Climate and Global Change

Warm near the equator and cold at the poles, our planet is able to support a variety of living things because of its diverse regional climates. The average of all these regions makes up Earth's global climate. Climate has cooled and warmed throughout Earth history for various reasons. Rapid warming like we see today is unusual in the history of our planet. The scientific consensus is that climate is warming as a result of the addition of heat-trapping greenhouse gases which are increasing dramatically in the atmosphere as a result of human activities.

Roaming across Arctic <a href="/earth/polar/sea_ice.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">sea ice</a>, <a href="/earth/polar/polar_bears_jan07.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">polar bears</a> peer through cracks in the ice to look for ringed seals, their favorite food, in the water below. Almost all of a polar bear's food comes from the sea. The <a href="/earth/polar/sea_ice.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">floating sea ice</a> is a perfect vantage point for the bears as they hunt for food. Unfortunately, the amount of sea ice floating in the <a href="/earth/polar/polar_north.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">Arctic region</a> is shrinking each year, and getting farther apart.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Ansgar Walk. Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.</em></small></p><a href="/earth/climate/cli_define.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">Regional climate</a> is the average weather pattern in a place over more than thirty years, including the variations in <a href="/earth/climate/cli_seasons.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">seasons</a>. The climate of a region depends on many factors including sunlight, altitude, topography, and proximity to oceans. Since the equatorial regions receive more sunlight than the poles, climate varies with <a href="/earth/climate/cli_latitude.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">latitude</a>. This image shows how sea surface temperatures change at different latitudes.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NOAA. Public domain.</em></small></p>Many forms of air pollution are human-made. Industrial plants, power plants and vehicles with internal combustion engines produce <a href="/earth/climate/nitrogen_airpollution.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">nitrogen oxides</a>, <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/vocs.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">VOCs</a>, <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_monoxide.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">carbon monoxide</a>, <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">carbon dioxide</a>, <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/sulfur_oxides.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">sulfur dioxide</a> and <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/particulates.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">particulates</a>. Some of these gases are <a href="/earth/climate/cli_greengas.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">greenhouse gases</a>, meaning that they retain heat in the Earth's atmosphere, due to the Earth's <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">greenhouse effect</a>.<p><small><em>Image copyright UCAR</em></small></p>Greenland's <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/polar/cryosphere_glacier1.html">ice sheet</a> saw a record <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/headline_universe/olpa/greenland_10dec07.html">melt</a> in July 2012. Scientists studying this event have found that this melting event was triggered by an influx of unusually warm air and amplified by the presence of a blanket of thin low-level <a href="http://www.windows2universe.org/earth/Atmosphere/cloud.html">clouds</a> which pushed temperatures up above freezing. For more information see the <a href="http://www.news.wisc.edu/21638">press release</a> from the University of Wisconsin Madison.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p><b><i>Looking for online resources about climate and climate change for your classroom?</i></b> Windows to the Universe is a free interlinked learning ecosystem to a wealth of resources on our site and elsewhere that support you on these topics, including <a href="/teacher_resources/climate_change_course.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">course readings</a>, <a href="/php/teacher_resources/activity.php#6">classroom activities and presentations</a>, and online interactives. Our <a href="/teacher_resources/climate.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">Climate Change Education Resources page</a> provides links to content you can use right away in the classroom!<p><small><em> Ute Kaden/PolarTREC</em></small></p>On November 7, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda in the Philippines) made landfall, with imated wind speeds of ~315 km/hr - the strongest <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/intensity.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">tropical cyclone</a> to make landfall in recorded history. As Haiyan moved across the Philippines before reaching Vietnam and China, its <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/wind.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">winds</a> and <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/hurricane/surge.html&edu=elem&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/image_linking.html">storm surge</a> left devastation in its wake, leading to massive loss of life, destruction of homes, and hundreds of thousands of displaced inhabitants. <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/09/world/iyw-how-to-help-typhoon-haiyan/index.html">How to Help</a><p><small><em>Image courtesy of COMS-1, SSEC, University of Wisconsin-Madison</em></small></p>

Explore Climate and Global Change

What Is Climate?

How do you know to pack your bathing suit and sunhat for a trip to a tropical island or pack ...Read more

What Controls the Climate System?

The Sun Climate can change if there is a change in the amount of solar energy that gets to ...Read more

Climates of the Past (Paleoclimates)

The climate of Earth has been changing for billions of years! It warmed and cooled many times ...Read more

Our Changing Planet

Our planet is changing rapidly. Check out videos and lesson plans for key climate change indicators ...Read more

Effects of Climate Change Today

Have you ever taken your temperature to see if you are getting sick? Scientists have been taking ...Read more

Climate Change in Polar Regions

Some parts of the world are warming faster than others. The Arctic is warming twice as fast ...Read more

El Nino and Other Climate Events

Sometimes the way the air moves around in the atmosphere changes.The way water moves through ...Read more

The Role of Clouds in Climate

Clouds are an important part of Earth's weather and climate. Scientists use computer models ...Read more

Energy Choices and Climate Change

The choices we make about the sources of the energy we use and the amount of energy we use affect ...Read more

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The IPCC is a group of hundreds of experts from more than 100 countries ...Read more

Tackling the Global Warming Challenge

By sending greenhouse gases into the air, we have made Earth’s greenhouse effect stronger.  ...Read more

More about Climate and Global Change

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Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

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Graben
xGraben : A graben is a down-dropped block of the earth's crust resulting from extension, or pulling, of the crust.

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Research Highlights

Deadly Tonga Earthquake Revealed as Three Big Quakes

Geologists have learned that a large earthquake and tsunami that killed 192 people on September 29, 2009 in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga was in fact a triple-whammy. The magnitude 8.1 "great earthquake"...Read more


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