Climate Change Geography
Climate change geography examines the spatial patterns and impacts of climate change on the Earth's physical and human systems. It encompasses the study of climate variability, global warming, sea level rise, extreme weather events, and their geographical distribution. This field also investigates the interactions between human activities and the environment, and the resulting geographical disparities in vulnerability and adaptation strategies.
8 Key excerpts on "Climate Change Geography"
eBook - ePub- Simon Bell(Author)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...We have seen that populations living at subsistence levels are most vulnerable to climate changes when cooler, drier or wetter conditions cause crop failure and lead to famine. Droughts in parts of Africa still occur and lead to migration of refugees to camps where nowadays we are more efficient at feeding them, although many people still die of starvation. One area where climate is clearly being modified by human activity is in cities, where the urban heat island effect, caused by heat being absorbed by buildings and surfaced areas and given out by heating systems and vehicles, means temperatures rise locally. Combined with a lack of green plants and other natural elements which can have an ameliorative effect, urban micro-climates can be much more uncomfortable than nearby rural ones. Summary and Conclusions This chapter has provided the setting for the next three, which examine landform, ecological and cultural patterns and processes in turn. It has shown that there are broad spatial and temporal patterns to the earth’s climate which affect all aspects of the landscape and that the climate always has and always will change so that we have to be constantly adapting to it. In the past a failure to adapt to colder conditions meant death for many subsistence farmers, and outbreaks of social unrest or epidemics of disease indirectly caused by worsening climatic conditions also led to disaster for many societies. Technological advances have insulated many of us from negative climate impacts but we must understand and work within the constraints imposed by the climate. What is clear is that everything about the world is dynamic – nothing is in equilibrium or some kind of steady state....
eBook - ePubBiogeography
An Integrative Approach of the Evolution of Living
- Eric Guilbert(Author)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- Wiley-ISTE(Publisher)
...12 Biogeography and Climate Change Luisa Maria DIELE-VIEGAS Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Brazil 12.1. Climate change Climate change is any change in climatic patterns over time, due to natural variability or anthropogenic activities, that leads to changes in atmosphere composition (Cubasch et al. 2013). Among the natural forces responsible for climatic variation are astronomic phenomena, changes in solar activity, vulcanism, tectonism, geographic variation and terrestrial orbit. The sun is responsible for providing energy to the Earth, which is transformed and stored in the atmosphere, creating the greenhouse effect. This effect is natural and responsible for maintaining the Earth’s temperature at acceptable levels for the occurrence of life. The greenhouse effect is only possible due to the presence of gases composing the atmosphere, among which are water vapor, carbon dioxide (CO 2), methane, nitrous oxide and ozone (Schneider 1989). Fluctuations in the concentration of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere were common in Earth’s history (Huybers and Curry 2006), and paleoclimate data documents the transitions between different climate states at different time scales. This information allows us to describe multi-centennial to millennial baseline variability, against which the recent changes can be compared to assess whether they are unusual or unexpected (Masson-Delmotte et al. 2013)...
eBook - ePub- Peter Knight(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...The locality should also be seen in the context of the home region, thereby introducing the concept of ‘regions’. Similarities and differences with other areas studied should be brought out and the issue of change should also be woven through the work. The interaction of weather, landscape and wealth on people’s lives is to be studied in the developing country. The physical geography involves them learning about a number of features (beach, river, valley), erosion and deposition processes, water courses, weather conditions in different parts of the world, vulcanology, seismology, and the nature of different soils. Settlements and their functions are associated with ideas explaining different population densities and migration and transport patterns, with the most advanced children being encouraged to consider the factors which make for change in human geography, alongside elementary locational theory. They are not so explicitly invited to consider the values issues in the environment, although there is considerable emphasis on ways of improving the locality. Global environmental issues get scant attention. Criticisms of this curriculum remind us that it is simply one view of geography (e.g. Catling, 1990b; Graves et al, 1990). A vocal criticism has been that geography can be seen very much as the study of human behaviour, and so it is necessarily, primarily concerned with human values, firstly, in order to make sense of and to understand human action, and secondly, in order to help students reflect upon their own values and the sort of world which they wish to live in (Fisher and Hicks, 1985; Pike and Selby, 1988; Hicks and Steiner, 1989). This curriculum is thought to have pushed values issues to the margins...
eBook - ePub- Debleena Bhattacharya, V K Singh(Authors)
- 2022(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...The region includes rainfall, temperature variation, humidity and wind. The climatic condition of an area is affected by topography, longitude, latitude, Sun–Earth’s axis, proximity to sea and oceans, wind directions, and temperature differences between land and sea. The change in climate is often termed as global warming and it refers to the gradual increase in average temperature on Earth’s surface. According to scientific consensus there is a continuous increase in the global temperature from 0.4 to 0.8°C during the past century and the cause for this escalation in temperature is attributed to the emission of carbon dioxide (CO 2) and other greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere. The combustion of fossil fuels gives rise to the increased volume of CO 2 and other GHGs. With the increase in population there is an immediate surge for land and in order to cater the anthropogenic demands the forest was cleared. Apart from this agricultural activity has also significantly contributed to global warming. The most vital factor responsible for climate change lies in the increase in the concentration of the GHGs and CO 2 in the atmosphere. The economic upliftment of the nation depends on the industrial activities such as energy, industry, transport, land use and they rely heavily on the use of fossil fuel. 77 percent of global warming is attributed to CO 2 apart from methane generated by agriculture and rising land clearance, leading to deforestation. Stern (2006) defined the increase in CO 2 concentration level to nearly 100 parts per million (ppm). The present data elucidate that 2–3 ppm of CO 2 is the global emissions. The increased global warming is predicted to show its impact on working people and productivity by 2045. Global warming and climate change have a very strong interrelationship in environment. The capacities of the GHGs to entrap the solar heat within the atmosphere have a detrimental impact on natural habitats, health and also agriculture...
eBook - ePubClimate Change and Armed Conflict
Hot and Cold Wars
- James R. Lee(Author)
- 2009(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Climate change will, however, reorient relative power relationships between countries, based on geography. Seeing the world through such a geopolitical lens is a realist position. It is also pessimistic in accepting the inevitable power aspects of climate change. The result will be relative rebalancing of geopolitical power, as some areas increase in resource endowments, and others decrease. The climate as war: idealists and optimists With a changing climate, there will be reactive measures to counteract deteriorating climate events and trends. As sea levels rise, countries will build dikes and other fabricated features to keep out rising waters. As temperatures rise, differing crop types will emerge that can withstand the heat. As precipitation declines, there will be more use of efficient systems of irrigation for crops, the major use of fresh water. Towns and cities will recycle more of their water, and more cisterns will arise to catch rain. In areas that will see greater precipitation both from rainfall and from increased glacial melting, new drainage canals will arise to siphon off overflows for use in dry areas. Reacting to climate is one response. Changing it is another. Weather modification may be a means of controlling extreme climate events such as hurricanes. It might be possible to deflect an extreme weather event (like a hurricane) away from a major population center, but that only means that it will go somewhere else. Responding to climate change through weather modification will have consequences. As countries respond to climate change over the long term, there will be the temptation to alter weather patterns to produce a more favorable climatic condition. For such a strategy to succeed, weather alteration would need to become permanent or longstanding. Weather modification is zero-sum in its impact. If a country is experiencing a long-term drought, inducing rainfall through cloud seeding could provide benefits when planting crops, for example...
eBook - ePubLandscape Analysis
Investigating the potentials of space and place
- Per Stahlschmidt, Simon Swaffield, Jorgen Primdahl, Vibeke Nellemann(Authors)
- 2017(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Increasingly the changes are driven by people. We have entered the ‘Anthropocene’, when human population growth and actions are a major factor in landscape change at multiple scales, from individual sites, to watersheds, cities, regions, and the whole earth. Landscape change may be intentional, creating places for people to live, work, play, or visit, or producing energy, food, timber, or other resources. Other changes may be unintended, such as human-induced climate change. It is clear, however, that our future wellbeing depends upon making wise decisions about how all landscapes will change, in order to ensure that the health of the planet is sustained and the needs of people now and in the future can continue to be met. FIGURE 1.1 Medieval farming The appearance of the landscape at any particular time reflects social, economic and technical conditions. Wider society and the local inhabitants influence the landscape and the landscape influences society and the local inhabitants. Source : Pieter Bruegel the Elder (1565): De Hooioogst / Hay Harvesting. Oil painting 117 x 161 cm. © The Lobkowicz Collections, Czech Republic. To make wise decisions, we need to understand how landscapes are structured, function, are changing, and might change for the better. Many past decisions about landscape change have been based upon accumulated everyday knowledge of local communities, and this grounded knowledge remains vital. However, rapidly growing scientific understanding, the complexity of modern technologies, economies and societies, and interconnected global processes mean that it is impossible for any individual or small group to fully understand landscape change without a more systematic approach. This requires a process of analysis. This book is about analysing landscapes in a decision-making context, as part of policy, planning and design decisions of various kinds and forms...
eBook - ePub- Knut Schroeder, Trevor Thompson, Kathleen Frith, David Pencheon(Authors)
- 2012(Publication Date)
- BMJ Books(Publisher)
...For example, a reduction in the area of ice sheets reduces the fraction of solar radiation reflected by the earth (also known as albedo, or reflection coefficient), so leading to further warming [17]. And melting of the arctic permafrost can release methane stored away in the soil [4, 6, 18]. Although soil and plants (algae, for example) have the capacity to absorb carbon dioxide to a certain level, they will be less likely to do so at higher temperatures. In addition, changes in the amount of water vapour or the consistency and distribution of clouds may reduce or amplify climate change [19]. The effects of climate change are far from clear because of uncertainties around the effects of feedback loops, ‘tipping points’ and non-linear change. In the worst case, this could lead to a catastrophic outcome, which has been called runaway climate change [4]. To simulate past climate and project changes in global climate in the future, scientists use mathematical models that take into account diverse parameters, such as atmospheric pressure, oceanic acidity or forest cover. Projections are distinguished from predictions in that they may also involve assumptions about human activities, such as agriculture, population dynamics and technological developments, which means that they are subject to substantial uncertainty [20]. Scientists have to make certain assumptions, so any predictions can only be estimates, which is why predictions vary between institutions and the models being used. Like medical research, the science of climate change has made enormous progress in the past two decades [19]. This is due to better and more effective use of long-term climate data, the increasing number of climate observations, more advanced measurement techniques, improved climate simulations and more powerful computing technology...
eBook - ePubApplied Climatology
Principles and Practice
- Allen Perry, Dr Russell Thompson, Russell Thompson(Authors)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...Models of climate impacts (Chapter 4) as a result of global warming have shown the potential for damage and disruption to natural ecosystems, global agricultural production, freshwater distribution and population distributions. A major threat is sea-level rise which could occur in the short to medium term (decades) as a result of the thermal expansion of oceans, and in the longer term (centuries) as a result of melting ice sheets (seeChapter 7, Conclusion). The general circulation models (Chapter 4) project greater warming in the high latitudes and continental interiors, with much less warming over the oceans and in low latitudes (Table 22.3). However, the adverse impacts of climate change are likely to be greatest in those countries where the capacity to adapt to climate change is least – that is, in the low-latitude countries with heavy dependence upon agriculture, forests and water supplies.The atmospheric management response to the threat of climate change follows three patterns. First, there has been a substantial expansion of atmospheric research and climate monitoring to strengthen scientific understanding and reduce the uncertainty of current projections. Second, a UN Framework Convention on Climate Change has been adopted (Chapter 22). This convention is analogous to the Vienna Convention on the ozone layer. Negotiations are now underway with a view to the development of specific protocols that will involve international agreements to reduce GHG emissions according to some targets and schedules. In the case of the Montreal Protocol to the Vienna Convention, international agreement was possible in an unusually short time because the adverse effects of ozone-layer depletion could be detected currently along with increased UVB radiation, and because the sources of ozone-layer depletion (CFCs) are limited to a relatively small sector of the economy...
