RTCC - Climate change news, comments and analysis. How It All Ends: Nature of Science (pt 1 of 3) IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. My little cop pocket book. Climate Change & Food Security. National Center for Science Education. The National Center for Science Education is the only national organization devoted to defending the teaching of climate change in public schools. Human-caused climate change is not scientifically controversial. Although most U.S. adults believe that the climate is changing, only about half know that human activities are substantially responsible. The polarized and politicized nature of the societal debate about climate change can make it challenging for teachers to present the science honestly, accurately, and completely.
NCSE is committed to helping teachers gain the confidence and support they need to teach climate change right. How to Learn about Climate Change The science of climate change encompasses many disciplines and is unfamiliar to many. Furthermore, the societal controversy has reinforced doubt and confusion about the nature and strength of the scientific evidence. What are the Challenges Facing Climate Change Education? The Carbopedia. Everything you need to know about climate change - interactive | Environment. Skeptical Science. CSIRO - Climate Change. Glen Paul: G’day, and welcome to CSIROvod, I’m Glen Paul. Climate change is a serious threat to the planet, and greenhouse gas concentrations are believed to be a major contributor. In this vodcast, we're going to meet scientists working at measuring green house gas concentrations over time, and the finding that they've been rising rapidly over the past two centuries, in other words since the time of the industrial revolution.
It was at that time we began to burn large amounts of coal to power our steam engines for industry, and to generate electricity, and while the technology has greatly improved we’re still using fossil fuel in quantities thousands of times more than we did in the 1800s. The fossil fuels we burn contribute to high concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide, and the research clearly shows how the atmosphere was at the beginning of the industrial revolution, and how it is now. These are from measurements of air from the Cape Grim station in Tasmania. Sea-level Rise - CSIRO & ACECRC. We love the coast. Coastal regions, particularly some low-lying river deltas, have very high population densities.
In excess of 150 million people live within 1 metre of high tide level, and 250 million within 5 metres of high tide. There are billions of dollars invested in coastal infrastructure immediately adjacent to the coast. Many of the world's mega cities (populations of many millions) are on the coast. The Oceans are changing. A recent issue of the journal Science has focused on a number of aspects of ocean change, including sea-level rise. A (pdf) reprint of this editorial can be obtained from here. This sea-level rise is a response to increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere and the consequent changes in the global climate. On this web site, we attempt to bring together information on sea level rise and its causes. Photos: Bruce Miller, 2006 Note that error bars have not been shown for the altimeter data (red curve) for clarity, but are about ±5 mm.
[top] Australian Academy of Science. Without the greenhouse effect we would be living in a very chilly place – the world's average temperature would be minus 18°C, instead of the 15°C we are used to. So what is the greenhouse effect and how does it make Earth around 33°C warmer? The natural greenhouse effect The natural greenhouse effect is a phenomenon created by gases naturally present in the atmosphere that affect the behaviour of the heat energy radiated by the sun. In simple terms, sunlight (shortwave radiation) passes through the atmosphere, and is absorbed by the Earth's surface. This warms the Earth's surface, and then the Earth radiates some of this energy (as infrared, or longwave radiation) back towards space. As it passes through the atmosphere, gases such as water vapour, carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide absorb most of the energy.
Image: IPCC 2007 The Earth's energy balance The composition of the atmosphere is changing The Earth's atmosphere is made up of 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen. Australian Academy of Science. The science of climate change: questions and answers An updated edition of The science of climate change: questions and answers will be released in mid-2014. This publication aims to address confusion created by contradictory information in the public domain. It sets out to explain the current situation in climate science, including where there is consensus in the scientific community and where uncertainties exist. The document is structured around seven questions: What is climate change? The science of climate change: questions and answers was prepared by a working group of nine members co-chaired by Drs Ian Allison and Mike Raupach FAA, FTSE.
United States Global Change Research Program. NOAA: Ocean and Coasts. NASA Innovations in Climate Education. NASA: Vital Signs of the Planet. NWS JetStream. The atmosphere is a cloud of gas and suspended solids extending from the Earth's surface out many thousands of miles, becoming increasingly thinner with distance but always held by the Earth's gravitational pull. The atmosphere is made up of layers. it surrounds the Earth and holds the air we breathe; it protects us from outer space; and holds moisture (clouds), gases, and tiny particles.
In short, the atmosphere is the protective bubble we live in. This protective bubble consists of several gases (listed in the table to the right) with the top four making up 99.998% of all gases. Of the dry composition of the atmosphere nitrogen, by far, is the most common. Nitrogen dilutes oxygen and prevents rapid burning at the Earth's surface. It is also necessary for combustion or burning. Argon is used in light bulbs, in double-pane windows, and to preserve the original Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These percentages of atmospheric gases are for a completely dry atmosphere.
Climate Communication. US EPA - Climate Change. UK Met Office - Climate guide. Find out about climate, climate change and climate science in our climate guide The following pages include information around what climate is and what influences it, how and why our climate is changing and the work we undertake to help the UK prepare for future changes. If you would like to find out more about the climate services we provide, including Climate Service UK, you can do so on the climate services section of our website. For more in-depth information about climate research go to our research web pages. The Met Office also hosts the National Climate Information Centre which holds national and regional climate information for the United Kingdom. Digitised records for the whole country date back to 1910 and data for the Central England Temperature record dates back to 1654 - the world's longest instrumental record.
Information Sheets - UEA. Library of UN Materials Relevant for Climate Change.
Your Guide To Understanding Energy. Energy Resources. Climate | Spark.