Showing papers on "Climate commitment published in 1988"
TL;DR: The greenhouse theory of climate change, which states that the climate system will be restored to equilibrium by a warming of the surfacetroposphere system and a cooling of the stratosphere, has reached the crucial stage of verification.
Abstract: Since the dawn of the industrial era, the atmospheric concentrations of several radiatively active gases have been increasing as a result of human activities. The radiative heating from this inadvertent experiment has driven the climate system out of equilibrium with the incoming solar energy. According to the greenhouse theory of climate change, the climate system will be restored to equilibrium by a warming of the surfacetroposphere system and a cooling of the stratosphere. The predicted changes, during the next few decades, could far exceed natural climate variations in historical times. Hence, the greenhouse theory of climate change has reached the crucial stage of verification. Surface warming as large as that predicted by models would be unprecedented during an interglacial period such as the present. The theory, its scope for verification, and the emerging complexities of the climate feedback mechanisms are discussed.
381 citations
115 citations
1 Jan 1988
TL;DR: In this article, the authors reviewed the characteristics of the climate and global climate system in terms of the characteristic physical processes which operate within and between its atmospheric, oceanic, cryospheric and land surface components.
Abstract: The climate and global climate system are reviewed in terms of the characteristic physical processes which operate within and between its atmospheric, oceanic, cryospheric and land surface components. Together with conditions external to the system, these processes are responsible for both the maintenance and change of climate over time scales ranging from a season to geological epochs. The most critical aspects of climate simulation with either simplified or comprehensive models are identified as the parameterization of subgrid-scale processes, especially those involving convection, clouds and the surface boundary layer, and the coupling of the atmosphere and ocean. Further modelling and diagnostic research are seen as essential for an improved understanding of climate and its predictability.
10 citations
1 Jan 1988
TL;DR: Many birds, alligators, and turtles spend their entire lifetimes communing between wetlands and adjacent bodies of water, while land animals that normally occupy dry land visit the wetlands to feed as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: Many birds, alligators, and turtles spend their entire lifetimes communing between wetlands and adjacent bodies of water, while land animals that normally occupy dry land visit the wetlands to feed. Herons, eagles, sandpipers, ducks, and geese winter in marshes or rest there while migrating. The larvae of shrimp, crab, and other marine animals find shelter in the marsh from larger animals. Bluefish, flounder, oysters, and clams spend all or part of their lives feeding on other species supported by the marsh. Some species of birds and fish may have evolved with a need to find a coastal marsh or swamp anywhere along the coast (Teal and Teal 1969). Wetlands also act as cleansing mechanisms for ground and surface waters.
TL;DR: In this article, the global climate effects of time-dependent atmospheric trace gas and aerosol variations are simulated by NASA-Goddard's three-dimensional climate model II, which possesses 8 x 10-deg horizontal resolution, for the cases of a 100-year control run and three different atmospheric composition scenarios in which trace gas growth is respectively a continuation of current exponential trends, a reduced linear growth, and a rapid curtailment of emissions due to which net climate forcing no longer increases after the year 2000.
Abstract: The global climate effects of time-dependent atmospheric trace gas and aerosol variations are simulated by NASA-Goddard's three-dimensional climate model II, which possesses 8 x 10-deg horizontal resolution, for the cases of a 100-year control run and three different atmospheric composition scenarios in which trace gas growth is respectively a continuation of current exponential trends, a reduced linear growth, and a rapid curtailment of emissions due to which net climate forcing no longer increases after the year 2000. The experiments begin in 1958, run to the present, and encompass measured or estimated changes in CO2, CH4, N2O, chlorofluorocarbons, and stratospheric aerosols. It is shown that the greenhouse warming effect may be clearly identifiable in the 1990s.