Climate change and Global warming
*Topics like Climate change conferences
(like Kyoto,Bali ,IPCC), man-made causes of Climate change, REDD, CDM(clean
development mechanisms) are discussed over and over again in the magazines and
by coaching centers .Those topics are easily available on internet too. So I
am not getting into those commonly discussed topics now. I will showcase some
trends, terms associated with climate change and gobal warming.
Callendar effect- the effect of the
combustion produced carbon dioxide on global climate. Callender is name of a
scientist and not anything related with the calendar.
Carbon lock-in : we have been using fossil
fuels. The general policy and framework in all countries have been to increase
the production as well as efficient use of fossil based energy systems. Even
when alternative technologies emerge, there will an inertia which allows the
old system (fossil fuel based) to continue. This will result in prolonging the
use of fossil fuels for sometime into the future. This phenomenon is known as
carbon lock-in. It was first coined by Gregory Uhruh.
WAIS divide: West Antartic Ice divide is an
ice core drilling project. Scientists would use the gases captured, cryobiology
etc in the ice drilled to study the climate change. The WAIS divide would help
us to learn climate change for over last 100000 years.
Urban thermal plume – The urban areas are
hotter than the surrounding areas. Ie the temperature in the cities like
Chennai or Bangalore will be higher than the surrounding rural areas. This will
cause hot winds to rise up creating local climate variations. Haven’t we all
seen chimney of factories. The same way the whole urban area acts like a large
chimney from where the air rises up.
Keeling curve- The graph showing variation
in Co2 content in the atmosphere from 1958. Scientist Keeling started measuring
the co2 content at observatory in Mauna loa and it is one of the evidences for
rising world Co2 levels.
Integrated
carbon observation system (ICOS) – A research infrastructure to quantify green
house gases in Europe and adjacent areas.
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