Predicted climate changes
Although the Earth's climate is naturally changeable, with fluctuations of up to 2°C per century (IPCC, 1990), human emissions of a number of gases (the ‘greenhouse gases’), including carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane (CH4), halocarbons (CFCs and HCFCs) and nitrous oxide (N2O), are likely to create changes in climate that are much more rapid than those experienced in human history. With the exception of halocarbons, greenhouse gases occur naturally; in fact, without them the mean surface temperature of the Earth would be –15°C (IPCC, 1990). However, human activities have increased the atmospheric concentrations of these gases. creating the ‘enhanced greenhouse effect.’ This is expected to increase mean surface temperature between 1.5°C and 4.5°C by the middle of the 21st century, with a best estimate of a global mean warming of 2.5°C (Houghton et al., 1992). In the absence of controls on greenhouse gas emissions, the rate of warming will be about 0.3°C per...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Bibliography
Houghton, J. T., Callander, B. A., and Varney, S. K., 1992. Climate Change 1992: The Supplementary Report to the IPCC Scientific Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
IDNDR Secretariat, 1994. Disasters Around the World: A Global and Regional View. Information Report No. 4 for the World Conference on Natural Disaster Reduction, Yokohama, Japan, 23–27 May 1994. Yokohama: Secretariate to the International Decade for Natural Disaster Reduction.
IPCC, 1990. Scientific Assessment of Climate Change: Report Prepared for IPCC by Working Group 1. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization and United Nations Environment Programme.
Lelieveld, J., and Crutzen, P. J., 1993. Methane emissions into the atmosphere: an overview. In van Amstel, A. R. (ed.), IPCC Workshop: Methane and Nitrous Oxide Methods in National Emissions Inventories and Options for Control, Proceedings, Amersfoort, Netherlands, 3–5 February 1993. Research for Man and Environment Series, The Hague: National Institute of Public Health and Environmental Protection, pp. 13–26.
Parry, M., 1990. Climate Change and World Agriculture. London: Earthscan.
Schlesinger, W. H., 1992. Climate, environment and ecology. In Jager, J., and Ferguson, H. L. (eds), Climate Change: Science, Impacts and Policy. Proceedings of the Second World Climate Conference. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 371–8.
Smit, B. (ed.), 1993. Adaptation to Climatic Variability and Change: Report of the Task Force on Climate Adaptation. Department of Geography Occasional Paper No. 19. Guelph, Ontario, Canada: University of Guelph.
Tegart, W. J.McG., Sheldon, G. W., and Griffiths, D. C., 1990. Climate Change: The IPCC Impacts Assessment. Canberra, Australia: Australian Government Publishing Service.
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, May 1992.
World Resources Institute, 1992. World Resources 1992–93. New York: Oxford University Press.
Cross-references
Carbon-14 Dating; Climatic Modeling; Cycles, Climatic; Dendrochronology; El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO); Glaciers, Glaciology; Global Change; Global Climatic Change Modeling and Monitoring; Greenhouse Effect; Ice Ages; Lichens, Lichenometry; Ozone; Sunspots, Environmental Influence; Paleoecology; Radioisotopes, Radionuclides; Sea-Level Change; Solar Cycle; Zones, Climatic
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1999 Kluwer Academic Publishers
About this entry
Cite this entry
Herbert, D., Burton, I. (1999). Climate change. In: Environmental Geology. Encyclopedia of Earth Science. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_56
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4494-1_56
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-0-412-74050-3
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4494-6
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive