Lecture

Climate Change: Current Observations and Future Projections

Graph Chat

Chat with Graph Search

Ask any question about EPFL courses, lectures, exercises, research, news, etc. or try the example questions below.

DISCLAIMER: The Graph Chatbot is not programmed to provide explicit or categorical answers to your questions. Rather, it transforms your questions into API requests that are distributed across the various IT services officially administered by EPFL. Its purpose is solely to collect and recommend relevant references to content that you can explore to help you answer your questions.

Description

This lecture discusses the current state of climate change, focusing on essential climate variables defined by the Global Climate Observing System. It highlights the importance of surface and atmospheric observations, including data collected from weather stations and radiosondes. The instructor explains the observed increase in global temperatures and the role of human activities in this trend. The lecture also covers the complexities of measuring precipitation changes and the uncertainties involved. Projections for future climate scenarios are presented, emphasizing the potential impacts of greenhouse gas emissions on global temperatures and precipitation patterns. The instructor stresses the importance of understanding these variables to predict future climate conditions and their implications for ecosystems and human systems. The lecture concludes with a summary of the key findings and the significance of continued monitoring and research in climate science.

This video is available exclusively on Mediaspace for a restricted audience. Please log in to MediaSpace to access it if you have the necessary permissions.

Watch on Mediaspace

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Environmental science

Climate: Climate change

Related concepts (32)

Climate change

In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to Earth's climate. The current rise in global average temperature is more rapid than previous changes, and is primarily caused by humans burning fossil fuels. Fossil fuel use, deforestation, and some agricultural and industrial practices increase greenhouse gases, notably carbon dioxide and methane.

Climate model

Numerical climate models use quantitative methods to simulate the interactions of the important drivers of climate, including atmosphere, oceans, land surface and ice. They are used for a variety of purposes from study of the dynamics of the climate system to projections of future climate. Climate models may also be qualitative (i.e. not numerical) models and also narratives, largely descriptive, of possible futures.

Climate change scenario

Climate change scenarios or socioeconomic scenarios are projections of future greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions used by analysts to assess future vulnerability to climate change. Scenarios and pathways are created by scientists to survey any long term routes and explore the effectiveness of mitigation and helps us understand what the future may hold this will allow us to envision the future of human environment system. Producing scenarios requires estimates of future population levels, economic activity, the structure of governance, social values, and patterns of technological change.

Climate risk

Climate risk refers to risk assessments based on formal analysis of the consequences, likelihoods and responses to the impacts of climate change and how societal constraints shape adaptation options. Common approaches to risk assessment and risk management strategies based on natural hazards have been applied to climate change impacts although there are distinct differences. Based on a climate system that is no longer staying within a stationary range of extremes, climate change impacts are anticipated to increase for the coming decades despite mitigation efforts.

Climate

Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteorological variables that are commonly measured are temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, wind, and precipitation. In a broader sense, climate is the state of the components of the climate system, including the atmosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, lithosphere and biosphere and the interactions between them.

Related lectures (54)

Evolution of Climate Models

Explores the evolution of climate models and the latest IPCC findings on climate sensitivity, including ECS estimation and constraints from observations and paleoclimate records.

Paris Agreement: Emissions Gap

Explores the Paris Agreement, Emissions Gap, COP 27, UNFCCC, IPCC, WMO reports, Swiss NDC, Glasgow COP26, and IPCC's AR6 findings.

Radiative Forcing & Climate Sensitivity

Explores radiative forcing, climate sensitivity, and feedback mechanisms in climate change, emphasizing the role of various components like CO2 and methane.

Climate Change: Understanding Impacts and Responses

Discusses climate change impacts, adaptation strategies, and the importance of collective action to address global warming.

Climate Sensitivity: Historical Climate Change Overview