Climate Change

Chapter III. Specific Issues in Science, Technology, and Society

BASAGRE, JHECYL ANN P.

OLIVA, LILY ROSE H.

PEREA, DEBORA MAE G.

1GOV2
 CLIMATE CHANGE
-is any significant long-term change in the expected patterns of average weather of a region (or the
whole Earth) over a significant period of time.

CAUSES:
1. Natural Causes

a. Volcanic Eruptions
-emits different natural aerosols like carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxides, salt crystals, volcanic ashes or dust, and
even microorganisms like bacteria and viruses.
-can cause a cooling effect to the lithosphere because its emitted aerosol which can block a certain percentage
of solar radiation. Cooling effect can last for 1-2 years.

Recorded Major volcanic eruptions that can cause climate change:

• Mt. Tambora of Indonesia
-erupted 1816
-largest known eruption in human history
-caused snowfall in the northeastern United States and
Canada
Mt. Tambora

• Mt. Krakatau of Indonesia (1883) and Mt. Pinatubo

of the Philippines (1991)
-contributed to the cold years of planet Earth.

Mt. Krakatau Mt. Pinatubo

b. Orbital Changes
-Earth's orbit can also cause Climate Change

•According to Milankovitch Theory

-as the Earth travels through space around the Sun, cyclical variations
in three elements of Earth- Sun geometry combine to produce
variations in the amount of solar energy that reaches Earth (Academia
Empora, 2017)
3 elements that have cyclic variations:
1. Eccentricity
-shape of the Earth's orbit around the Sun.
2. Obliquity
-variation of the tilt of Earth's axis away from the orbital plane.
3. Procession
-change in orientation of Earth's rotational Theory
•Carbon Dioxide Theory
-CO2 is added when power and heat are produced by burning coal, oil, and other fossil fuels.
-transparent in sunshine but not invisible to infrared (heat) radiation leaving the ground.
-absorbs part of the ungraded radiation in the air and returns to the ground keeping the air near the surface
warmer than it would be if the carbon dioxide did not act like a blanket.
-doubling the Carbon Dioxide raises the temperature to 2°C to 3°C.

2. Human Activities
Contributions to Climate Change:
a. Burning of fossil fuels
-it releases carbon dioxide gas to the atmosphere.
-burning fossil fuels like coal and oil can increased the concentration of
atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2). This happens because the coal or oil
burning process combines carbon with oxygen in the air to make CO2. To a
lesser extent, the clearing of land for agriculture, industry, and other
human activities has increased concentrations of greenhouse gases.

b. Greenhouse gases and aerosols

-greenhouse gases are the natural gases
-it can affect climate by altering incoming solar radiation and out-going
infrared (thermal) radiation that are part of Earth’s energy balance.
Changing the atmospheric abundance or properties of these gases and
particles can lead to a warming or cooling of the climate system.

Gases that contribute to the greenhouse effect include:

•Carbon dioxide CO2
-minor but very important component of the atmosphere, carbon
dioxide is released through natural processes such as respiration and
volcano eruptions and through human activities such as
deforestation, land use changes, and burning fossil fuels. Humans
have increased atmospheric CO2 concentration by more than a third
since the Industrial Revolution began. This is the most important
long-lived "forcing" of climate change.
-deforestation releases carbon dioxide and reduces its uptake by
plants.
-High level of carbon dioxide comes from fossil fuel use in transportation; and the building, heating, cooling,
and manufacture of cement and other goods.
Sources:
-burning fossil fuels in cars
-factories
-power plants

CLIMATE CHANGE
 •Methane CH4
-high methane emission is related to agriculture, natural gas
distribution, and landfills.
Sources:
-landfills
-rice paddies
-guts of cattle

•Nitrous oxide N2O

-a powerful greenhouse gas produced by soil cultivation practices, N2O
especially the use of commercial and organic fertilizers, fossil fuel
combustion, nitric acid production, and biomass burning.
-emitted by human activities such as fertilize use and fossil fuel burning.
Sources:
-vehicle exhaust pipes
-fertilizers
-livestock wastes

•Water vapor
-human activities influence water vapor through CH4 emissions, because
CH4 undergoes chemical destruction in the stratosphere, producing a
small amount of water vapor and aerosols, the small particles present in
the atmosphere with widely varying size, concentration, and chemical
composition.

•Halocarbons
-a group of carbons containing flourine, chlorine, and bromine.
-Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), principal halocarbons
-each CFC molecule can last up to 65-385 years in the atmosphere
which continuously destroy ozone particles.
Sources:
-aerosols cans
-air conditioners
-refrigerator
-plastic forms

•Ozone
-release of gases such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen
oxide, which chemically react to produce ozone.
-with the depletion of the ozone layer, huge amount of Ultraviolet rays can
reach the Earth's surface.

CLIMATE CHANGE
EFFECTS:

CLIMATE CHANGE