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This page is part of envirowiki's climate project. Check out node:Climate Change for more info.

This page is designed as a basis for a short handout on the basics of climate science. It's probably better if there's very little, or no politics involved at all. It should simply be a list of methods, terms and concepts used to work out what's going on with climate change. The politics can go in a separate handout.

As a handout, it would be good to get all the basics into one double sided A4 sheet, or to make it more readable, a 4-page A5 booklet (still one single A4). If it's kept to about 1500 words, then it should be pretty easy to layout as a PDF.

[edit] 1 Comments

[edit] 1.1 Glossary

This is going to be long, perhaps too long. Pick the most appropriate terms.

Some terms that are listed as glossary terms might be better suited in their own sections. Move as ye see fit.

Some of these are appropriated from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary_of_climate_change.

[edit] 1.2 making a print version

Anyone it welcome to make a print version of this book, as it's available under the CC-BY-NC-SA license. A good idea if you're laying it out might be to put your group's logo on it, as well as the envirowiki logo. And include the URL of this page at the end, incase people want to check for updates!

Let us know if you make a properly laid-out version, so we can use it too.

[edit] 1.3 References

Please use references for every factual statement. (It's you choice as to whether the references get included in the print version

[edit] 2 Climate science cheat sheet

[edit] 2.1 Introduction

There's a lot of confusing terms and concepts within climate science, as well as number that have no relevance to the human scale, and the political side of things doesn't make it any easier. In fact, sometimes it's hard to tell if someone's factual statements are correct, if they've got mistakes in their working, or if they're intentionally trying to deceive you. This booklet is an attempt to clear up those problems, and act as a day-to-day reference.

[edit] 2.2 The Basics: How climate change works

"Climate change" generally refers to anthropogenic (human caused) climatic change brought about by global warming. that's what this text talks about.

Global warming is caused by the greenhouse effect. This basically works thus: Some gases allow short wave length electro magnetic radiation (ie. UV light, visible light and shorter) to pass through relatively unencumbered. Depending on the gas, there are specific wavelengths that get absorbed, and are re-radiated at other wavelengths. The electro-magnetic radiation that does get through hits solid surfaces, or gas lower down, and is absorbed. This energy is re-radiated, often at a longer wavelength (ie. infrared, microwaves), which are more easily absorbed. This energy is absorbed and re-radiated constantly, and dissipating as heat^{[reference needed]}.

[edit] 2.3 The Figures

Greenhouse figures are all over the shop, huge numbers that are hard to imagine, and tiny numbers that make huge differences. Looking at a page full can be a real headfuck. Here's a quick run down of the what and how.

[edit] 2.3.1 Units

Pretty much all the units in climate science are metric, so it's useful to know the more common metric multipliers:

SI unit prefixes
10ⁿ	Prefix	Symbol	Short scale	full multiplier write out
10¹⁵	peta-	P	Quadrillion	1 000 000 000 000 000
10¹²	tera-	T	Trillion	1 000 000 000 000
10⁹	giga-	G	Billion	1 000 000 000
10⁶	mega-	M	Million	1 000 000
10³	kilo-	k	Thousand	1 000
10⁻³	milli-	m	Thousandth	0.001
10⁻⁶	micro-	µ	Millionth	0.000 001
10⁻⁹	nano-	n	Billionth	0.000 000 001
10⁻¹²	pico-	p	Trillionth	0.000 000 000 001

Frequently used units
Abbreviation	full meaning	what?
GtC	Gigatonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂)	standard measure of carbon in the atmosphere
GtC-e	Gigatonnes of CO₂ equivalent	an amalgamation of warming effect of all greenhouse gasses, as if they were C0₂. measures total tonnage, as well an converts it to a tonnage of warming effect if the gas was pure C0₂.
Wm²	Watts per square meter	measure of radiative forcing
GtC	Gigatonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂)	standard measure of carbon in the atmosphere
GtC	Gigatonnes of Carbon Dioxide (CO₂)	standard measure of carbon in the atmosphere

[edit] 2.4 Glossary

[edit] 2.4.1 A

[edit] 2.4.2 B

Black carbon

[edit] 2.4.3 C

[edit] 2.4.4 D

Dangerous climate change

[edit] 2.4.5 F

[edit] 2.4.6 G

[edit] 2.4.7 H

Historical temperature record
Holocene
Holocene Climatic Optimum

[edit] 2.4.8 I

[edit] 2.4.9 K

Kyoto Protocol

[edit] 2.4.10 L

Little Ice Age

[edit] 2.4.11 M

[edit] 2.4.12 N

Nitrous oxide (N₂O)

[edit] 2.4.13 Q

Quasi-biennial oscillation

[edit] 2.4.14 R

[edit] 2.4.15 S

[edit] 2.4.16 T

[edit] 2.4.17 U

Climate science cheat sheet