Category: Ask a Climate Scientist

ozone

The Impact of the Ozone Layer

Ozone is an atmospheric gas made of three oxygen atoms bound together (chemical formula O₃). It constitutes a very small fraction of the air close to the Earth’s surface which we breathe in and out every day.

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thermostat

The Earth’s Fluctuating Temperature

Natural fluctuations are indeed a feature of Earth’s climate. But, if we look at the climate of the past 150 years (for which we have direct temperature measurements) and compare to climate models, we find that the observed warming of the past 30 years or so is outside the range of natural fluctuations produced by models.

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fires

The Fires in Australia and Hurricane Sandy

Science has advanced to the point where we can analyze an extreme event and tease out the role that climate change played in that event—how much more/less likely, how much stronger/weaker.

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co2levels

Carbon Dioxide Levels on Our Current Emissions Path

The last time the atmospheric CO₂ was above 1000 ppm was probably the Triassic, more than 200 million years ago. Atmospheric CO₂ has varied in the past. It was as high as 4000 ppm in the Cambrian (500 million years ago), before vertebrates evolved. This was a period of arthropods like Trilobites.

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ocean

The Oceans Role in Moderating the Climate

The short answer? No. But that doesn’t mean there is no need for worry.

There are two important ways the ocean controls climate: through the heat that the ocean holds and the gas exchange with the atmosphere. The ocean (and water in general) has a higher heat capacity than air or land.

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