurements and the references to the scientiic papers where they are described. his book is meant to serve as a starting primer. Chapter 1 of the book gives a qualitative (i. non-mathematical) overview of the basic reasons why our increased use of fossil fuels will lead to global warming and ultimately a change to the climate.
he subsequent chapters describe the main features of the climate and the principles of the science which leads to these conclusions. In the journey to achieve the understanding to permit me to write this book I have been helped by many people. I am particularly indebted to my colleagues Professor Anatoly Erlykin and Professor Sir Arnold Wolfendale for many stimulating discussions. I am also indebted to Professor Fred Taylor of Oxford University for his book Elementary Climate Science from which I learned much and for his help to further my understanding of the subject.
I am grateful also to Professors Joanna Haigh and Giles Harrison for help on many topics. I also thank Professor Sir John Houghton for his assistance in writing Chapter 10. Particular thanks go to Professor Mike Hambrey for his suggestions and his critical reading of the manuscript. Finally I thank my Wife, Jean, for her love and encouragement to carry on even when writing became a chore.
Download free eBooks at bookboon.com 10 INTRODUCTORY CLIMATE SCIENCE; GLOBAL WARMING EXPLAINED MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING – AN OVERVIEW 1 MAN-MADE GLOBAL WARMING – AN OVERVIEW In this chapter a brief and qualitative overview is given of the science underlying man-made global warming from the increased concentration of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other so- called greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. hese have arisen from the increased burning of fossil fuels since the onset of industrialisation in the 19th century. he explanations in this chapter are covered more fully and quantitatively in the remainder of the book. A simple model is briely outlined in the chapter.
his simple picture ignores all the many features of the climate other than the efects of increasing levels of greenhouse gases. It serves to show that global warming can be understood without the need for the more complicated models used by climate scientists which are fully documented in the reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). However, to obtain a complete and accurate picture, all the features need to be accounted for and these are included in the more complicated models. We start with a deinition of what we mean by the climate.
he climate is a long term average over all the large variety of weather variations. he weather represents the luctuations about this average. For example, the Tropics have a climate which is warm and balmy; however, from time to time a snow storm can occur. he former (what you expect) is the climate but the latter (the luctuation about the average) is the weather.
A mnemonic is that the “climate is what you expect while the weather is what you get”.1 INTRODUCTION Measurements of the average global surface temperature show a rising trend since the 19th century. his is what we term global warming. It is extremely likely that the causes are due to the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from the burning of fossil fuels such as coal, gas and oil. he small probability of doubt in this statement will be discussed in later chapters.
hese fuels have been produced and used in increasing quantities since industrialisation. Such warming is leading to changes to the climate. he main greenhouse gas is carbon dioxide whose concentration has grown from 280 parts per million (ppm) in the early 19th century when large scale industrialisation began to over 400 ppm now (2016). Download free eBooks at bookboon.