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The basis for palaeoclimatic interpretations of variations in the stable isotope content of water molecules is that the vapour pressure of H216O is higher than that of H218O. Evaporation from a water body thus results in a vapour which is poorer in 18O than the initial water; conversely, the remaining […]

Global-climate-change.org.uk about the climate which is the long-term statistical expression of short-term weather. Climate can be defined qualitatively as “expected weather” (Bradley, 1985), or quantitatively by statistical expressions such as central tendencies and variances. The overall distribution of climatological parameters, bounded by weather extremes, defines the climatic variability. Changes in […]

Carbon dioxide (CO2), the most important of these minor gases, is involved in a complex global cycle (see section 6.4.1). It is released from the interior of the Earth via volcanic eruptions, and by respiration, soil processes, combustion of carbon compounds and oceanic evaporation. Conversely, it is dissolved in the […]

This section discusses some of the various internal forcing mechanisms operating over time scales of 1 year to 108 years. They may be either radiative or non-radiative forcing mechanisms. 2.6.1. Orogeny Orogeny is the name given to the tectonic process of mountain building and continental uplift. Such mechanisms operate only […]

In addition to these climatic feedbacks, there are other non-climatic feedbacks which may enhance or diminish the increase in atmospheric greenhouse gas accumulation. Potentially, there are numerous feedback processes which may act on the carbon cycle, thus affecting the transfer of carbon dioxide between the various components (section 6.4.1). Carbon […]

Variations in atmospheric CO2 (measured from air bubbles trapped in ice cores) have generated perhaps the most significant interest regarding the internal mechanisms proposed to explain Pleistocene climate change. The recognition that CO2 variations appeared to correlate extremely well with temperature over the last 160Ka (Barnola et al., 1987; Figure […]

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important, long-lived greenhouse gas that is emitted predominantly by biological sources in soils and water, and removed in the upper atmosphere via photochemical reactions. Unfortunately, estimates of sources and sinks are not well quantified in global terms. 6.4.3.1. Sources of Atmospheric Nitrous Oxide Tropical soils […]

5.1. Introduction Chapter 5 is a review of the major episodes of climate change that have occurred through Earth history, prior to the advent of the use of instrumental data. Although the contemporary climate change record spans only a tiny fraction (10-7) of Earth history, in light of its current […]

Today the Earth is tilted on its rotational axis at an angle of 23.4 relative to a perpendicular to the orbital plane of the Earth. Over a 41,000 year time period, this angle of inclination fluctuates between 22 and 24.5, influencing the latitudinal distribution of solar radiation. Obliquity does not […]

Despite the obvious relationship between atmospheric CO2 and global temperature over the course of glacial-interglacial cycles (Figure 5.12), the precise role of CO2 in climate regulation remains uncertain. Specifically, it is not clear whether changes in CO2 were the effect of fluctuations in climate, which then acted as a feedback […]