GEOG 2050 : Climate Variability Change (on Test 3)
Document Summary
Climate variability is the difference in some variable (e. g. temperature) from year to year, around a constant : often more important than the average conditions. Climate change is a trend toward some different climate. Implies long time scales: can be natural or human-induced. Why is it important to distinguish between climate variability and climate change: policy implications. How do we experience climate variability/change: variability is short term while change is the new normal, it will not go back which means you have to adapt to the change. How vulnerable are we to variability/change: variability can lead to economic and social disorder but is not permanent, when we are vulnerable to change, you have to adapt. 509: glacials develop slowly and irregularly, but interglacials develop suddenly, the last glacial period ended about 10,000 years ago, thus, we are in an interglacial period of an ice age. Little ice age 1450 to 1850 some glacial cover linked to social and economic problems.
