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Lecture

Untitled

In course

ENV-410: Science of climate change

The course equips students with a comprehensive scientific understanding of climate change covering a wide range of topics from physical principles, historical climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, the IPCC assessment to future scenarios and climate ac ...

Instructor

Julia Schmale

Official source

https://mediaspace.epfl.ch/media/0_2pjvnuvl

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Ontological neighbourhood

Environmental science

Climate: Climate change

Related concepts (32)

Climate change feedback

Climate change feedbacks are effects of global warming that amplify or diminish the effect of forces that initially cause the warming. Positive feedbacks enhance global warming while negative feedbacks weaken it. Feedbacks are important in the understanding of climate change because they play an important part in determining the sensitivity of the climate to warming forces. Climate forcings and feedbacks together determine how much and how fast the climate changes.

Climate sensitivity

Climate sensitivity is a measure of how much Earth's surface will cool or warm after a specified factor causes a change in its climate system, such as how much it will warm for a doubling in the atmospheric carbon dioxide () concentration. In technical terms, climate sensitivity is the average change in global mean surface temperature in response to a radiative forcing, which drives a difference between Earth's incoming and outgoing energy.

Radiative forcing

Radiative forcing (or climate forcing) is the change in energy flux in the atmosphere caused by natural or anthropogenic factors of climate change as measured in watts per meter squared. It is a scientific concept used to quantify and compare the external drivers of change to Earth's energy balance. These external drivers are distinguished from climate feedbacks and internal variability, which also influence the direction and magnitude of imbalance. Positive radiative forcing means Earth receives more incoming energy from sunlight than it radiates to space.

Greenhouse effect

The greenhouse effect occurs when greenhouse gases in a planet's atmosphere cause some of the heat radiated from the planet's surface to build up at the planet's surface. This process happens because stars emit shortwave radiation that passes through greenhouse gases, but planets emit longwave radiation that is partly absorbed by greenhouse gases. That difference reduces the rate at which a planet can cool off in response to being warmed by its host star.

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.

Related lectures (44)

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 Sensitivity and Feedback Factors

Explores climate sensitivity, feedback factors, and ECS estimation using emergent constraints and paleoclimate records.

Atmospheric Chemical Reactions: Climate Feedback & Sensitivity

Explores historical climate emissions, atmospheric chemical reactions, and the impact of greenhouse gases on climate feedback and sensitivity.

Climate Sensitivity: Historical Climate Change Overview

Provides an overview of historical climate change, focusing on methane emissions, equilibrium climate sensitivity, and climate model evolution.

Earth's Climate System: Components and Interactions