| Climate Commitment Studies |
Article Index for Climate |
Shopping Commitment |
Website Links For Climate |
Information AboutClimate Commitment Studies |
|
BASIC IDEA If a Perturbation - such as an increase in greenhouse gases or Solar Activity - is applied to the Climate System the response will not be immediate, principally because of the large Heat Capacity of the Ocean s. As an analogue, consider the heating of a thin metal plate (by the sun or by a flame): the plate will warm relatively quickly. If a thick metal block is heated instead, it will take much longer for the entire block to reach Equilibrium with the imposed heating because of its higher heat capacity. Land only stores Heat in the top few meters. Ocean water, by contrast, can move vertically and store heat within the ocean's depth ( Convection ). This is why the land surface is observed to warm more than the oceans. It also explains the very large difference in response between
MODELS See Also: global climate model Recent Model s forecast that even in the unlikely event of greenhouse gases stabilising at present levels, the earth would warm by an additional 0.5 °C by 2100, a similar rise in temperature to that seen during the 20th century. As ocean waters expand in response to this warming, global Sea Level s would mount by about 10 centimetres during that time. These models do not take into account Ice Cap and Glacier melting; a better estimate might be double or triple this value {Link without Title} . HISTORY This is by no means a new idea, the concept is discussed in the in 1995, although, one of the most important papers in the field was not published in time for inclusion in the TAR. {Link without Title} EXTERNAL LINKS
REFERENCES
|
|
|