Climate and Global Change

Warm near the equator and cold at the poles, our planet is able to support a variety of living things because of its diverse regional climates. The average of all these regions makes up Earth's global climate. Climate has cooled and warmed throughout Earth history for various reasons. Rapid warming like we see today is unusual in the history of our planet. The scientific consensus is that climate is warming as a result of the addition of heat-trapping greenhouse gases which are increasing dramatically in the atmosphere as a result of human activities.

Although we humans have never experienced fast <a href="/earth/climate/climate.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">global warming</a>, our planet has. And our planet keeps records of what happened. The oldest records that the <a href="/earth/earth.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">Earth</a> keeps are in its <a href="/earth/geology/sed_intro.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">rocks</a>. In this image, <a href="/headline_universe/olpa/methane_28may08.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">geologists Chris von der Borch and Dave Mrofka</a> collect sediment samples in South Australia. These rocks hold clues to help explain why climate changed abruptly 635 million years ago.<p><small><em> Courtesy of Martin Kennedy, UCR</em></small></p><a href="/earth/climate/cli_define.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">Regional climate</a> is the average weather pattern in a place over more than thirty years, including the variations in <a href="/earth/climate/cli_seasons.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">seasons</a>. The climate of a region depends on many factors including sunlight, altitude, topography, and proximity to oceans. Since the equatorial regions receive more sunlight than the poles, climate varies with <a href="/earth/climate/cli_latitude.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">latitude</a>. This image shows how sea surface temperatures change at different latitudes.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of NOAA. Public domain.</em></small></p>Coral animals build reefs in warm, tropical seawater. However, <a href="/earth/changing_planet/ocean_temperatures_intro.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">seawater can be too warm</a> for their liking. If waters get too warm, coral animals lose the algae that live within their little bodies, a process called coral bleaching. Without the algae, corals have less nutrition. Unless cooler temperatures return, allowing algae to return, the coral dies.<p><small><em>Credit: UNC</em></small></p>Scientists are concerned that melting Arctic sea ice will increase the amount of fresh water in the <a href="/earth/polar/arctic_currents.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">Beaufort Gyre</a>, which could spill out into the Atlantic and cause major climate shifts in North America and Western Europe. Watch the <a href="/earth/changing_planet/freshwater_arctic.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">Changing Planet: Fresh Water in the Arctic video</a>.<p><small><em> Courtesy of Jack Cook, WHOI (<a href="http://www.whoi.edu">Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute</a>)</em></small></p><b><i>Looking for online resources to use in support of climate change education?</i></b> Our <a href="/teacher_resources/climate.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">Climate Change Educator Resources page</a> provides links to online content, classroom activities, interactives, and videos as well as resources provided by other leading organizations and agencies on this topic. Our <a href="/teacher_resources/climate_change_course.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">Climate Change Course Content page</a> provides links to online content for a range of climate change associated topics.<p><small><em>Image courtesy of Mila Zinkova, Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike license</em></small></p>Scientists at the University of Michigan have found that <a href="/earth/polar/cryosphere_permafrost1.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">permafrost</a> in the <a href="/earth/polar/polar_north.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">Arctic</a> is extremely sensitive to sunlight. Exposure to sunlight releases carbon gases trapped in the permafrost, including <a href="/earth/climate/earth_greenhouse.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">climate-warming</a> <a href="/physical_science/chemistry/carbon_dioxide.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">carbon dioxide</a>, to the <a href="/earth/Atmosphere/overview.html&edu=high&dev=1/earth/Atmosphere/moons/ASCL_Workshop.pps">atmosphere</a> much faster than previously thought.<p><small><em>George Kling, The University of Michigan</em></small></p>

Explore Climate and Global Change

What Is Climate?

Climate in your place on the globe is called regional climate. It is the average weather pattern ...Read more

What Controls the Climate System?

A factor that has an affect on climate is called a “forcing.” Some forcings, like volcanic ...Read more

Climates of the Past (Paleoclimates)

Climate change has affected the Earth throughout its 4.6 billion year history. The Earth has ...Read more

Our Changing Planet

Our planet is changing rapidly. Check out videos and lesson plans for key climate change indicators ...Read more

Effects of Climate Change Today

The world's surface air temperature increased an average of 0.6° Celsius (1.1°F) during the ...Read more

Climate Change in Polar Regions

The effects of climate change are not felt with the same intensity in all parts of the world. ...Read more

El Nino and Other Climate Events

Sometimes there is a disruption in Earth’s climate system that might last a few weeks or a ...Read more

The Role of Clouds in Climate

Clouds are an important part of Earth's weather and climate. Scientists use computer models ...Read more

Energy Choices and Climate Change

The choices we make about the sources of the energy we use and the amount of energy we use affect ...Read more

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

The IPCC is a group of hundreds of experts from more than 100 countries ...Read more

Tackling the Global Warming Challenge

Earth’s climate is warming quickly and human activities are mostly to blame.  By releasing ...Read more

More about Climate and Global Change

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Earth and Space Science Concept of the Day

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Pleistocene
xPleistocene : The time period between about 10,000 years before present and about 1,650,000 years before present.

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Research Highlights

Extended Period of Lower Solar Activity Linked to Changes in Sun's Conveyor Belt

A new analysis of the unusually long solar cycle that ended in 2008 suggests that one reason for the long cycle could be a stretching of the sun's conveyor belt, a current of plasma that circulates between...Read more


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