ENVS 1000U Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Clearcutting, Incineration, Mulch
Document Summary
The atmospheric circulation drives weather and climate. Weather: specifies atmospheric conditions over short time periods (e. g. hours, days) with small geographic areas. Climate: describes patterns of atmospheric conditions (temp, moisture content, precipitation, wind, etc. ) across large geographic regions over long periods of time. The sun and atmosphere keep the earth warm. 30% of the solar energy is reflected while 70% is absorbed. A report from the intergovernmental panel on climate change (ipcc) has concluded that in recent years that: climate is changing, humans are the cause of that change, that change is exerting impacts that will become more severe. Climate change is global: it describes the trends and variations in earth"s climate (temp. , precipitation, storm frequency and weather extremes: weather extremes, precipitation changes, increase in storms. Global warming: an increase in earth"s average temperature. The earth"s climate has varied naturally through time.
