Climate 101:

How the Climate Works

OSHR 1609

Scott Denning, CSU

Climate 101:

How the Climate Works

OSHR 1609

Scott Denning, CSU

Climate 101:

How the Climate Works

OSHR 1609

Scott Denning, CSU

Introductions

Course Outline

• 9/20 Introduction: The Earth System

• 9/27 Energy, Radiation, and

Temperature

• 10/4 Winds, Currents, and Water

• 10/11 Climates of the Past

• 10/18 Modern Climate Change

Climate 101

Course Outline

• 1) Climate Change in a Nutshell

• 2) Forcing, Feedback, & Sensitivity

• 3) Future Climate Changes

• 4) Vulnerabilities & Impacts

• 5) Adaptation & Mitigation

Climate 201

Optional Books• Excellent but

Expensive!• Archer’s book

especially useful for Climate 201 (Modern Climate Change)

• Available on Amazon for $58,

Reader’s Cove in Fort Collins and Anthology Book Co. in Loveland offer 20% discounts to Osher members.

Class Web Sitehttp://

climate101.atmos.colostate.edu

• All slides as printable handouts• Supplemental readings• Videos• Links to more resources

Weather vs Climate

What’s the Difference?

Weather vs Climate

what’s the difference?• If you don’t like the weather:– Wait five minutes!

• If you don’t like the climate:– Move!

Ever Wonder Why?

• Day is warmer than night• Summer is warmer than winter• Phoenix is warmer than Fargo

Location! Location! Location!

• Depends on where you live:– Latitude!– Altitude (mountains vs valley)– What’s upwind (ocean vs land)

• Changes very slowly

• Very predictable

• We can predict that Phoenix is warmer than Fargo for precisely the same reasons that we can predict a warmer future!

Climate is Place

PHOENIX

Heat Budgets

Climate vs. Weather

“Climate is what you expect … weather is what you get!”

• Climate is an “envelope of possibilities” within which the weather bounces around

• Climate is determined by the properties of the Earth system itself (the boundary conditions), whereas weather depends very sensitively on the evolution of the system from one moment to the next

How’s the Weather?

Alert, Nunavut,Canada -19° C

83 N

dawn in the south at noonthe diffuse blue light of Arctic winterunseasonably warm ~ 0° F

Kiruna, Sweden-24° C

68 N

Long shadows at mid-daySqueaky dry snow crunches under boots

Fairbanks, AK-40° F

65 N

bad air quality under a strong inversion in the valley

made worse because people leave their trucks running

Moscow, Russia

56 N

Budapest, Hungary0 C

47 N

Corvallis, OR 48° F rain

45 N

New York, NY60° F sun

41 N

Arapaho Basin, CO 11° F

40 N

Ski lift 13,000 feet above sea level

Algiers, Algeria15° C

37 N

San Diego, CA75° F

33 N

Everest Base CampTibet, China

28 N5 km above sea level

U of HIHonolulu, HI78° F

21 N

Hazy sun and “vog”(volcanically-induced fog)

Bamako, Mali37° C very dry

13 N

Kwajalein Atoll, Marshall Islands82° F

“heart of the dry season, trade winds are king … hold onto your hat!”

9 N

Fortaleza, Brazil4 S

Tamborine,Queensland, AustraliaHeavy thunderstorms 28 S

Hamilton, NZWarm summer morning

38 S

Rosetta, Tasmania, Australia19 C

43 S

Casey Station Antarctica2° C light snow

66 S

McMurdo Sound AntarcticaOpen water first time in decades! 78 S

90 SSouth Pole

South Pole-44sunny with light breeze

90 S