Climate Change

Saturday, July 22, 2006

CHAPTER LINKS AND DOCUMENTS


Hi Everyone

First of all apologies, I have just realised that the links pointed to another NISL course. I have sorted that out and I have attached links to the various reading material that you will be using while doing this course.




Document 1a:Alexander1.PDF:
Up-loaded: 9/23/2005 2:29:29 PM

Description:
This is part one of a piece in the Farmer's Weekly by
Will Alexander refuting claims of global warming. Prof. Alexander is Professor
Emeritus, Department of Civil and Biosystems Engineering, University of
Pretoria. This article made available by the kind permission of Famers' Weekly
Magazine.




Document 1b:Alexander2.PDF:
Up-loaded: 9/23/2005 2:32:09 PM

Description:
The second part of Prof Alexander's refutation of
global warming. Also have a look at : http://www.scienceinafrica.co.za/2004/april/climate.htm
This article made available by the kind permission of Farmers' Weekly
Magazine.




Document 2:Halpin_EcoApp_1997_Management_response.PDF:
Up-loaded: 9/21/2005 12:31:10 PM

Description:
Halpin, P.N., "Global Climate Change and Natural Area
Protection: Management Reponses and Research Directions", 1997, Ecological
Applications, Vol 7, No 3..................................... A paper
discussing the response options available and avenues of research that should
be pursued in order to expand the available options for conservation area
management in response to climate change. Note that some of these areas have
been explored since the paper was published, whilst others have not.






Document 3:Hoffert_2002_technological_solutions.PDF:
Up-loaded: 9/13/2005 4:25:47 PM

Description:
Hoffert, M.I., et al, "Advanced Technology Paths to
Global Climate Stability: Energy for a Greenhouse Planet", 2002, Science 298,
pp 981- 987..............................This paper discusses possible
alternative methods of generating power to minimise the climate change
impacts. There is a definite focus on high technology, although not all of the
options seem too far-fetched.






Document 4:Malcolm_Markham_2000_WWF.PDF:
Up-loaded: 9/14/2005 4:51:47 PM

Description:
Malcolm, J.R. and Markham, A. "Global Warming and
Terrestrial Biodiversity Decline", 2000, WWF periodical, WWF. A discussion
paper on the effects of climate change on biodiversity worldwide. Conjectures
are made on the basis on the required migration rate for species to track the
changing climate. It is interesting that the RMRs for some of the biomes
modelled are orders of magnitude higher than those observed after the last
glacial maximum.






Document 5a: Midgley_etal_Alexander_reply1.PDF: Up-loaded: 9/23/2005
2:40:00 PM

Description:
The reply to Prof Alexander's refutation of climate
change from several respected scientists (also published in the Farmer's
Weekly). This article made available by the kind permission of Farmers' Weekly
Magazine.






Document 5b: Midgley_etal_Alexander_reply2.PDF: Up-loaded: 9/23/2005
2:45:31 PM

Description:
The second part of the reply to Prof Alexander's
refutation of climate change. This article made available by the kind
permission of Farmers' Weekly magazine.






Document 6:Nyong2005.PDF:
Up-loaded: 9/20/2005 4:52:28 PM

Description:
Nyong, A. "Impacts of Climate Change in the Tropics:
The African Experience", 2000, UK Meteorology Office's Symposium on "Avoiding
Dangerous Climate Change" in
Exeter..........................................................A discussion
of the likely effects of global climate change on Africa, including
biodiversity, health, food security and displacement issues.






Document 7:TAR01_climate_system_overview.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 5:43:41 PM

Description:
An overview of the IPCC report, and an outline of
natural and anthropogenic climate change effects. This overview provides a
broad-scale perspective on the IPCC findings






Document 8:TAR02_Observed_variability_and_change.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 5:48:05 PM

Description:
This second chapter of the IPCC report describes the
extent of the variability from previous norms, and appraises to what extent
this is the result of anthropogenic change. This is a large chapter!






Document 9: TAR03_Carbon_cycle_and_CO2.PDF: Up-loaded: 932047 8/27/2005
5:52:44 PM

Description:
The third chapter of the IPCC report summarizes the
current knowledge about the carbon cycle, including the action of CO2 on the
atmosphere. It highlights the human sources and effects on atmospheric CO2,
and discusses future (and palaeo) trends in the carbon cycle.






Document 10:TAR04_Greenhouse_Gases.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 6:27:38 PM

Description:
Chapter 4 looks at the effects of greenhouse gases and
a changing atmospheric chemistry on climate change. It also looks at future
projections of outputs and their effects. There is a lot to discuss here.






Document 11:TAR05_Aerosols_Direct_effects.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 6:09:58 PM

Description:
Chapter 5 looks at the effects of aerosols on the
atmosphere, and the effects of future changes in aerosol concentration on
climate change. There is a lot still to be understood on the actions of
aerosols.






Document 12:TAR06_Radiative_Forcing.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 6:04:32 PM

Description:
Chapter 6 discusses the causes and effects of radiative
forcings in the atmosphere on time scales ranging from the solar to
anthropogenic. This paper is relatively technical, but a fair bit can be
learned from it!






Document 13:TAR07_Physical_processes_and_feedbacks.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 6:03:32 PM

Description:
Chapter 7 looks at the physical processes driving the
earth's climate (in terms of oceanic, terrestrial and atmospheric
interactions), and details some of the feedback processes that drive and limit
change. A little technical, but very interesting






Document 14:TAR08_Model_Evaluation.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 6:33:05 PM

Description:
Goes into relatively good detail about which models are
usefully applied to what scenarios, and illustrates the effectiveness (and
limitations) of the models for climate change prediction.






Document 15:TAR09_Future_projections.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/27/2005 6:31:31 PM

Description:
Discusses the probable outcomes of future climate
change. Be warned - there are nearly as many projections as there are
modellers, and although the paper does a good job of making sense of this vast
volume of data, it is still a lot to go through!






Document 16:TAR10_Regional_climate_information.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/30/2005 1:26:10 PM

Description:
Chapter 10 goes into the detail of regional climate
modelling, and the difficulty and processes of downscaling GCM outputs for
regions to a scale that is useful for planning. Expect a lot of tehcnical
detail on the workings of models.






Document 17:TAR11_Sea_level_changes.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/30/2005 1:32:01 PM

Description:
This chapter discusses the projections of future sea
level rise, both in the near future, and overall. It analyses current trends,
and determines the likely causes of sea level rise.






Document 18:TAR12_Detection_of_change.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/30/2005 1:57:09 PM

Description:
This Chapter discusses the processes involved in
detection of climate change (through measurement, modelling, and proxy data).
Particularly interesting is the process of attribution of causes of change.






Document 19:TAR13_Scenario_development.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/30/2005 1:41:29 PM

Description:
This describe show the IUPCC evolved the future
emissions scenarios for standardising GCM ouputs. It describes the baselines,
regional downscaling, and the element of uncertainty in these scenarios






Document 20:TAR14_Advancing_our_understanding.PDF:
Up-loaded: 8/30/2005 1:50:27 PM

Description:
This is more of a concept document than anything else,
describing those areas in which scientists need to concentrate in order to
expand our knowledge of climate change.


Image Credit

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=4392