CAS GE 100 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Milankovitch Cycles, Sea Level Rise, Utah Transit Authority

• School: Boston University
• Department: Geography & Environment
• Course: CAS GE 100
• Professor: Aaron Garrett

Document Summary

Weather is atmospheric conditions that change day to day, while climate is a repeating pattern of weather and the average weather conditions, temperature, and precipitation. Climate change is the shift in the long-run average weather. Temperature anomaly is a departure from a reference value or long-term average: instrumental records are direct measurements of anomalies (thermometers, proxy records are indirect measurements; inferences from natural recorders of climate (ice cap melting) There have always been changes in climate, but the current change is happening more rapidly and we are experiencing no orbital changes (milankovich cycles) Most recent major ice age was 18,000 years ago. Milankovich cycles causes ice ages (perfect combination of orbital cycles that make earth receive least amount of radiation: eccentricity shape of orbit, obliquity tilt of axis, precession wobble. Anthropogenic climate change orbital changes do not explain recent temp. changes. Time lag is a very important reason why policies and support is limited in climate change.