An introduction to the principles of climate change science with an emphasis on the empirical evidence for climate change and a warming world. Additional readings are given at the end of each chapter. A list of "Things to Know" opens each chapter. Chapters are arranged so that the student is first introduced to the scientific method(s), examples of the use of the scientific method from other sciences drawn from the history of science with an emphasis on climate science. Climate science is treated in each chapter based on the premise of global warming. Chapter treatments on the atmosphere. biosphere, geosphere, hydrosphere, and anthroposphere and their inter-relationships are given.
This book introduces the principles of climate change science, emphasizing the empirical evidence for climate change and a warming world. Covers the scientific method in the context of climate change, reviews claims in denial of climate change and more.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Introduction to Global Warming
1.2 Greenhouse Effect
1.3 Climate Sensitivity
1.4 Average Global Temperature from 1880 to 2009
1.5 Carbon Dioxide
1.6 Global Warming, Climate, and Weather
1.6.1 Arctic Sea Ice Extent 1979-2005
1.6.2 Impacts of Global Warming
1.7 Timescales, Positive Feedbacks, and Tipping Points
1.8 Energy and Climate Policy
1.8.1 Energy Choices
1.9 Forcings and Feedbacks
1.9.1 Earth's Albedo
1.9.2 Irradiance
1.10 Energy Budget
1.11 Affected Weather
1.12 Hockey Stick Controversy
Additional Reading
PART I - SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES AND THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
2 - SCIENTIFIC PRINCIPLES
Abstract
Key Words
Things to Know
Introduction
2.1 Internet Searches
2.2 The Warming Earth: Heat and the Principles of Thermodynamics
2.2.1 The Zeroth Law of Thermodynamics
2.2.2 The First Law of Thermodynamics
2.2.3 The Second Law of Thermodynamics
2.2.4 The Third Law of Thermodynamics
2.3 Climate Scientists
2.3.1 Scientific Laws and Climate Scientists
2.4 Scientific Jargon
2.5 Communication between Scientists and the Public
2.6 The Concept of Time
2.7 From Hothouse to Icehouse
2.8 Earth's Energy Imbalance
2.9 An Introduction to Science
2.9.1 Reasons to Study Science
2.9.2 The Philosophy of Science
2.9.3 Early History of Science
2.9.4 Aristotle (384-322 BC)
2.10 Early Scientists
2.10.1 Pliny the Elder (23 AD - 79 AD)
2.10.2 Claudius Ptolemy (c. AD 90 - c. AD 168)
2.10.3 Nicolaus Copernicus (1473 - 1543)
2.10.4 Galileo Galilei (1564 - 1642)
2.10.5 Francis Bacon (1561 - 1626)
2.10.6 Johannes Kepler and Tycho Brahe
2.10.7 Isaac Newton
2.11 Empiricism
2.12 Inductive Logic
2.13 Multiple Working Hypotheses
2.14 Deductive Logic
2.15 Models and Simulations
2.16 The Nature of Science
2.17 The Science of Nature
2.18 Chaos Theory
2.19 Scientific Notation
Additional Reading
3 - THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD AND ITS USE
Abstract
Keywords
Things to Know
The Scientific Method
3.1 A Linearized Approach to the Scientific Method
3.2 Data Collection - Experimentation, Measurement, Observation
3.3 Ideas, Persistence, Documentation, Testing, Reproducibility, Publication
3.4 Hypotheses
3.5 Theories
3.6 Newton's Laws of Motion
3.7 The Peer-Review Process
3.8 Use of the Scientific Method
3.8.1 James Hutton and Uniformitarianism
3.8.2 Charles Darwin and the Origin of Species
3.8.3 James Watson and Francis Crick - the Structure of DNA
3.8.4 Harry Hess and Plate Tectonic Theory
3.8.5 Plate Tectonic Theory
3.8.6 Wallace Broecker and the First Use of the Term Global Warming
3.9 Use of the Scientific Method in Climate Change Science
3.9.1 Joseph Fourier and the Greenhouse Effect
3.9.2 John Tyndall and Thermal Radiation
3.9.3 Svante Arrhenius and Carbon Dioxide
3.9.4 T. C. Chamberlin and the Ice Ages
3.9.5 Guy Stewart Callendar and Rising Temperatures
3.9.6 Gilbert Plass and Doubling of Carbon Dioxide
3.9.7 Hans Suess and Carbon-14 in Carbon Dioxide
3.9.8 Roger Revelle and Ocean Chemistry
3.9.9 Charles David Keeling and CO2
3.9.10 Syukuro ("Suki") Manabe and Climate Modeling
3.9.11 James Hansen and Temperature Analysis
3.9.12 William Ruddiman and Paleoclimate
3.9.13 Gavin Schmidt and GISS
3.9.14 Stefan Rahmstorf, Sea Level and Temperature Rise
Additional Reading
PART II - OVERVIEW OF CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE
4 - EARTH'S ENERGY BUDGET
Abstract
Keywords
Things to Know
Introduction
4.1 Weather and Climate
4.2 Solar and Heat Energy
4.3 Earth's Radiation Laws
4.4 Earth's Energy Imbalance
Additional Reading
5 - CLIMATE CHANGE TRENDS
Abstract
Keywords
Things to Know
5. Climate Change Trends
5.1 Rising Temperatures
5.1.1 Temperature Scales
5.1.2 Temperatures Shown by Graphs
5.1.3 Rising Land and Sea Temperatures
5.1.4 Tropospheric Warming and Stratospheric Cooling
5.2 Sources of Uncertainty with Temperature Data
5.3 Climate Construction from Instrumental Data
5.4 Measurement of Temperature
5.5.1 Global Temperature from Meteorological Stations
5.5 The Berkeley Earth Surface Temperature (BEST) Study
5.6 Land Temperatures from Boreholes
5.7 Rising Sea Temperatures
5.7.1 Relative Distribution of Sea-Surface Temperatures (SSTs)
5.7.2 Ocean Heat Content
5.8 Melting Ice
5.8.1 Permafrost, Methane, and Clathrates
5.8.2 Methane Clathrates
5.9 Rising Sea Level
5.10 Migration of Plants and Animals
5.11 Species Extinctions
5.12 Human Health Effects of Rising Temperatures
5.13 Attribution
5.14 Greenhouse Gases
5.15 Human Fingerprints on Global Warming
5.16.1 Earth's Cooling Upper Atmosphere
5.16.2 Rising Tropopause
5.16.3 Less Heat Escaping to Space
5.16.4 Nights Warming Faster than Days
5.16.5 Winter Warming Faster than Summer
5.16.6 More Fossil Fuel Carbon in Coral
5.16.7 Shrinking Upper Atmosphere
5.16.8 Less Oxygen in the Atmosphere
5.16.9 More Fossil Fuel Carbon in the Atmosphere
5.16.10 More Heat Returning to Earth
5.16.11 Pattern of Ocean Warming
5.16 Components of the Climate Change Process
5.17 Other Effects of Global Warming
5.18 Forcings and Feedbacks in the Climate System
5.18.1 Forcings
5.18.2 Positive and Negative Forcing and their Effects
5.18.3 Feedbacks
5.19 Climate Sensitivity
Additional Reading
6 - EARTH'S SURFACE TEMPERATURE
Abstract
Keywords
Things to Know
6. Introduction
6.1 Tipping Points
6.2 Temperature Records
6.3 Data Reduction
6.4 Data Analysis
6.5 Climate Data Analysis Tools (CDAT)
6.6 Data Reporting
6.7 Average Land Temperatures
6.8 History of the Development of the Global Average Temperature
6.9 Current Analysis Method
6.10 Temperature Anomalies
6.11 History of Temperature Recordings
6.12 Sea Surface Temperatures (SSTs)
6.13 Projections of Future Temperatures
6.14 The IPCC Special Report on Emission Scenarios (SRES), 2007
Additional Reading
7 - CLIMATE CHANGE SCIENCE AS EARTH SCIENCE
Abstract
Keywords
Things to Know
Introduction
7.1 Climate Science as Earth Science
7.2 The Faint Young Sun Paradox
7.3 The Gaia Hypothesis
7.4 Introduction to Life Science
7.5 Introduction to the Atmosphere
7.6 Open System Science
7.7 Uniformitarianism and Climate Change Science
7.8 Recent Climate Data and Future Projections
7.9 Components of the Climate Change System
7.10 Good Science, Bad Science, and Non-Science
7.11 Examples of Good Science
7.12 Examples of Bad Science